Explaining death of pet to toddler

[Guest guest]

Hi again,

On a sadder note, I am having my 14 year old border collie mix put to

sleep today. She has a large tumor on her leg which is getting

infected and the vet said there is nothing more that can be done.

She has been a wonderful dog and I dread bringing her. For those of

you who have gone through this, how do you explain why she died to a

toddler. I don't want to say she is " sick " as we often use that word

when Shaelin is ill. I tried telling him that Micki was getting very

old and was going to die but then the other day when Shaelin asked my

husband to get down on the floor to play with him, he groaned and

said he was too old to which Shaelin replied " Daddy, I don't want you

to die! " Any suggestions would be welcome.

Jeanne (foster Mom to Shaelin, almost 3 yo wcf)

[Guest guest]

Jeanne,

We went through this twice with our children. And there is not an

easy way to tell them. Our first dog, that we had to euthanized, he

was almost 14 years old and had a huge tumor next to one of his

kidneys. One day he could not get up and my husband took him to the

vet to be euthanized. When he came back, my 7 year old, he was 3 and

half at the time, went looking for him all over the place. So my

husband told him that he had gone to a better place, to dog heaven,

boy he cried for a while and he went through all the emotions of a

loss. I really do not think you can lessen that, the second time we

had to euthanize our second dog, it was easier to explain, but still

hard for them. Children mourn and you are going to assure Shaelin

that nothing is going to happen to either one of you, and that your

dog was very, very old, don't use the sick word, 98 dog years??, and

that he has gone to a better place.

I wish you luck, and I hope I helped,

> Hi again,

>

> On a sadder note, I am having my 14 year old border collie mix put

to

> sleep today. She has a large tumor on her leg which is getting

> infected and the vet said there is nothing more that can be done.

> She has been a wonderful dog and I dread bringing her. For those

of

> you who have gone through this, how do you explain why she died to

a

> toddler. I don't want to say she is " sick " as we often use that

word

> when Shaelin is ill. I tried telling him that Micki was getting

very

> old and was going to die but then the other day when Shaelin asked

my

> husband to get down on the floor to play with him, he groaned and

> said he was too old to which Shaelin replied " Daddy, I don't want

you

> to die! " Any suggestions would be welcome.

> Jeanne (foster Mom to Shaelin, almost 3 yo wcf)