A hospice vet has said the last moments pet owners share with their furry friends are ‘very special’, and she ‘hates’ to hear one very common phrase people say as their animals pass away
Saying goodbye to a dying pet is one of the most heart-wrenching experiences a person can go through. However, one animal expert has shared the two words she hates to hear as people’s cats, dogs or other furry friends breathe their final breaths.
Mobile hospice vet Faith Banks took to TikTok to enlighten pet owners on how significant final words can be when their furry companion passes away. “The last words you say to your pet are very special and very meaningful,” she said.
Banks said listening to the audiobook ‘The Collective Regrets of Clover,’ about a death doula assisting dying individuals and their families, changed her outlook. She continued: “In the story, she talks about a journal that she keeps with all the last words that people say just before they die – some of them are very deep and meaningful and some of them are very frivolous.”
She believes the power of final words extends to animals as well, as they can sense the emotion behind what we say in their waning moments. “I hear the final words many people say [to their pets] and they do stick with me,” she explained.
“Many are the common or traditional things you’d think people would say – ‘I love you, thank you, I’ll miss you, see you again, wait for me.'”
But there’s one phrase the vet hates to hear, and it breaks her heart. “‘I’m sorry’ is one I don’t love to hear because I feel that those people have done so much for their pet,” she said. “I understand you’re sorry you can no longer be together but I hope they’re not apologising for anything they have done wrong.”
Her post resonated with animal lovers and social media users began sharing the last words they spoke to their pets in hopes of finding solace as their beloved companions crossed the rainbow bridge. One user confessed: “I said ‘It’s okay, you can go now. Mama will be fine.’ I lied, I wasn’t fine then, I am still not fine now. but he closed his eyes and took his final breath after my lie. I guess it was okay then.”
Another revealed: “I believe the last words I said, were you better come back and see me so I know you’re OK. I told my dog thank you for saving me, I wished I could’ve saved him too. I’m a combat veteran and he was my trained PTSD Service Dog. I lost him to kidney disease two years ago tomorrow.”
Another shared: “My 22-year-old cat passed away this past Friday, in my arms. while I was holding him I spoke to him, that I loved him so much and that I was going to miss him and thanked him for his unconditional love.
“I just wanted to be there for him more, and I feel that whatever I said cannot even compare to what he has given me the past 22 years. I miss him so much, I just hope he felt how much I felt but could not describe, because the sadness of letting go was taking over and got at a loss of words. now I am looking for him in everything.”