kids...and pet bereavement

hello all...a friend who has few dogs off me...lost a stafford bitch (pts)last year she was 13yr old....she rang me earlier to see if i could help in anyway...the problem is this...there son craig is 10yr old...so he has grown up with the dog....every now and again he gets really really upset,eg,his birthday ...the other day they were out riding bikes and all ov a sudden he just stopped and started crying...over cassie the bitch pts......he is getting himself all upset as christmas isnt far away and he says he dosnt want to do christmas with out cassie ect...altho he is attached to the dogs they have...this one was slightly diff as she was more a friend than a dog..if you know what i mean.....my friend rang a bereavement place to see if any books ect but they said they were mainly for adults...craig understands about heaven and so on...but does any one know of any books that help kids get thru bereavement....the lady she rang said she would write craig some kind of letter...its not an attention thing hes doing as this happens when out and about...hes an only child...hes not a ruff n tuff type ov kid...still does kids thing like footy n so on...but is a kind caring type ov lad.. his parents still get upset oftern but not infront ov him.....this was a huge loss to the fammilly and i wish there was more i could do to help...any suggestions .....thanx jayne

Poor lad. It is hard enough for an adult to come to terms with the death of a companion animal, but for a young child it must be even more difficult.

If you search Google for "pet death"+children you might find some helpful advice.

great thanx never thought ov that will try now

aww poor kid

He needs lots of reassurance that his dog is still in his heart etc and that shes not sufferring in any way anf that she had a good life, and that it was the best life she could ever have because of him etc - I guess his parents would 'know/feel' what he 'needs' to hear?

I hope that makes sense?

the death of a pet is hard, and its still fresh in my mind losing a cat when i was 12. However, only time can heal. Just let him know its ok to cry and to let out his pain.

Although i think maybe my situ was slightly different, as whenever a cat died, my mum would always bring home a new kitten like a week later, so i would forget about the pain, not so much forget about the cat, but having the new kitten kept my mind off the loss of the cat.
We did have other cats too, but it wasnt quite the same.

Aww poor lad
When our cat died our youngest was very upset ..we explained it like this .....
when you were little and you had those great days out at the park and the beach and you fell asleep in the car on the way home -your mum or dad would carry you ( in all your filth ) and put you straight to bed and when you woke you where ,were you wanted to be ...in bed,warm and cosy
when you get old and your body gets tired ,you want to lie down and sleep and when our pets are old and tired we let them go because heaven (or the bridge ..wherever they believe in ) is were they want to be ,and its like the end of the best day out ever -you're sad that its over but to remember it makes you smile
hth

Murphy thats a nice way to put it for the kids.

The death of a much loved pet is really hard on children, when we lost one of our dogs last year he was pts in the comfort of his own home with our daughter present, i know some of you will think that this was wrong, but children at sometime in their lives have to learn about life and death. She cried and it was extremely hard for her to take in, but we explained to her that it was the final gift that we could give to our most trusted friend, we encouraged her to ( as silly as it sounds ) to write letters to him, and draw pictures for him, and send him cards on his birthday.
We also let her sort out photos of us, his blankets, toys & his most favorite things so he could be cremated with them,. We have explained to her that life is infinate, that it goes on forever and that he really didnt die, he just went to a better place where his help was needed, and that Jesus and Grandma take care of him & feed him.
She understands what we told her, wether it be right or wrong how we did it, it gives her much more comfort beliving that he was sent to a better place.

jayne i don,t know if it is of any help to you
but when my dad died we went to register his death at the local town hall
while in the waiting room we picked up a book called
"helping children cope with the death of a loved one"
it sets out death in a simple way for them to understand
we brought a couple of copies home for my children to read and they still have them
not sure if they would be of any help but why not pop into your local town hall and see if they have any

great thanx..ill let my friend know...thanx to you all...jayne