When a family pet dies, naturally the humans in the household grieve the death of their beloved companion, which often serves as a form of animal therapy for folks with mental illness. However, surviving animals in multi-pet households may also react to the loss in a variety of ways.
If grief is measured by changes in behavior, then grieving is common throughout the animal world.
In her book “How Animals Grieve,” Barbara J. King, a professor of anthropology at the College of William & Mary, defines grief like this: “When a survivor animal acts in ways that are visibly distressed or altered from the usual routine in the aftermath of the death of a companion animal who had mattered emotionally to him or her.” King cites studies and observations that show that animals in the wild, from elephants to birds, exhibit grieving behaviors, as do household pets.
The Companion Animal Mourning Project, a study conducted by the ASCPA, found that more than 60 percent of both dogs and cats exhibited four or more behavioral changes after the death of a fellow pet in the household. Changes include eating less or possibly not at all, craving more attention from their owners, changes in vocalization (barking or meowing more or less than usual) and changes in sleeping places or other habits.