>>39402332I do think it's somewhat easier to deal with the grief of losing older pets if you see signs of them starting to fade ahead of time, i.e. not eating as much, stumbling around when they walk, blindness, deafness, etc.. It gives you a bit of perspective and does make it somewhat easier to prepare yourself more long-term should things suddenly take a turn for the worse at some point. It's like going from 0 to 60 very slowly.
Which makes shit like them suddenly passing away from getting hit by a car hit all the harder since you don't get that same luxury of hoping for a better outcome or helping you slowly acclimate to accepting one day they won't be there anymore. It's the first time she's owned a pet by herself, and this experience for her went from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye.
