Experiences of Dying Animals: Parallels With End-Of-Life Experiences in Humans

Abstract

There has recently been an increased interest in end-of-life experiences (ELEs) in humans,but ELEs in non-human animals have not yet been assessed. In this paper, wepresent findings from a study we performed to collect and analyze reports about remarkablebehavioral aspects of animals during their last phase of life. After publicappeals in which we asked for reports about ELEs in animals, we received numerousresponses from pet owners. We were able to group these experiences into specificcategories, which we termed the last goodbyes, last visits, last rally, retreating into solitude,unusual premonitions of death, somatic surprises, terminal lucidity in animals, andpotential near-death visions in animals. We present 43 case reports pertaining to thesedifferent categories. Many of them show striking similarities to remarkable behavior reportedby dying people. This similarity between animal and human ELEs might be a signof a common physiology underpinning such experiences and could also increase therecognition that animals share an inner life similar to that of humans during all phasesof life. This could lead to a more respectful treatment of pets, as well as of animals infarms, zoos, and in the wild. However, as our study was of a preliminary character andonly the first of its kind, we encourage further systematic research in this field. In theSupplementary Material, we publish 71 additional cases for those who would like tostudy more examples.