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Comforting Bible Verses for Grieving Pet Owners

When a beloved pet passes away it can be hard to find the right words to comfort the ones grieving the loss of a pet. It can be especially difficult when a child is one of the ones grieving.

I have been through process as a child, as an adult, and as a parent. Here are some Bible verses I have taken comfort with and have comforted my children with.

The following verses talks about the future earth. Animals were a part of the original creation and animals will be a part of the future when Jesus reigns on earth. Notice that the animals get to live on God’s Holy Mountain.

  • Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
  • Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.

The Bible says that God makes covenants with animals.

  • Genesis 9:12-17 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
  • Hosea 2:15 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

God greatly cares about the needs of animals and takes them into consideration before doing some things.

  • Deuteronomy 25:4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing [to prevent him from eating any of the grain].
  • Psalm 104:21 The young lions roar after their prey And seek their food from God.
  • Jonah 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
  • Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? 
  • Matthew 10:31 Are not two little sparrows sold for a copper coin? And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

The Bible says that animals praise the Lord and know his word.

  • Job 12:7-10 “Now ask the animals, and let them teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character]; And ask the birds of the air, and let them tell you; Or speak to the earth [with its many forms of life], and it will teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare [this truth] to you. “Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life] That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?
  • Psalm 69:34 Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them.
  • Psalm 148:7-10 Praise the Lord from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps; Lightning and hail, snow and fog; Stormy wind, fulfilling His orders; Mountains and all hills; Fruitful trees and all cedars; Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and winged birds;
  • Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath, and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
  • Isaiah 43:20 “The beasts of the field will honor Me, Jackals and ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen.

The Bible says that God owns all of the animals. It also says that animals will be in Heaven.

  • Psalm 50:10-11 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
  • Revelation 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

Remember God loves the animals. He created the animals. He even takes notice when one falls to the ground (dies). He also cares for you and loves you.

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Explorer and Snowbell

It all started when I was visiting my dad in Ovett, MS. There was a very little kitten that had been rejected by his mother. So, we tried to bottle feed it. My dad was a truck driver. He was going to be leaving out on the road again right after we left. Therefore, he told me to take the kitten home with me.

We took the kitten home. All seemed to be okay. That night I woke up several times to feed the kitten. The next morning things took a turn for the worse. The kitten appeared to be in distress. We rushed the kitten to the vet. The kitten died in route. We had named the kitten Little Pete. The vet informed us that the kitten was born with a life-threatening birth defect. The kitten was only about 2 weeks old.

My children were very upset over the loss of their new kitten. I suddenly had an idea on how to comfort them. We went to Cat Haven.

Since Little Pete had had blue eyes, my daughter wanted the new cat to have blue eyes. There was only one kitten there with blue eyes. This was a white kitten about 9 weeks old. A sign on his cage indicated that he might have FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) because his mother had tested positive and an earlier test showed a faint positive for this cat. However, it was still a little early to be sure. He would need to be retested at a later date. So, I ask some more questions about FIV. In the end I agree to take the kitten who we named Snow Bell.

My son by this time has found a kitten. This kitten is about 8 weeks old. The papers on his cage indicate that he is a very active kitten but loves to cuddle after he runs out of energy. My son believes that this kitten would be perfect for him. He is a mostly black colored kitten with a few stripes. We named him Explorer.

I call and make an appointment at the vet for both of the kittens. They are both sick with worms. Snowbell also has developed an eye infection. It takes two rounds of medication to get them well from the worms. Snowbell is retested for FIV because of the eye infection that does not want to get well. He is also tested for a few other things. Thankfully it is not FIV. Instead, this kitten has herpes. So, I learn about herpes in cats. Thankfully it is not usually transmitted to humans under normal conditions. Unfortunately, every time this cat gets stressed out about anything, he will have a flair up of herpes. That is why his eye developed an infection right after we brought him home. He was stressed out by the move. So, we now just keep his eye medication on hand for flair ups and try to keep the cat calm.

Explorer has most certainly lived up to his name. His favorite activity is exploring and getting into everything and anything. He is still very cuddly after he has run out of energy from playing.

Heartfelt Tales of My Beloved Pets

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Heartfelt Tales of My Beloved Pets

Many different animals have come into my life. Some of the animals were horse, some were dogs, and some were cats. Some stayed for a long time. Others I only knew for a short time. Over the coming months, I will be writing their stories. As each story is posted, I will be posting the link on this page to their stories. Each one of the animals that I will be honoring on this site, has left his or her mark on my life. Animals are an amazing gift from God. I hope that each one of these stories will inspire you to love and care for the pets in your life. If you don’t have any pets, consider adopting one if it is possible. Also, you may enjoy reading a poem my daughter wrote about pets.

Comforting Bible Verses for Grieving Pet Owners: The content provides comfort for grieving pet owners, especially children, through Bible verses that emphasize God’s care for animals and their role in creation and future.

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The Remarkable Heroism of a Stray Cat

God sometimes uses animals.
When I was about 6 years old, there was a yellow stray, cat that started hanging around our house. She was a beautiful yellow cat. The only problem was she was often pregnant.

One day around the end of May, I was sent to get the clothes out of the dryer. The washer and dryer were in the shed just behind the house. I went and got the clothes out dryer and put the clothes from the washer in the dryer. I then started back to the house with the dry clothes. Just as I stepped out the shed that yellow cat came running. She had saw what I failed to see. There about 6 feet directly in front of me was a rattle snake. This snake was just a shaking it’s rattle and it was ready to strike. Thankfully the snake was only about 1 foot long. That yellow cat went straight to the snake. She hissed and slapped at it. I quickly ran to the house and got my mom. My mom had a bad leg, so it took a few minutes to return to where the snake was. By the time we got there the snake was dead and the yellow cat was beginning to relax.

My mom sent me back in the house for some food for the cat. We used the food to get the cat to come to us. As best as we could, the cat was not exactly a tame house cat, we checked her for snake bites. Amazingly, we found none. After that we started buying cat food and setting it out daily. She was one cat that we differently wanted to stay around the house.

As time went on, that yellow cat became tamer. We started calling her Mama Yellow. She lived about 7 or 8 more years after this.

https://articlesforchristians.blog/?p=8675

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Sunrise’s Story

I was visiting my dad with my children, my mom, my dog, and our two 8-month-old kittens for Christmas. One of them is mostly white and the other one is mostly black. It was morning time. I was in the kitchen trying to get breakfast ready for everyone. When my dad started yelling from the bathroom, “Is this your cat in here with me?” The short answer was no. The long answer was no; our kittens are in the bedroom on the other end of the trailer.

So, my dad comes out and sends me in there to find out about this cat. This cat is small and yellow. He is obviously very hungry. Since he is about the same size as my two 8-month-old kittens, I assume this cat is a kitten. My dad wants to know if this cat is a boy of a girl. He is a boy, so my dad says that he can stay. However, my dad’s girlfriend, Mary, seems to hate the cat. She kicks the cat off of the back porch. My dad sees this and tells me to take the cat home with me. We do our best to hide the cat that we have started calling Yellow Sunrise from Mary. My dad does his best to help us hide the cat from Mary. The night before we start for home the cat disappears. We can’t find him anywhere. The morning that we are to leave for home, we look one more time for this cat. We call and he comes running up to my son. My dad hands me a cat carrier. On the way home I call the vet near my house and get an appointment for the next day.

We get home and the fun begins. This cat is sick, very sick. We feed him and he just has diarrhea. He makes a trail from the food bowl to the litter box of diarrhea. We put him in a smaller room with the litter box as close to him as possible.

At the vet’s office the next day I found out how sick the cat is. He has an eye infection in both eyes, and ear infection in both ears, and he is having stomach issues from lack of regular feeding. It turns out that he is about 5 years old not a kitten. He also needs to be neutered. The vet recommends getting the cat well before the operation. Because he is not neutered, every time he gets to feeling better, he sneaks out of the house. He is like a houdini on escaping.

The 1st of January my dad calls from the hospital. He has stage 4 lung cancer. On top of trying to get this cat well enough to be neutered, I am now going back and forth to Mississippi to care for my dad. Mary has left my dad.

By the end of January, I schedule the operation for Sunrise even though he is still sick. The vet calls me and suggests waiting. She says he only has a 50% chance of surviving the operation. I tell her that with the operation he has 50% and without it he has no chance. Do the operation. She finally agrees with the agreement that he will get extra antibiotics. He survives.

Sunrise is now a very loving cat. He follows me everywhere. He was a great comfort to me after my dad passed away. He still opens the door to let himself out every morning, but now he also let’s himself back into the house about 15 minutes later. If the door is secured, he knows on the window and meows very loudly to be let in.

Heartfelt Tales of My Beloved Pets

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From Struggles to Joy: Bridget’s Story After Rescue

In the early summer of 2018, Bridget was found tied up under a bridge in Mississippi. She was found by some people who gave her to my dad’s girlfriend, Mary. At that time, Mary lived with my dad. Bridget was a young dog of only about 3 months old. My dad did not want puppies, so he got her spayed. They gave her the name Bridget because she was found under a bridge.

My dad was a truck driver at this time. He was gone most of the time. So, Mary was in charge of taking care of Bridget and training her. Mary’s idea of training Bridget was strange even to my dad. She would keep Bridget shut up in a dog pen all day long. Then at night Bridget would be let out. My dad did not agree with this training method. So, every time he came home, he would let Bridget out and they would go walking over the 17 acres. Bridget loved to run and would follow him all over the place.

January 2019 started off bad. My dad called me from the emergency room. He was having problems breathing. They first thought that maybe he had pneumonia. He stayed in the hospital for about 1 week. Unfortunately, he did not have pneumonia; he had stage 4 lung cancer.

I am the one who brought my dad home from the hospital and stayed with him while he was in the hospital. Mary left town when he went into the hospital. The night that my dad came home from the hospital Mary and I got in an argument. My dad sided with me and Mary left. She took her small Pomeranian dog that lived inside but left Bridget. I lived in Louisiana, so, every three weeks I drove to Mississippi to help my dad. He scheduled all of his appointments for when I would be there.

By March my dad was worried about Bridget. She seemed to be losing weight. By April my dad was fading fast. When I came the 1st week of April, he told me to take Bridget home with me when I left because he could not take care of her.

I took Bridget home with me the first of April. I already had a dog and four cats. Bridget was a bundle of nerves. She followed me everywhere. I could barely take a step without stepping on her. On April 25th my dog, Roxie, died. Bridget was a small comfort. However, she was still the most nervous dog I have ever seen. She was under weight, and she frequently had diarrhea and vomiting. I took her to the vet. They diagnosed her with a bad stomach. It seems that she had been kicked in the stomach too many times. They gave her some medication that helped. Unfortunately, every time she gets too hot, she still vomits. This dog’s favorite past time is running. The vet suggested that I don’t let her run when it is hot. I live in South Louisiana. It is hot most of the time. Since there is a long hallway in my house, I started playing with her in it. She gets to run up and down that hall.

During this time, my dad got worse. He passed away May 16, 2019. Just before he passed away, he asked to see Bridget. We put her on the bed with him. He spoke softly to her. She laid beside him for a little while. She was in the room when he passed.

Today, Bridget is a happy dog. She still follows me around the house, but not as closely as before. She lives inside and sleeps on a doggy bed when not on our bed. She loves to jump up onto our beds.

Heartfelt Tales of My Beloved Pets

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The Mysterious White Dog of Leaf River

One Summer’s Day when I was about 13 years old, my mom took me to a new spot on the Leaf River in Mississippi. It was a beautiful day, but hot. The water was only a short walk from where we parked the car. The path to the water was berry bush lined. The berries looked so big, plump, and juicy that we just had to taste them. They tasted great. So, we went back to the car and got some containers. We then ate and picked the berries. As we were picking and eating, a beautiful white dog came up. This dog was solid white, which was unusual with the dog being outside near a river on a dirt path. The dog seemed very friendly. So friendly that we thought it must have an owner nearby. So we looked for the dog’s owner, but no one claimed the dog.

When we were done picking berries, we went down to the river. The dog followed us. We waded in the river and had lots of fun. The dog even joined us. As we played in the water, we talked about taking the dog home with us. However, when it was time to go home the dog was no longer there. We looked everywhere even trying to call for the dog. It was amazing how this dog, who had stayed right with us all through picking the berries and playing in the water disappeared at the moment we were ready to go home. We had petted and played with the dog. I still can’t image where the dog went so quickly.

After arriving home, we showed the berried to my stepdad. He took a look at the berries and informed us that they were poisonous. He watched both of us closely for the rest of the day waiting for the poison to take effect. We just disposed of the berries that we had picked. We never did feel any ill effects from eating the berries. We did however wonder about the dog. The next day we went back to see if we could find the dog. There was no dog to be found.

https://articlesforchristians.blog/?p=8675

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