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Are your kids upset if they lose a pet?


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My ds is so sad this morning. His goldfish died. He went to feed it this morning and it was gone. I know it may seem silly but I'm a little sad too. I think part of it is that everyone told us the fish would die within a couple of days. My son won him at the fair. He was in one of those little plastic bags. My dd won one too. On the way home from the fair we stopped to buy food at the store but they had to spend the night in tupperware. I felt cruel just buying a small fish bowl for them even though people said they wouldn't live for more than a few days. I ended up buying a 10 gallon tank (actually all 3 kids pitched in to buy it). My dd's fish lasted a few months and was replaced by another fish that died last week. My son's fish was actually the one I thought would die first. He was so small. He lasted over 4 months! Most people who get fish from fairs tell me that theirs died within a day or two.

 

I told my son that he did a great job taking care of him and that he lived a lot longer than most fish like him. Ds will be ok but is a little down. I can't imagine how we'll feel when our dog dies.

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My kids have mourned the loss of all their pets that have died. SOmetimes even now years later for some of the pets they still get teary eyed when talking about them. In our family we talk about the rainbow bridge where all our beloved pets wait for us to join us in heaven, that helps the kids mourn the losses. For us there has been 2 hamsters, 2 birds, 4 guinea pigs and 1 cat that have passed away

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We all get sad here about losing pets, even our fish. Our last big fish finally died (I've been waiting for him to go for EVER, it seems) and they are sad, even though they really didn't pay attention to him. And we still talk about our cat who died 3 years ago. Yep, it's sad when a pet dies, even a goldfish. There *is* something special about those little fish kids can win, even considering their high mortality rate. :)

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I'm sorry for your loss (and it is a loss). I'm remembering when my ds was 3 and our little gold fish died. He came running to me, crying, and said, "Put in a new battery!" If only it were that easy. . .

 

BTW - those little goldfish can die right away but sometimes they last and last. We had four of them that lived for years - they got so big (about 5 inches long!) - we said that they were trying to grow up to be Koi! Unfortunately I don't know why some of ours did die right away and these ones didn't.

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Yeah, it is perfectly normal to mourn a pet - even if it is just a fish.

 

Now that you have that tank do you want some info on how to keep further fish alive? I worked in a pet store while I was in college in the fish department so I have the info in my head. I'll pass if along if you want to try more fish.

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Yes, my kids have all been upset when our pets died, especially my 2 dds. My 6 yo still talks all the time about the cats we have had that have died.

I'm sorry about your ds's fish. Four months actually seems pretty long to me, considering our poor betta fish lasted about a month. I haven't had the heart to replace it - fish are not my forte.

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Sorry for your loss.

 

My oldest dd has lost 5 of her 8 mice in the past 6 months. The first one was the hardest, and the second one was pretty bad two since she was holding her at the time. Equally distressing was the 3rd. By the time the 4th and 5th passed she didn't shed quite so many tears.

 

She loves her pets and is sad when they die. Mom gets sad, too.

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My 14yo dd's mouse died this morning. She just got it for her birthday 1.5 weeks ago. She cried. I couldn't think of one encouraging thing to say, so I just held her while she cried. I feel so bad for her...she got braces on Monday (she didn't want them), fractured her ankle on Thursday (has a walking cast), and now this... :crying:

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We actually have a small cemetery on our property -- even the baby birds and squashed toads that we find end up there with a full burial service.

 

At this point our only two pets are two goldfish that live in a pond outside. They're six years old and still going strong...

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