Companion Animals in Obituaries: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe benefits of human–animal interaction have been discussed extensively in the literature. In this paper we take a slightly different strategy in documenting that some humans acknowledge the importance of pets by actually referring to them in human obituaries. We begin with a brief overview of the human obituary, followed by the potential for pets as fictive kin to be named as survivors in obituaries. A bi-national, exploratory, content analysis of companion animal (CA)-related content in published newspaper obituaries is reported. The two criteria for inclusion were that a pet or pet survivors be named in the obituary or that donations be made to a pet-related charity. Of the 11,818 obituaries in three newspapers over a three-month period, 260 (2.2%) met one or both of these criteria. Five themes emerged within obituaries containing CA data. First, the word “pet” was rarely used. CAs were typically listed as survivors along with human family members. Second, terms of endearment were consistently used to describe animal companions left behind. Third, some family members, who likely crafted these last statements about their loved ones, engaged in a personification of (and projections onto) the animals left behind. Fourth, there was variation in the roles played by each person with their animal companion. And fifth, donations were made to a wide variety of animal charities. The possibility of CAs as fictive kin is explored, in addition to a call for further study.