Broken Heart..

Fast_Mover

Just wondering is it possible for dogs or any other animals for that matter to die of a broken heart?..has it been known to happen?

My parents left for australia last satuday for a month.
We have a jack russell dog who the family adore but he's always been close to my mum as she is around all day everyday and talks to him, feeds him, brings him for walks.
Now its just me and my brothers...im in limerick during the week for college and my other bro goes to ucc and my other bro is running the farm..so theres rarely anyone around for company, only to feed him.

Please dont think they're is animal cruelty goin on..:D ..he's lying in front of the fire as we speak. He has the best life any dog could wish for, he sleeps inside, he has freedom of the great outdoors:fields al around him etc.

Dog very sad and lonely..maybe im just worrying to much but the mother would kill us if she came home to find he had died..:rolleyes:

ne commments/suggestions about the situation?

Sigma Force

Dogs sure can pine for their owners, I haven't personally heard of them dying of a broken heart but perhaps some have become very down and lost the will. He would obviously miss your parents but he would also be very depressed because he was used to a routine and he misses it now and is possible bored, some dogs chew and wrek the place when bored, others just get very down.
Let your mother know the situation and for the dogs sake if possible have a neighbour or friend or dog walker come in once a day to take him for a regular walk.
I rekon he would benifit from having some more human company during the day.

Fast_Mover

ah sure the mother knows the situation..she even enquires about him in her texts before us:D
he bit wary of strangers..even if he has met them before..he shy/afraid kinda dog..
im sure he'll be fine..he'l prob have a heartattack when he'll see her tho so catch 22situation:D ..even after she gone away for the weekend and comes home he gets all excited and starts doing laps around the garden and house ultra-fast..ah god bless him!:)

Nala

I knew a dog, he belonged to my godfather, he was 18 and in perfect health, and he really, really thought the world of his owner. He loved him so much and followed him everywhere. When his owner died the dog laid under the coffin for the entire wake and jumped into the hearse as they put the coffin in. Even though, for the 15 years they'd had him, he never once would get in a car. The dog just laid around after that, would barely so much as lift his head, no matter what you did. He died two weeks later.

boneless

We had a Jack Russell and a mongrel a few years back. These dogs were inseperable. The Jacker died of kidney failure in November of '88. The old mutt went in December, even though he was the healthier of the two.

I believe he just pined away. It is true that the disruption of routine will upset dogs but I feel in this case it was heartbreak.

LovelyHurling

There is no such thing as dying of a broken heart, and dogs who die under these kinds of situations nearly always have some clear medical problems impinging on their health. Dogs can of course get very lonely when they miss those that are close to them, and if they are unwell this will increase the impact of their illness. But depression or loneliness or a 'broken heart' won't kill anything, man or beast.

luckat

I'd have to disagree, LovelyHurling. Any creature can die of a broken heart - even if you prefer to typify it by the physical symptoms, as dying of heart strain, for instance, or getting a stroke from increased blood pressure or cancer from heightened stress.

Fast_Mover, the best thing you can do for your mother's dog is to bring him out for walks and try to get him running and playing (get his endorphins up), and then spoil him rotten with treats. Pay more attention to him when he's cheery, too - make a big fuss of him when he's happy, be quieter with him when he's sad.

When you have him back to himself a bit, start teaching him some tricks - training is a wonderful game for dogs, and they love the challenge, and it'll take his mind off pining.

It would also be a good idea to say to him "Mum's gone for a month - she's coming back!" Dogs understand a lot of what you say, especially the tone and the names of people they're used to.

Soupi

luckat i totally agree with you. spoil your mam's dog for the month she is away as he will understand then that there is something to look forward to and even if he's lonely during the day he will look forward to your brothers coming home in the evening and you coming home at weekends if you all show him alot of attention.

i've heard so many stories of dogs dying from a broken heart, it happens because they have such a close bond with their owners and when they're gone they feel that they have nothing to live for.

we have 2dogs at home,an alsation and a golden cocker spaniel.the spaniel is mine and is so close to all of us in the family that we could never go away together at the same time because he gets so down when even one of us goes away that even if he didn't die of a broken heart he could withdraw into himself and never be the same again.this is what i would be afraid might happen to your dog.if he's as down as you say i'd defo show him that your mam isn't the only one who loves him,he'll pick up on that really quickly and become much better in himself.

Gordon Gekko

But depression [...] won't kill anything, man or beast.

WTF? What do you think is the number one cause of suicide?

Fast_Mover

well parents home..dog survived!:D
at first he didnt knew who they were..then he clicked and went fecking mad/hyper running all around the place!!

buts thats suicide..animals cant kill themselves so that rules out beast..
though you have a point with humans..

Irish-Lass

I think animals can and do die from a broken heart.......our pup lost her special friend who happened to be a cat last August and she went from 8.2 kg -to- 4.6 in about a week and a half.....she carried the cats blanket around and whinged at night as she had no one to sleep with as she always slept with the cat and we just weren't enough for her. With advice from some great people we put her on rescue remedy and other natural products and slowly over a period of 8/10 weeks she started to come around last week she got weighted and is back up to 8.6 kg which has been a struggle but we also got her a dog as a friend and I firmly believe this helped her as well.

Nala

Irish-Lass wrote:

I think animals can and do die from a broken heart.......our pup lost her special friend who happened to be a cat last August and she went from 8.2 kg -to- 4.6 in about a week and a half.....she carried the cats blanket around and whinged at night as she had no one to sleep with as she always slept with the cat and we just weren't enough for her. With advice from some great people we put her on rescue remedy and other natural products and slowly over a period of 8/10 weeks she started to come around last week she got weighted and is back up to 8.6 kg which has been a struggle but we also got her a dog as a friend and I firmly believe this helped her as well.

That's really sad...the poor little thing!
Glad to know she's OK now.

WalkswithDeath

i had two rough collies got them as pups at the same time . they were like sister did every thing together. headier died two years ago from cancer gipsy got in headier bed and whinnied none stop four days later i found gipsy had died in her sleep. brought her body to the vet to have him check it out as we have other dogs and didn't want them to die . vet said there was nothing wrong with her she just gave up the will to live. she died of a broken heart

Soupi

WalkswithDeath wrote:

i had two rough collies got them as pups at the same time . they were like sister did every thing together. headier died two years ago from cancer gipsy got in headier bed and whinnied none stop four days later i found gipsy had died in her sleep. brought her body to the vet to have him check it out as we have other dogs and didn't want them to die . vet said there was nothing wrong with her she just gave up the will to live. she died of a broken heart

that's so sad and happens more than people think or want to accept. dogs aren't just beasts, they are intelligent animals and their instinct is to look after the pack and when a close member of the pack dies, eg. an owner or fellow dog, they grieve just like a human would. and unfortunately some do lose the will to live.

glad you're parents are home and your dogs happy again Fast Mover

Fast_Mover

Ya sorry to hear that WalkswithDeath..sad story..

dogs are very intelligent animals indeed...

Soupi wrote:

glad you're parents are home and your dogs happy again Fast Mover

thanks Soupi!

InFront

WalkswithDeath wrote:

brought her body to the vet to have him check it out as we have other dogs and didn't want them to die . vet said there was nothing wrong with her she just gave up the will to live. she died of a broken heart

sounds like the vet didnt know what was wrong tbh! did he do a full bloodwork, cytology, clinical exam, open it up? puppies die from lots of stuff its true. the animal that dies prob affected him and stressed his immune system, but a broken heart didnt kill him

lads whoever said nothing dies from a broken heart is actually right. you dont die from depression, you die from suicide, which depression may or may not cause. thats a fact like! nothing can wish itself into death without a physical destruction of or damage to body tissues

tj-music.com

Unfortunately there are no statistics about the reasons of dogs dying in general I mean.

From my studies of animal healing I can honestly say that I have noticed that a high number of dogs suffer from bereavement. Subsequent death might only happen to a minority but in general it is quite possible that a dog dies because of a broken heart.

There is not much a vet can do about it as injections and tablets won´t do much good.

Herbally speaking there is something you could give to the dog:

Sweet chestnut and Honeysuckle help a great deal and may even heal the longing for the past or for a departed companion.

InFront

tj-music.com wrote:

Unfortunately there are no statistics about the reasons of dogs dying in general I mean.

Why would there be statistics of dogs 'dying in general'? Statistics aren't even compiled on that in human medicine! It wouldnt tell us a thing!

From my studies of animal healing I can honestly say that I have noticed that a high number of dogs suffer from bereavement

:rolleyes: In fairness you hardly need to chant and wave an ashplant over a dog to learn that much

There is not much a vet can do about it as injections and tablets won´t do much good.

Agreed, but...

Sweet chestnut and Honeysuckle help a great deal and may even heal the longing for the past or for a departed companion.

Thats rubbish imo. Youve just contradicted yourself. Just because it comes in a home made remedy bottle doesnt make it any different to a synthetic drug, they are all chemicals, and whilst chemicals can be used in shock therapy and heart attacks or cancer treatment they cannot help an animal in long term bereavement. Thats takes patience and care, nothing more.