Positive Time and Emotional Connection

My hypothesis was that more positive time spent with a pet increased the emotional connection.  I found a study which showed that was true in human couples so it made me think my hypothesis was right.

I thought of all the positive interactions I had with Velvet:   feeding her daily for eight years (~ 2800 days) her  morning greens and watching her jumping excitedly toward the food; the cute chomping/crunching as she with gusto  ate her food;

the way she leisurely stretched out on a soft blanket when she wanted to take a break from hopping. How she enjoyed the daily petting of her soft fur either at the end of the day or while watching TV together.

How she would energetically hop toward the refrigerator when it opened so that she could get an extra serving of greens. How she enjoyed hopping around the floor for her exercise and occasionally slipping because she was moving too fast for her paws to grip onto the floor. 

Not everything dealing with Velvet was positive.  There was the daily cleaning of the litter box, making sure she had enough food, finding her little “pellets” in places that shouldn’t be. 

There was the scary episode where she was at death’s door when she stopped eating.  She went to a pet emergency room where the options after an expensive couple hours was either hospitalization and/or surgery with no guarantee of recovery.  She did recover but that episode reinforced to me how much Velvet meant to me.

The positive interactions outweighed the negative interactions.

Relationship Lesson

You may have a pet or you may not. But either way, I would suggest to you that the lesson from a pet loss and  relationships is to have more uplifting time with the people or pets you care about.

We have to interact with the people or pets we care about.  It may take some effort but the effort makes the relationship more stronger. Strong relationships with others is a good thing to strive for. 

I hope you enjoyed my memories of my pet rabbit Velvet.  What pet in your life affected you?  Please share in the comments below. 

To the pets in our life, to health!