Pet owners or pet parents?

[Catherine]

When you try to rescue something like a baby mouse it really hits hard when they don't make it. We put so much ourselves into a baby like that.

I find it is still a loss no matter what my connection was to my pet. I don't think I felt the loss less because the pet was a friend rather than a baby. My sense of loss is connected to what I have lost with that particular pet. I think each relationship is unique and can have bits of friend and child and ever older sibling. What I never have is a sense of ownership.

And yes I gave Jake a good snuggle. He just wanted to sit with me quietly.