Inspiring Pet Loss Quotations

By Chris Raymond
Updated February 06, 2018
Boy at Dog's Grave
The loss of a furry, feathered or finned companion is never easy. Photo © Harold M. Lambert/Archive Photos/Getty Images

While words can never fully express how much someone means to us, language can still provide comfort, solace, hope and even inspiration following the death of a loved one. Below, you will find a select collection of pet-loss quotes about the death, dying and grief caused by the loss of a beloved pet.

You might find these pet-loss quotes helpful when writing a eulogy or condolence letter, particularly if you're having trouble finding the right words and need inspiration, or seek to comfort a family member or friend after the death of a furry, feathers or finned animal companion.

(Sidonie-Gabrielle) Colette, French author
Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

Jarod Kintz, American author
You know what I like most about people? Pets.

Anatole France, French poet, journalist and writer
Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Steve Allen, American television personality, comedian and author
Old men miss many dogs.

Alexander Pope, English poet
No louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast,
When husbands or lap-dogs breathe their last.

Mary Tyler Moore, American actress
I feel about my dogs now, and all the dogs I had prior to this, the way I feel about children -- they are that important to me. When I have lost a dog, I have gone into a mourning period that lasted for months.

Mark Twain, American author
Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.

James Thurber, American author and cartoonist
If I have any beliefs about immortality it is that certain dogs I know will go to heaven, and very few people.

Dean Koontz, American author
Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself.

Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian and actor
Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms -- one of them's making a poop, the other one's carrying it for him -- who would you assume is in charge?

James Herriot, British veterinary surgeon and writer
If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.

Stanley "Cap" Harrison, Canadian horse breeder and trainer, and author
Somewhere, somewhere in time's own space
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some Paradise where horses go,
For by the love that guides my pen
I know great horses live again.

Joel Morgan, American clergyman
Grief is so painfully real, regardless of its origin. The love of, and attachment to, an animal friend can equal that of human relationships. Likewise, the loss of an animal can be just as devastating.

Author unknown
Heaven will not ever Heaven be, unless my cats are there to welcome me.

Marlee Matlin, American actress and author
We had a dog, Apples. He was 13 years old, toothless, blind and had the worst breath this side of Jabba the Hut. But he was the sweetest dog, and I cried and cried when he died.

George Elliot (Marian Evans), English author
Agreeable friends -- they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

Abraham Lincoln, American president
I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
But when we are certain of sorrow in store
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Will Rogers, American humorist and actor
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

Pam Brown, Australian author and poet
If there is a heaven, it's certain our animals are to be there. Their lives become so interwoven with our own, it would take more than an archangel to detangle them.

Amy Sedaris, American author
Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.

Author unknown
The problem with loving is that pets don't last long enough and people last too long.

Billy Graham, American Christian evangelist
I think God will have prepared everything for our perfect happiness. If it takes my dog being there [in Heaven], I believe he'll be there.

Bob Barker, American television personality
A person who has never owned a dog has missed a wonderful part of life.

Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist
Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.

Sir Walter Scott, Scottish author
The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me?

John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright
Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives.

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