Inspirational Quotes To Help Grieve A Furry Friend
Grief is a painful experience all humans experience at some point in their lives. Most of the time, people connect grief with the loss of a close human, but grief is also taxing when losing a pet or animal companion as well. The sadness we experience during the loss of a pet is indescribable and we need support through the grieving process.
Our animal companions are a blessing and play a special role in our life. If you have experienced the loss of a pet, or know someone currently going through the grief process, we hope these quotes will comfort you and provide some relief to your indescribable sadness.
Famous Pet Loss Quotes
These quotes are emotional reminders of the strong bond between humans and their animals. They are sure to comfort anyone after the loss of their pet and encourage the person that they can find that same comfort again.
“A pet is never truly forgotten until it is no longer remembered.” - Lacie Petitt
“Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives.” - John Galsworthy
“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
“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 there is a heaven, it’s certain our animals are to be there. Their lives become so interwoven with our own, it would take more than an archangel to detangle them.” - Pam Brown
“Grief is so painfully real, regardless of its origin. The love of, and attachment to, an animal friend can equal that of human relationships. Likewise, the loss of an animal can be just as devastating.” - Rev. Joel L. Morgan
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” - Anatole France
“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
Dog Grief Quotes
Losing a dog can be one of the more painful pet losses a human can experience. A dog is one of the most loyal companions. Many of these quotes share that pet loss, especially dog loss, can be more difficult to navigate than the loss of some fellow humans. These inspirational dog quotes can help you find comfort in this difficult loss and gain motivation if you are considering expanding your heart to another pet or dog.
“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
“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 Jang
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” - Roger Caras
“The bond with a dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth can ever be.” - Konrad Lorenz
“A good dog never dies. He always stays. He walks beside you on crisp autumn days when frost is on the fields and winter’s drawing near. His head is within our hand in his old way.” - Mary Carolyn Davies
“If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” - Will Rogers
“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” - Mark Twain
“To call him a dog hardly seems to do him justice, though in as much as he had four legs, a tail, and barked, I admit he was, to all outward appearances. But to those who knew him well, he was a perfect gentleman.” - Hermione Gingold
“The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master.” - Ben Hur Lampman
“The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me.” - Sir Walter Scott
“If I have any beliefs about immortality it is certain dogs I know will go to heaven, and very few people.” - James Thurber
“A person who has never owned a dog has missed a wonderful part of his life.” - Bob Barker
“Old men miss many dogs.” - Steve Allen
“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
“His ears were often the first thing to catch my tears.” - Elizabeth Barret Browning
“If you have a dog, you will most likely outlive it; to get a dog is to open yourself to profound joy and, prospectively, to equally profound sadness.” - Marjorie Garber
“Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” - Agnes Sligh Turnbull
“Dogs’ lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you’re going to lose a dog, and there’s going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can’t support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There’s such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price.” - Dean Koontz
Additional Pet Loss Quotes
These quotes do not have known authors, but they are some of the more comforting pet loss quotes. Sometimes people feel silly when they struggle through the loss of their animal companions. These quotes will help you or others going through the difficult loss of an animal companion, accepting the grief and working through it, just as you have to with human loss. It is 100% acceptable to mourn your pets and need time to accept this loss.
“No matter how or when we lose our furry friends, their love lasts a lifetime.”
“A companion is gone but the memory lives on.”
“Our animal friends teach us more than we could have expected and love us more than we could have hoped. That’s why we miss them more than we could have imagined.”
“A pet’s love is never replaced but always remembered.”
“Your pet will always be by your side, watching over you.”
“No longer by my side, but forever in my heart.”
“A loyal companion and best friend. May their memories bring you comfort in this time of loss.”
“They bring us love and happiness and comfort without end. It’s hard to face such sadness without your furry friend.”
“The love of a pet will always be remembered.”
“Pets leave pawprints on our hearts.”
“You’ve lost a dog but gained a guardian angel.”
“Don’t ever apologize or feel silly about crying over a dog. When you lose your best friend, you have every right to be sad about it.”
General Grief Quotes
These quotes are about grief in general, not specifically related to the loss of the pet. We have found these quotes are ideal not only for a human loss but the loss of your pets as well.
“The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again, but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to.” - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“The risk of love is loss, and the price of loss is grief- but the pain of grief is only a shadow when compared with the pain of never risking love.” - Hilary Stanton Zunin
“Grief is the price we pay for love.” - Queen Elizabeth II
“Sometimes, only one person is missing, and the whole world seems depopulated.” - Alphonse de Lamartine
“It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.” - John Steinbeck
“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.” - Vicki Harrison
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” - Helen Keller
“While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it is digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.” - Samuel Johnson
“Grief doesn’t have a plot. It isn’t smooth. There is no beginning and middle and end.” - Ann Hood
“No one ever really dies as long as they took the time to leave us with fond memories.” - Chris Sorensen
“When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” - Kahlil Gibran
“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” - Kenji Miyazawa
If you have experienced the loss of an animal companion, you understand the pain and specific grief that comes with this loss. We hope these quotes give you (or others you share them with) a sense of comfort when struggling with this heartbreaking loss.