Hallmark could give a damn

I had to run a sad errand today. A friend at work had to put her dog to sleep this afternoon, after surgery uncovered cancer as the root of her dogs intractable pain. The poor thing was on three different veterinary grade pain killers and nothing was helping, it couldn’t walk anymore. They had taken the dog to rehab in hopes of helping it ramp up its strength before surgery. The rehab people suggested an MRI. The MRI suggested the surgery be done now. The end came sooner than they had hoped. The surgery was supposed to end the dogs pain and in a way it did, just not the way they had hoped for.

They are of course broken hearted. They are childless and their dogs are their family. They are like many other Americans, we don’t just give lip service to the phrase “Like part of the family”, our pets are our families. In researching this entry I found articles detailing the ins and outs of setting up trusts and guardianships for your pets and that some 37 states allow animals to be named as beneficiaries of wills. Leona Helmsly may have left her dog more money, $12 million, then the rest of us would, but she is hardly the only one to arrange for her pets care into the future.

The Pet Economy, Americans now spend $41 billion a year on their pets—more than the gross domestic product of all but 64 countries in the world. That's double the amount shelled out on pets a decade ago, with annual spending expected to hit $52 billion in the next two years, according to Packaged Facts, a consumer research company based in Rockville, Md. That puts the yearly cost of buying, feeding, and caring for pets in excess of what Americans spend on the movies ($10.8 billion), playing video games ($11.6 billion), and listening to recorded music ($10.6 billion) combined. "People are no longer satisfied to reward their pet in pet terms," argues Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Manufacturers Assn. (APPMA). "They want to reward their pet in human terms."

Okay. We spend a lot on our pets. Americans care very much for our animal companions and want only the best for them. WHY did I have to make three different stops to find an appropriate pet condolence card?! The folks at work wanted to express our sympathy to our friend and I volunteered to go pick up a card. I tried Target because once upon a time I thought I remembered seeing a series of very sweet sympathy cards for pet owners there. Well, once upon a time I might have but that was then, now I found two cards that were frankly, less then touching. “Sorry Your Pet Died” and “Sympathies that your Pet Died” . PET? That’s really sensitive. They couldn’t stock something a little more specific? I’m not asking for breed spesfic here, I’m only asking for somthing that conveys sympathy for a dog. From my own very sad and thankfully short period of visiting pet mourning sites I learned that not only was I not alone but I was part of a huge number of people mourning their dogs and cats.

Where is the dedicated section for cheering up these people and helping them cope?

I tried Hallmark after Target failed me, and after an exhaustive search found a card I found minimally acceptable because it at least specified the pet that had passed away was a dog. I had a choice of two such cards. One I hated on sight and the other I bought. I had to search for a card for a mourning cat owner and found only one. For every other loss the cards were specific to the point of discomfiture. Oddly, there was only one card dedicated to the loss of your soldier, I would think that sadly, this would be more of these during war time. Not everyone dies in bed, I did find a card that was very specifically worded offering sympathy for a “sudden death”. As I said, to the point of discomfiture.

Then I tried Petco. Lots and lots of cards for birthdays and adoption announcements and post spay/neuter healing, but only a handful for less happy occasions. They did have sympathy cards for dogs and I was glad to have a choice but all four cards I featured the image of a single dog posed by itself looking out towards an empty horizon.

Think a happy thought for my friend Renee and her husband and their much loved dog, Smokey, they all need it.