A few months ago my 9-year old daughter  was playing with Coco, her pet guinea pig and accidentally dropped him.  I  heard him making noises and went into her room to see what was going on.  She told me what had happened and we gently put him back in his cage and observed him for awhile.  At first I thought he was going to be alright.

The next morning I noticed he seemed to be dragging his back legs behind him.  I searched online for how best to take care of him, thinking maybe he had a broken leg and hoping he would heal on his own.  It was a weekend so there was no local vet I could call to check him.  On Monday morning however, her pet was  barely able to lift his head to eat or drink and I became concerned  his back  was broken.  I called the vet we always take our dogs to and was told they didn’t treat small animals but they referred me to one who did.  I called immediately and was given an appointment for the next day.  I told them my concerns and feared we may have to euthanize her pet if nothing could be done to help him.

We gently cleaned Coco up and made him as comfortable as possible, snuggled  in a dish towel inside a shoe box.  We got to the vet’s office and were escorted to an examination room.  When the vet came in and looked at him he said Coco was in pretty bad shape and would probably only live about another week.  Coco appeared to be in a lot of distress.  The vet said if we wanted to he would put Coco to sleep so he wouldn’t suffer any more.  He walked out of the room and my daughter and I talked about it.  We made the tough decision to euthanize her pet.  My daughter also chose to stay in the room and talk to Coco until he passed.  She was very brave that day and only cried a little.  The staff was  kind and supportive, giving my daughter hugs.

We had read the Rainbow Bridge poem about the grief we experience when a pet dies and we talked about that.  My daughter told the vet Coco had gone to the Rainbow Bridge.  It seemed to help her accept the loss.

I noticed her talking about Coco a lot in the following weeks and even months.  I always listened and tried to help her work through her grief.  Children of different ages process death in different ways.  She was old enough to understand it is final.

I have read not to get a new pet until the owner is ready.  In a strange turn of events one of my husband’s friends had 2 guinea pigs who needed a new home  because his dog was allergic to them.  Though she still missed Coco, a short time later we welcomed these 2 new guinea pigs into our home.  I’m not really sure if I did the right thing by getting more fur babies so soon after Coco’s passing.  But  my daughter loves them and realizes they are not a replacement for Coco.  She often comments that if Coco were still alive he would probably love to play with them.

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Terri blogs at: How to Nail Jello to a Tree