Loss of a Pet Quotes and Readings
There are many sayings that pertain to pet loss. We have compiled some of the most popular. We have also provided several narrative passages that can offer meaning in times of difficulty. These can be useful if you prepare passages for a pet memorial service.
Examples of Loss of a Pet Quotes
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. –Roger Caras
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went. –Will Rogers
I know for certain that we never lose people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought, and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared their love. – Leo Buscaglia
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. – St. Francis of Assisi
Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he’s owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes. – Gene Hill
Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in. – Mark Twain
Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it. – Amy Sedaris
If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. – James Herriot
I guess you don’t really own a dog, you rent them, and you have to be thankful that you had a long lease. – Joe Garagiola
Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love, they depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog, it merely expands the heart. If you have loved many dogs your heart is very big. – Erica Jong
If I have any beliefs about immortality it is that certain dogs I know will go to heaven, and very very few people. – James Thurber
No heaven will not ever Heaven be. Unless my cats are there to welcome me. – Anonymous
The dog is a gentleman. I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s. – Mark Twain
Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. – John Grogan
Dogs die. But dogs live, too. Right up until they die, they live. They live brave, beautiful lives. They protect their families. And love us. And make our lives a little brighter. And they don’t waste time being afraid of tomorrow. – Dan Gemeinhart
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. – Josh Billings
I would like to see anyone, prophet, king or God, convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time. – Neil Gaiman, English author
A home without a cat — and a well fed, well petted and properly revered cat — may be a home, perhaps, but how can it prove title? –Mark Twain, American author
No one can truly understand the bond we form with our cats we love until they experience the loss of one. – Unknown
Animals have come to mean so much in our lives. We live in a fragmented and disconnected culture. Politics are ugly, religion is struggling, technology is stressful, and the economy is unfortunate. What’s one thing that we have in our lives that we can depend on? A dog or a cat loving us unconditionally, every day, very faithfully. – Jon Katz
While they are not specifically the loss of a pet quotes, we have additional quotes related to grief located on our Quotes to Read for a Funeral Service page.
Examples of Loss of a Pet Readings
Rainbow Bridge
Author unknown. Source: Abigail Van Buren, Arizona Republic, February 20, 1994
There is a bridge connecting Heaven and Earth. It is called the Rainbow Bridge because of its many colors. Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge, there is a land of meadows, hills, and valleys with lush green grass.
When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this place. There is always food and water and warm spring weather. The old and frail animals are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. They frolic and romp all day with one another.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing. They each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They run and play together until the day comes when one of them suddenly stops playing and looks off into the distance. The nose twitches. The ears are up. The bright eyes are intent. The eager body quivers. Suddenly this one runs from the group, faster and faster, leaping and flying over the tall green grass.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you take him or her in your arms and embrace, clinging together in a joyous reunion. Happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your cherished pet, so long gone from your life, but never absent from your heart.
And with your pet beside you once again, you cross the Rainbow Bridge together.
Where to Bury A Dog
by Ben Hur Lampman
There are various places within which a dog may be buried. We are thinking now of a setter, whose coat was flame in the sunshine, and who, so far as we are aware, never entertained a mean or an unworthy thought. This setter is buried beneath a cherry tree, under four feet of garden loam, and at its proper season the cherry strews petals on the green lawn of his grave. Beneath a cherry tree, or an apple, or any flowering shrub of the garden, is an excellent place to bury a good dog. Beneath such trees, such shrubs, he slept in the drowsy summer, or gnawed at a flavorous bone, or lifted head to challenge some strange intruder. These are good places, in life or in death. Yet it is a small matter, and it touches sentiment more than anything else.
For if the dog be well remembered, if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, questing, asking, laughing, begging, it matters not at all where that dog sleeps at long and at last. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream he knew in puppyhood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture land, where most exhilarating cattle graze. It is all one to the dog, and all one to you, and nothing is gained, and nothing lost — if memory lives. But there is one best place to bury a dog. One place that is best of all.
If you bury him in this spot, the secret of which you must already have, he will come to you when you call — come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death, and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. And though you call a dozen living dogs to heel they should not growl at him, nor resent his coming, for he is yours and he belongs there.
People may scoff at you, who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no whimper pitched too fine for mere audition, people who may never really have had a dog. Smile at them then, for you shall know something that is hidden from them, and which is well worth the knowing.
The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master.
Eulogy for a Companion Animal
Author Unknown
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for all creation, for flowers of field and garden, for friends and family voices, and especially for our faithful friend and constant companion, [pet஡me].
This beloved pet, though unable to speak, told us in many ways that we were loved by one of Your creation. It has been said that actions speak louder than words. In many ways, [petÍŠ name] spoke of his/her constant love, respect and loyalty to us. Would that mankind could do likewise.
We have come here to say farewell to a true friend and loving member of our household. We thank You, Lord, for sending us this beloved companion. [Pet’s name] will not be forgotten.
