pet death and kids
By ronaldinu
@ronaldinu (12422)
Malta
September 11, 2008 6:06am CST
my 8 yr old niece's cat had to put down due to an incurable sickness. The cat was in pain. My sister in law did not tell her the truth but finally had to tell her daughter that the cat died at the vet. You can imagine the crying and screaming of an 8 yr old kid. How do you handle such situation with an 8 yearr old kid?
1 response
@sidyboy (284)
• United States
12 Sep 08
It's hard for a child that age to really understand that it was for the best. The cat was not going to get any better, and at least now the cat is no longer suffering.
If your niece has ever broken her arm or had a bad cut, tell her that the cat was in pain like when that happened to her, but there wasn't anything anyone could do to make the pain stop, so the kindest thing was to put the cat to sleep so she didn't have pain anymore?
Give her a little time to grieve though- no matter if she knows it was for the best or not, she still will grieve for the loss of the cat. Maybe once she's through that, get her another kitty?
