Reaction to companion death

[skittish]

Some of you will be aware of the death of my darling Theo in July. It was very hard for me, as it is with all my degus, and it takes me some time to talk about them, but I wanted to briefly share a companion's reaction that happened shortly after he died.

When we returned home after his euthanasia, we immediately placed his body in the nesting area of his enclosure which he shared with his two female companions (Nima and Guinny). Nima immediately sat with him, groomed him and even burbled away at him. His body was still warm and rigor mortis had not set in, so he probably still looked and felt very much like Theo when he was alive, although she probably wondered why he did not respond. We left them together and after rigor mortis set in and he became cold she moved away.

[moletteuk]

Thanks for sharing this Skittish, I think it's important and useful to talk about what happens in these difficult moments.

I hope it's a good thing for you starting to be able to talk about Theo.

[deguconvert]

I know it seems strange and even unbelievable to many people (not you or us), but animals do grieve when they lose a companion or family member. Sometimes their grief is so profound they do not survive it. Thank you for sharing what you witnessed with your girl, Nima. How have she and Guinny been since Theo's passing?

I had three boys to begin with, when we first started keeping degus, and when the dominant degu of the three suddenly died in his sleep, the two remaining boys grieved. I thought they would begin to recover, but over the course of two months, their grief just continued to deepen. It deepened to the point that I was fearful they would also die. At that point I went looking for two young males to hopefully help make life full and interesting for them again. They did do just that . . . but they also turned out to be females! That's a whole other story. LOL!

[teemu]

Thank you for sharing this moment with us. The reactions of animals to a companion's death can be very varied. Sometimes they do not react in any obvious way at first, and it shows only later. It is like with people, everyone faces these things their own way.

[skittish]

Nov 17, 2022 22:04:16 GMT deguconvert said:

I know it seems strange and even unbelievable to many people (not you or us), but animals do grieve when they lose a companion or family member. Sometimes their grief is so profound they do not survive it. Thank you for sharing what you witnessed with your girl, Nima. How have she and Guinny been since Theo's passing?

I had three boys to begin with, when we first started keeping degus, and when the dominant degu of the three suddenly died in his sleep, the two remaining boys grieved. I thought they would begin to recover, but over the course of two months, their grief just continued to deepen. It deepened to the point that I was fearful they would also die. At that point I went looking for two young males to hopefully help make life full and interesting for them again. They did do just that . . . but they also turned out to be females! That's a whole other story. LOL!

Oh nooo, yes I bet that did make life a bit interesting!

The girls do seem to be coping fine which is a relief, and I am glad they have each other. Theo and the girls had 'only' been together for just over a year, but they bonded so well it seemed like they had been together much longer. I'm sure they miss him more than they let on. We have attempted introductions with our other pair, Monty and Hazel, but Monty has been quite intense and there were a few scuffles which led to flying fur so we've decided to pause it for the time being.

[deguconvert]

It might be too soon to attempt introductions? I'd give them time to grieve and see how they do on their own. You might see new behaviors.