Emotional Experiences Following Pet Loss: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The human-animal bond is a loving one and it is possible that the pet owner will experience great emotional trauma when a pet die. It may be given minimal attention and little care during the time of mourning. The emotional reactions of people who experience the loss of their pet were used as a focus for the study. Purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were used to recruit subjects that had recently lost a pet. The participants gave very rich descriptions of their experiences. It is a sample of 8 people aged 20-30 years. This technique involved Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a qualitative data analysis that was used to uncover main psychological themes. Based on the data, four themes emerged: (1) Human Animal Relationship – this theme is related to the depth of the human-pet bond, (2) Experience of loss – sadness, helplessness, emotional distress, (3) Emotional Aftermath and (4) Life After loss, suggesting that pet loss could produce significant emotional problems, but also potentially positive growth for people. The results suggest that there is a need to acknowledge pet bereavement as a legitimate form of loss and imply that psychiatric treatment, social recognition, and empathic support groups are essential in helping people to cope with their emotion.