Pets and the Afterlife: A Note to Help People Understand Why Pets are Our Children

  As you may know, I  just published my third book called "Pets and the Afterlife" about how dogs and cats can communicate with us from the afterlife. Today, a very good friend of mine who works with adults who tragically lost their human children told me that some of them were "offended" by my promotional postcard that compared losing a pet to a losing a child.
  To those folks, I say that it's important for people who either have human children and / or don't have pets to not criticize those of us who have a dog or cat and look at them as our children. One reason is because couples like my partner and I cannot have children. Another is that even people who have human children also regard their pets as children.  
   SO, WHY DO WE (and other) PET PARENTS CONSIDER THEIR DOGS/CATS CHILDREN?
     I think about and mourn the loss of our dogs Buzz and Sprite every day, just as people mourn the passing of their human children.  Why? Because, we taught them how to go to the bathroom, bathed them, groomed them, took them to (obedience) school and was excited at their graduation, watch them interact with others, take them to the doctor when they're sick, play with them, teach them, make friends, learn, love etc. They share love, anger, fear, excitement, just like human children do- Dr. Stanley Coren tested dogs (Chapter 3 of my book) and proved many have the intelligence of a 3-4 year old child.
    Dogs know when we're disappointed in them if they tear something up - and we come home, find out and they cringe. They know when we're sick and stay by our side, like human kids do.  The only thing they don't do is have careers and take care of us when we're old. 
   What's more, and more is that WE have to make the decision to put our "pet child" to final rest, something human parents don't really contend with unless in certain tragic circumstances.  - And that is the hardest part of unconditional love. So, for anyone that says to pet parents like me who can't have children, that pets are not like children, they choose not to recognize things outside of their own lives.
  My dogs are  my children. I am responsible for feeding, caring, loving them and keeping them healthy, just as humans are with human children. To tell me otherwise is as disrespectful of my feelings, and hurtful to me as my sentence was apparently to them.  So it's a matter of perspective. 
    Yes, of course losing a human child is horrendous. But to people that don't have human children, people that DO have them need to understand it's the same feeling of shock, horror, sadness, depression and a longing that will never be fulfilled. Grief is grief, and no one should tell you how to feel over losing someone you love.