Is it normal that i'm this upset by animal deaths?

Short version: Animals deaths effect me to a very large extent, I'll have mini funerals for them and cry because of it... Even if I had only known said animal for a short while, IIN?

Long version: Death is always upsetting to me, but it always feels different when you see it on TV/newspapers because you don't usually know the person. You can see it from a different perspective, uninhibited by personal emotions or feelings, but...

When I actually know someone or something that's died I get really upset, really easily. Even insects, more so animals and humans is worst...

For example, recently I found an injured bird, I persuaded my father to let me keep in in the shed until it healed because it couldn't fly or move much...

It had only been there for a day, but I visited it twice and gave it bread and water to see if everything was going alright and it was. But then the next day I found it dead...

I just locked the shed door and bawled to myself in my room until my dad went out and buried it... I had a mini funeral and for the whole night just stayed up to hope there was a good afterlife so it was in a better place... Or at least had died peacefully and painlessly...

IIN? My family think I'm really strange since I only knew the bird for a day...

Voting Results
83% Normal
Based on 70 votes (58 yes)
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Comments ( 6 )
  • gaelicwolf

    Perfectly normal. You seem to have an innately nurturing nature and a high regard for all kinds of life.

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  • zchristian

    I get very easily attatched to animals i know even just a little thats why i cannot eat meat from animals i have seen without feeling bad about it...

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  • joybird

    I dream and often cry about a dog I had for 8 years, he died 15 years ago :o(

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  • RoseIsabella

    Totally normal! My Siamese cat is my best friend. He just turned six this year and basically the pet store gave him to me because his older brother from an earlier litter died of FIP within a month after I got him. He was only six months old when I lost him. I have his ashes in an Oriental style urn near my bedside table. It always makes me cry. I honestly hope to see him in Heaven along with all my animals I lost in my life. I shudder to think of a heaven that is just the souls of humans.

    As I was typing this my cat got up to go eat some chow and the sound of him crunching his food is like music to my ears; it makes me so happy!

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  • JoMama123451234

    I have a soft spot for animals too. You should be a veterinarian. You would be good!

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  • Shackleford96

    Yes, that is normal. You are just very sensitive to that kind of thing and your love of animals sounds very sweet to me.

    On a somewhat similar note, this made me think of something. Whenever I am feeling down I sometimes try to think about how fortunate I am. I think about how many people are out there that don't have the things that I take for granted sometimes and all the suffering that is going on, etc. But that still doesn't make me feel better or appreciate things more... I am, in a way, selfish and can not truly care about something unless it is affecting me directly. I think that it has something to do with seeing things first hand rather than just thinking about them or hearing about them. Like when something happens on the news, I am not very affected by it because I have become desensitized. If I were to actually experience that thing in real life, then I would have the proper emotional reactions to it.

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