When we lose friends, family and other loved ones, we grieve for months, years and quite possibly the rest of our lives. Most people tend to believe that we’re the only species that feels this way, but the truth is that animals feel a loved one’s loss just as strongly as most of us do. This fact was evident by Brutus, a rescue Rottweiler who was grieving for his lost brother Hank.
Hank and Brutus were adopted by their owner–who goes by the online pseudonym “Brettvett1”–two years ago and went to live with him in his Washington, US, home. In the two years the dogs lived with him, they never whined or cried out in pain. However, on the morning that Brutus awoke to find that Hank had passed in his sleep, his calm demeanor slipped. The pooch had tears rolling down his cheeks as he layed on top of his deceased brother’s head. He wouldn’t budge, Brettvett1 said in his post online.
“We both grieve and cry for our brothers,” he wrote to other users, “….this is proof that animals DO have emotions and feel pain just like we do.”
Brettvett1 went on to tell his 25,000 YouTube subscribers about an emotional breakdown he had just weeks earlier.
“I’m so sorry you guys,” he starts, “I wasn’t strong enough and had a breakdown in front of the dogs. Hank was right by my side with his therapy dog service and grieved with me as I was so upset – he looked so sad. I noticed Hank never came out of his grievance and stopped eating. He was still drinking and nibbling on food so I thought he was okay. A week later Brutus and I awoke to his peaceful body next to us as he passed in the night in his sleep.”
The poor YouTube user believes that his own grief caused his dog’s death. While I don’t believe this is true (he should not be so hard on himself!), he shares his message with everyone for a reason: he wants everyone to know that animals do have emotions and that they are just as capable of feeling pain – love – joy, and everything in between, just as greatly as we are.
“I normally don’t video record my real life catastrophes or share but decided I needed to send a message to the world and show how much pain my dog was in as he loved his Twin so much. Don’t let Hanks passing die in vein with him,” he urges. “SHARE SHARE SHARE.”
:'( RIP Hank the Rottweiler Unknown–01-20-15
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