Death of a pet can be as distressing as losing a person, research shows

Ottoline Spearman

The death of a pet can be as distressing as losing a person, new research shows.

A survey by Maynooth University of 975 adults in the UK found that nearly 20 per cent said the death of a pet was the loss that had caused them the most grief.

Of the people surveyed, 93 per cent had experienced both the death of a pet and the death of a person.

The study found that people can experience clinically significant levels of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) following the death of a pet.

PGD has been defined by two core symptoms - longing for the deceased and preoccupation with the deceased - with other symptoms including intense emotional pain, feelings of guilt or sorrow and difficulty accepting the death.

The study found that 7.5 per cent of people who had lost pets met the diagnostic criteria for PGD.

The proportion of people meeting the PGD criteria for other deaths was similar, including a close friend (7.8 per cent), a family member such as a grandparent (8.3 per cent), a sibling (8.9 per cent), and even a partner (9.1 per cent).

Only the death of a parent (11.2 per cent), and in particular, the death of a child (21.3 per cent) were markedly higher.

Professor Philip Hyland of Maynooth University's Department of Psychology, the study's author, noted that despite considerable evidence that people form strong attachments to their pets and experience high levels of grief following their death, the current guidelines do not allow PGD to be diagnosed following the death of a pet.

“If people can develop clinically significant levels of grief following the death of a pet, then it is essential that this is recognised in the scientific literature so that mental health professionals can communicate with the public in an appropriate and accurate manner, and people who need and desire clinical care are afforded the opportunity to access it,” he said.

Mr Hyland also thinks that the PGD guidelines should be expanded to include pets as well as humans.

"People view grief related to the death of a pet as less legitimate than grief related to the death of a person," he said, and "many people grieving the loss of their pet feel embarrassed and isolated as a result.

"The decision to exclude pet loss from the bereavement criterion for PGD can be viewed as not only scientifically misguided, but also as callous.”