Why Do Animals Suffer?

[severus68]

i don’t know. i don’t understand suffering period.

to me, it’s the one good argument against Gods existance.

it’s horrible. for those poor animals and all of us.

i will not be back to this thread.

(no lectures please)

I agree. I do not understand why innocent animals (and innocent children) suffer.

 

[severus68]

First, let me start with the disclosure that, two days ago, I put my beloved cat, Fang, to sleep. So, I am very distraught and grief-stricken and this post is born out of the loss I feel. My grief has brought questions to mind about animals in general, but specifically those we keep as pets.

Why do animals suffer? I understand the reward that we humans receive for our suffering. I understand what redemptive suffering is and that the level of suffering humans experience on Earth pales in comparison to the eternal joy and ecstasy that we will experience in Heaven. Humans have an eternal soul and, I guess, animals do not. So, if animals do not receive the reward of Heaven, what purpose does their suffering serve, other than giving them pain and upsetting animal lovers like me?

I do not place animals on a higher level than humans, but I do not understand why God has placed animals on Earth, especially those that enrich our lives and show us love, companionship, and appreciation as pets, if we have to watch the animals we love suffer and eventually have their lives ended by our decision to end that suffering. We feel grateful that we can relieve their suffering by putting them to sleep, but what do animals receive for their suffering? Why are we left to try to cope with the fact that we have to kill the animals we love so much?

I hope these questions don’t seem irrational. I am certainly trying to navigate through great sadness, grief, and confusion right now.

I am sorry about Fang and I understand your grief. I have no answer but hope to be given one one day by the Creator of all of us, humans and animals.

 

[severus68]

Domestic animals may not live in the wild, but they still have instincts to help them survive.

Pain and suffering are important survival responses. If animals didn’t have them, they wouldn’t know when to take it easy, when to rest, etc. And their families might not know they need extra care if they didn’t exhibit suffering, as some ailments aren’t externally visible.

That still does not answer the OP’s question.

 

[severus68]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved cat. I have a cat that is getting up in years too, and I dread the day she goes. She is my best buddy.

I know this is not what the church teaches, but it is my personal belief too, that our pets will be in heaven to greet us when we arrive.

Hang in there.

It is my belief too. The Church does not say otherwise.

 

[severus68]

The way I see it- in heaven we are given ALL of what we NEED, and if we so loved an animal of this world with our whole being then why would God deny us of that friend in heaven? I believe God will return the pets we loved and cared for to us, in heaven.

While I agree with what you say, I also believe that there is more and that God would want his non-human creatures back with Him too.

 

[Jersey_Jeepster]

I’m so sorry for your loss! I’ve been there before. I lost my girl cat back in mid-March after a six month battle with kidney failure. Her illness took a huge turn for the worse toward the end, and she was practically on death’s doorstep the day we took her to the vet for the last time. She was the first pet i’ve ever owned, and it was really hard those first few weeks since that day in the vet’s office, for my mom and me, and our boy cat. He’s 9, and she would have been 11 in October. I still miss her.

I’m not gonna tell you to just get another cat and get over it. It doesn’t work that way, and frankly it sounds insensitive, even if whoever tells you that means well. You need time to grieve, so take it. Fang had a great life with you, so honor him (or her), cherish those wonderful memories you and Fang had in life together. And if the time comes you do want another cat, then it comes. If not, then it doesn’t. Don’t be surprised when people try to offer you kittens or cats that someone they know doesn’t want. I got that reaction a lot.

That said, i’ve wrestled with the idea of why suffering happens in general, not just with animals. It’s something i’m still trying to figure out and trying to reconcile. I don’t think there’s any real* reason* for it per se, though it seems to be a part of life, i guess. It doesn’t make it any easier.

A :hug1: if you want one.

I’ll take that hug, thanks. Fang was the first cat I ever owned. I had dogs in the past, but swore off pets 14-years ago when I had to put down my Siberian Husky, Gabriel. Taking your pet to be killed is just too difficult for me to handle. I know we put them out of suffering, but it still feels like I am betraying them in some way.

My brother took in Fang as a stray and he lived with my brother (right next door to me) for 3 or 4 years, but Fang started to claim his territory from the other cats in my brother’s house by spraying. So, my brother would let Fang and the other cats out during the day, but then Fang had to go in the basement for the night to sleep. There was food and water and a bed and litter box there, and the basement is clean and neat. He was well accomodated.

I guess Fang was not happy with this set up because he would come visit my house during the day. I have a deck that wraps around the side door to the backyard and Fang used to climb up on the deck railing and sit at the edge near the side window and look in my house. It was the cutest thing ever. So, we started to let him in the house to visit and eventually those visits lasted all day. We started keeping food and water bowls, and a litter box, in our house for him and Fang would spend his days with us. We were unsure about how to care for cats, so my brother would come at night to pick up Fang and bring him to his basement for the night. Well, we didn’t see much sense in that, so we kept Fang full time for the last 2 years.

We took him for a checkup and found out that he was about 10-12 years old when we took him in, according to the vet. We also found out that he had the beginnings of kidney disease. What we didn’t know is that kidney disease is basically a death warrant for cats. There is no cure, you just have to try to slow it down through diet and, eventually, medication.

The last few weeks we had to give Fang Lactated Ringers twice a week through an IV. He was losing a tremendous amount of weight, his kidneys shut down, and he got to the point after one month where the Ringers were not hydrating him. He lost another pound in that month. He only weighed 7 pounds when healthy. He could barely stand, nevermind walk, and on top of all this, he had bad teeth that were rotting and causing him some pain when he ate. It was time to relieve his recent suffering, the suffering I pray allows him a place in Heaven so we can be companions again, along with my other pets, the day I get there.

 

[LSK]

it sounds like Fang chose YOU and he made a very good choice.

 

[sacred_words]

I’ll take that hug, thanks. Fang was the first cat I ever owned. I had dogs in the past, but swore off pets 14-years ago when I had to put down my Siberian Husky, Gabriel. Taking your pet to be killed is just too difficult for me to handle. I know we put them out of suffering, but it still feels like I am betraying them in some way.

My brother took in Fang as a stray and he lived with my brother (right next door to me) for 3 or 4 years, but Fang started to claim his territory from the other cats in my brother’s house by spraying. So, my brother would let Fang and the other cats out during the day, but then Fang had to go in the basement for the night to sleep. There was food and water and a bed and litter box there, and the basement is clean and neat. He was well accomodated.

I guess Fang was not happy with this set up because he would come visit my house during the day. I have a deck that wraps around the side door to the backyard and Fang used to climb up on the deck railing and sit at the edge near the side window and look in my house. It was the cutest thing ever. So, we started to let him in the house to visit and eventually those visits lasted all day. We started keeping food and water bowls, and a litter box, in our house for him and Fang would spend his days with us. We were unsure about how to care for cats, so my brother would come at night to pick up Fang and bring him to his basement for the night. Well, we didn’t see much sense in that, so we kept Fang full time for the last 2 years.

We took him for a checkup and found out that he was about 10-12 years old when we took him in, according to the vet. We also found out that he had the beginnings of kidney disease. What we didn’t know is that kidney disease is basically a death warrant for cats. There is no cure, you just have to try to slow it down through diet and, eventually, medication.

The last few weeks we had to give Fang Lactated Ringers twice a week through an IV. He was losing a tremendous amount of weight, his kidneys shut down, and he got to the point after one month where the Ringers were not hydrating him. He lost another pound in that month. He only weighed 7 pounds when healthy. He could barely stand, nevermind walk, and on top of all this, he had bad teeth that were rotting and causing him some pain when he ate. It was time to relieve his recent suffering, the suffering I pray allows him a place in Heaven so we can be companions again, along with my other pets, the day I get there.

I understand the feeling. I felt like i was betraying Bugsy somehow that day at the vet, when the vet gave her the injection. The vet said she would probably scream, but she didn’t make a sound. Yet i still hoped the vet would give her the IV fluids like they did in February, and she pulled through that time. This time she wouldn’t have, as her illness was too advanced. IV fluids would have only made matters worse. I knew she’d die eventually from it, but i didn’t think it would be that soon. I figured when she was diagnosed, she’d be with us for at least a couple years or so. Kidney disease is so unpredictable. Some cats have a few good years left after their diagnosis, and other cats deteriorate so fast even with the stopgap measures to manage it.

When we first got her, she had cased our house for about a week before we took her in during the fall of 2004. I’d hear banging on the porch door followed by a loud meow, and it was her rattling it from underneath. My mom gave us the go-ahead, and she ran inside like she was waiting for that moment. She was a scrawny stray cat, and she looked like it, but she was definitely litter trained at some point. We got her some food, and she fattened up. She was an indoor cat from that point on, and she didn’t care. Wherever i’d be around the house, she’d be right there.

When she was diagnosed in September 2011, she was 9 pounds, down from the 11 pounds she was in her younger and healthy years. She wasn’t fat, just solid as a little brick. She lost even more weight (despite trying to eat everything in sight, people food included in addition to the special food from the vet’s office), and on her last day, there was absolutely no response out of her. Her blood levels were off the charts, and she was down to 5 pounds. She didn’t focus on anything, nothing interested her on the way over to the vet. Our boy cat never left her side during her last couple days.

I’d really like to think our companion animals will be there waiting for us in Heaven. At least i hope they’ll be there. A couple days after she died, the vet’s office sent me a card with a copy of the Rainbow Bridge poem inside. They’re with the little memorial i set up on top of a shelf in the dining room, which includes the box with her ashes. I still haven’t been able to open it, btw.

Fang’s had six years of wonderful with you and your brother, and there’s nobody that can take that away from you. Maybe you could gather pictures of him and put them in a special place along with his favorite toy, and anything else of his when you feel up to it? Just an idea.

 

[Luvz2travel]

I’ll take that hug, thanks. Fang was the first cat I ever owned. I had dogs in the past, but swore off pets 14-years ago when I had to put down my Siberian Husky, Gabriel. Taking your pet to be killed is just too difficult for me to handle. I know we put them out of suffering, but it still feels like I am betraying them in some way.

My brother took in Fang as a stray and he lived with my brother (right next door to me) for 3 or 4 years, but Fang started to claim his territory from the other cats in my brother’s house by spraying. So, my brother would let Fang and the other cats out during the day, but then Fang had to go in the basement for the night to sleep. There was food and water and a bed and litter box there, and the basement is clean and neat. He was well accomodated.

I guess Fang was not happy with this set up because he would come visit my house during the day. I have a deck that wraps around the side door to the backyard and Fang used to climb up on the deck railing and sit at the edge near the side window and look in my house. It was the cutest thing ever. So, we started to let him in the house to visit and eventually those visits lasted all day. We started keeping food and water bowls, and a litter box, in our house for him and Fang would spend his days with us. We were unsure about how to care for cats, so my brother would come at night to pick up Fang and bring him to his basement for the night. Well, we didn’t see much sense in that, so we kept Fang full time for the last 2 years.

We took him for a checkup and found out that he was about 10-12 years old when we took him in, according to the vet. We also found out that he had the beginnings of kidney disease. What we didn’t know is that kidney disease is basically a death warrant for cats. There is no cure, you just have to try to slow it down through diet and, eventually, medication.

The last few weeks we had to give Fang Lactated Ringers twice a week through an IV. He was losing a tremendous amount of weight, his kidneys shut down, and he got to the point after one month where the Ringers were not hydrating him. He lost another pound in that month. He only weighed 7 pounds when healthy. He could barely stand, nevermind walk, and on top of all this, he had bad teeth that were rotting and causing him some pain when he ate. It was time to relieve his recent suffering, the suffering I pray allows him a place in Heaven so we can be companions again, along with my other pets, the day I get there.

You’re story made me cry. I’ve had to put 2 cats down and have one right now who is 15 and has had IBD and UTI issues all his life was well as crystals from time to time. I’ve almost lose him 3xs and had to argue with the vets as to weather he had a seizure or not but that’s another story. I know he’s at an age when I could loose him at anytime my one wish is that when he goes he goes peacefully in his sleep but how many us are so lucky. I know I’ll cry like I just lost a child when and if I have to put him down but I accept it as the price for having him around. I enjoy him while I have him and will deal with the rest when I have to. It’s the natural order. We’re born, we live and we all die.

 

[Lochias]

To the OP:

Praying for you, and sorry to hear of the loss of Fang. Like many here, I’ve put down several cats over the years. I firmly believe we’ll see 'em again, and this is why, straight from our own catechism: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=14030&highlight=animal+soul+heaven

As to why animals suffer? Well, my Mom told me that all love is tempered and strengthened in suffering. Just as God allows good things to happen to us and give us peace, He also allows sad and bleak things to happen, I think, for a number of reasons. We are reminded of who we are, and who He is, and how depended we are on Him when we are faced with mortality and the loss of loved ones. But, we are also reminded of what is to come after this brief, gentle spark of life in which we live now! This life, with its glorious sunsets and clouds and thunderstorms and barbeques and families and Fangs and Punkins and Spots and Rovers and all the other wonderful things, is just a brief moment in time before we step across the thresh-hold to be with our Father.

Life isn’t about avoiding suffering…Jesus never tried to do that. Life is about learning how to cherish the love of God, to return it, and to have peace in the knowledge that all will come to gentle, peaceful conclusion for eternity with our God.

Please, chin up. Remember the beauty that Fang brought into your life, and continues to bring through your love continued towards other animals and family. Remember that we are all walking, every day, towards something too beautiful and joyous and peaceful for words. Praise be to God for the good things He gives us, our pets included.

 

[dedo]

First, let me start with the disclosure that, two days ago, I put my beloved cat, Fang, to sleep. So, I am very distraught and grief-stricken and this post is born out of the loss I feel. My grief has brought questions to mind about animals in general, but specifically those we keep as pets.

Why do animals suffer? I understand the reward that we humans receive for our suffering. I understand what redemptive suffering is and that the level of suffering humans experience on Earth pales in comparison to the eternal joy and ecstasy that we will experience in Heaven. Humans have an eternal soul and, I guess, animals do not. So, if animals do not receive the reward of Heaven, what purpose does their suffering serve, other than giving them pain and upsetting animal lovers like me?

I do not place animals on a higher level than humans, but I do not understand why God has placed animals on Earth, especially those that enrich our lives and show us love, companionship, and appreciation as pets, if we have to watch the animals we love suffer and eventually have their lives ended by our decision to end that suffering. We feel grateful that we can relieve their suffering by putting them to sleep, but what do animals receive for their suffering? Why are we left to try to cope with the fact that we have to kill the animals we love so much?

I hope these questions don’t seem irrational. I am certainly trying to navigate through great sadness, grief, and confusion right now.

Suffering is a mystery. I don’t know the answer. However, I know it benefits us.

Our dog is in her final days / weeks. She is suffering.

However, the grace and perseverance she shows us makes me marvel.

Although she is in pain, she still has moments of joy and attempts to play.

She shows a love of life that few people ever learn.

Life is precious. Animals know this. Humans are trying to learn it.

If ever I feel like quitting, or not persevering, I hope I remember her final days and face life with the same attitude.

Also, nobody knows whether animals will be after they die. There are passages in the Bible that discuss animals in the next life. We are hoping and expecting to see our dog again one day, maybe after time stops.

 

[Jersey_Jeepster]

It has been 3-days shy of a month since we had Fang put to sleep. I am a bit surprised to see how this thread kept going for almost that month, but it’s a nice surprise. What better place to exorcise grief and sorrow than a Catholic message board filled with good Catholic people?

I just want to thank everyone for all the sympathy, good wishes, and support. I never “get over” losing a loved one, pets included, so I will learn to live with the reality of what it means to love and care for pets and how the time we get with our pets is fleeting.

The vet’s office we frequented was very sympathetic, too. We received a nice note of sympathy from them with the bill, ironically, but that was not all. A week after we lost Fang we received his ashes. The pet cemetery that handled the cremation sent us a beautiful card with Fang’s ashes. The card contains the Rainbow Bridge poem and some notes of sympathy. A few days later, the vet’s office sent us a round clay plaque, about 4-inches wide, that has Fang’s footprints in it. We were very surprised to receive that. It did upset us a little to see his prints there, but we understand the nice gesture they intend. Then, just today, we received another sympathy card from the vet’s office that is signed with handwritten notes of sympathy from all the staff at the vet’s office.

We are grateful for the support and gentile, metaphorical hugs we have received from the vet’s office, the pet cemetery, and the good people here at the Catholic Answers Forums.

Thanks and blessings to all.