Cat died

Daughter's cat just died, so sad to watch.

What do you say?

We have has many pet funerals over the years.. I guess what you say depends on the age of the child, her nature etc..When our first cat died we told my daughter that he had run away to get married and this went down very well! Fish and hamster deaths were not so easy as more often than not she was the one who found them so we had to be honest..giving her time to say goodbye, prepare a funeral and say a few words would be the more compassionate approach..but I am sure that some will disagree with this!

My parents never told a fib about about our pets dying..I think it can be good for a child to deal with the death at this level..It helps their understanding later on in life

ZEGAR said:

My parents never told a fib about about our pets dying

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I suppose if they did the smell would give the game away after a while?

Don't be silly

I agree with gauloise, if your daughter is very young (say, <8?)

gauloise said:

When our first cat died we told my daughter that he had run away to get married and this went down very well!

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Funnily enough, that's what I remember having to collude with my own parents to tell my then 5-year-old kid sister, years ago. Cuddles had gone off to start a family, so couldn't just 'come back', but if we were lucky she might let us adopt one of her new baby kittens, etc....

Said 'kid' sister is now in her mid-thirties, but to this day I don't think I've ever dared to reveal the Awful Truth of what really happened to Cuddles. You know what they say about curiosity...

Ah well, at least she had nine full and happy lives.

I remember my budgie dying when I was around 10. We had a funeral out the back and my Dad made a little cross. Don't laugh (ClubMan, if you can't say something positive...). It really helped me to come to terms with it, and prepared me for family deaths that happened in the next year or two after.

Mind, 8 years is younger. I suppose you've got to judge yourselves.

ZEGAR said:

Don't be silly

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Why not, the cat will still be dead no matter how silly someone is, and laughter is the best medicine (not for the cat of course).

I thought this was a joke when I saw the title. Very disappointed that it was a serious thread....