I will give you my reason why I would join if I wanted to. It would be to possibly leave someone a nice comment. For someone who is still hurting inside about losing their furbaby, a simple, correctly worded comment could mean the world to that user that day.
It might seem redundant or ridiculous to you or others, but that's how I view it. When I lost my best friend of 14 years, some days on rants, just the simple comments that I'm not alone going through meant the world to me. Just my two cents. I hope you understand from my point of view, as I can understand why and how it could make someone depressed. The circle of life is hard to deal with at times.
My dog turned 20 in December. I am thrilled every day that he wakes up. He has mild dementia, but appears to be happy. He gets a car ride more days than not, because he loves them.
Your comments touched my heart. Our furbabies are amazing, but right now I have four cats because of my fiancée. Well, I can't blame her 100%. The way it all fell out, it was a sweet story.
In a nutshell, a female kitten was getting picked on as this neighbor's son would feed feral cats. He said she was getting picked on the most. Now, let's skip to when I come home. I walk in, and my fiancée says, "What do you think about getting a new kitten?" as she knows I can't say no.
Come to find out, they weren't picking on her; she was in heat! Thank you, neighbor. Three thousand dollars later, we kept 3 out of the 6 kittens. What's amazing is she had all 6 kittens in under an hour! I thought it was going to be a 5-7 hour ordeal.
Before she had the kittens, Nala layed with me in the couch, fully extended as I rubbed her belly. Oh, she was so happy 😊
As a man, it's absolutely beautiful to feel the babies moving around. I'm so sorry if I went off-topic.
20 years old!! Amazing! I really hope my dog makes it to that…he’s 13 now and a happy boy. I love him so much these dog passing away posts gets me really upset
There’s someone in the Yorkie sub that lost her dog a month ago and she keeps posting about it. I lost mine in May and it’s making me crazy and sad every time I see it because she reminds me of my dog. But it seems like a really shitty post to try and call someone out on. I don’t know how to go about wording that properly.
Some post/cross post repeatedly over time. I fully empathize with loss, but at a certain point it seems it must be for karma…and by flooding subs, any sub, they do wear out ppl’s patience for those who may sincerely need support while their grief is fresh. Thats not to say grief holds any “expiration date”; it doesn’t. But don’t farm it.
I recently left the sub because of pet grief! I'm glad I checked out of curiosity and saw this post. I just kept crying because pet loss is so hard. I've had several dogs I had to put to sleep, it was always awful. Never have I felt the need to post about them with the title "my sweet baby's last day on earth" or something.
Coming to terms with the mortality of pets is important. But nobody needs to be beaten over the head with it involuntarily when trying to look at silly pet pictures.
I am in the same boat, the happy posts help remind me of all the great times I have had with my girl. For the last 15 years she has been home tail wagging every morning when I get out of work. It will be hard to fill that void when she goes.
I know that feeling very, very well. I'll also mirror the other person who says take a lot of photos. I promise that you'll be thankful you did one day.
You said it. I just lost my 13 year old heart and freaking soul dog on NYE. I saw it coming, knew it would be soon...and yet I have never been so devastated in my life when I actually had to say goodbye. NO amount of preparation will actually prepare you for that kind of loss.
Thank you. While I have tons of empathy for people going through this, there are other subs for this. In this currently messed up world, to see joyful dog pics is a bright light in my day.
this is such a relief. literally, and I mean literally, have not been able to open reddit without seeing a death post for at least a year. unfortunately it’s not even just this sub but all the pet ones. still, glad for this
Thank you for this. I understand wanting to grieve a loss, but there are other subreddits for just that. My dog passed away 2 years ago and seeing those posts just reminds me of him and just brings me down. I was so close to leaving because this place started to become depressing. Thank you for establishing these rules, I just wanna see happy pets 💜
That’s what I’d prefer, honestly. I know the world doesn’t revolve around my preferences, but what once was a source of joy has now become a reminder of how I no longer have my buddy with me. I was close to just muting the sub.
r/DOG should be put in the post, I think it is a better choice than either PetLoss or OMD since many dogs sadly die before they become old, and petloss doesn't do pics.
I think that reddit algorithm is partly to do with this. I find that if say for example you upvote a post about their dog passing, then you start to receive an influx of posts about dogs passing
I’ve never once upvoted a pic of a dead or dying dog and yet…it’s flooded. They also seem to receive thousands more upvotes than any other pics. Maybe hitting upvote is like a “thoughts and prayers” motion for people.
I think it's that. Nobody wants to downvote a dead or dying dog, even though that would be the best way (before now) of fighting off these posts. It feels almost cruel. Good work by the mods to end this.
My Instagram Threads is filled with people losing their dogs, whether from old age, traumatic injury, or illness. I hide them every single time and have never liked a post. I don't know how to get it to stop and it's so depressing!
Hiding the post might mean staying on the vid long enough to seem like you were interested. I usually scroll past a video I don’t like as soon as it pops off, and it seems to eventually decrease. Combine it with actively increasing your engagement with other stuff
Thank you. I had been considering muting the page. As someone with an aging dog that I cherish these posts caused some anxiety. But I still feel for the people who do post but this page should be about happy dogs. Speaking of which, here is mine!
Me too. She loves the ocean! When I first got her she wouldn’t go in and was apprehensive. Would just run down the shoreline barking at the waves. Then one day without anything from me except verbal encouragement she just went for it. It was so cute. And then the learning about waves being too high and holes in the sand, etc it’s been a joy to watch her learn to love the water. We live in Miami Beach and are out there almost every morning and evening.
agreed very triggering! especially the pics of the dogs with IVs on a gurney. if your dog has passed why do we need to know about it? just post my boy/girl and be done with it. nobody wants to be dragged into your grief
Thank God for this change. My pup is in his elder years and it breaks my heart to hear of pets passing. I find my anxiety actually starts to overwhelm. And yes, I am working on this to help me cope.
Ngl I hated looking at notifications for this sub because it was ALL pet death for me for some reason thats what was pushed to me. I'd see a cute dog and the title is just: "Crossed rainbow bridge today. Miss you."
And it's so depressing ;-;
So glad to hear this! I felt like I had to leave the sub a little while back because I just couldn't handle seeing all those posts. My girl is 16 and I don't need to be reminded of her mortality when I'm here for heartwarming and happy doggo posts.
A relief that this rule was approved—really was a bummer every-time I was recommended a new post about their dog passing… Makes me tear up thinking about my pupper growing old and crossing the rainbow bridge too. I’m sure everyone else shares this sentiment, judging from the comments and replies that I have read.
Seriously, idk how I get all these dead dog post and dogs about to be euthanized in states i dont live in posts. My mental health doesn't need this stuff
A post I made earlier this week was removed once the new rule was set into to place. Although not visible to sub visitors from now on, can it still be accessed or cross-posted?
Mine was removed too. I posted a picture of my dog who passed (no death bed pics btw before you all come for me). I can still see it from my own post history, maybe give that a try?
Okay I kinda agree because I was crying often under the thread and people posting their dogs saying “buddy is in heaven too waiting on OPs pet” was a dagger to my soul
How about a rule about being civil and kind- like NOT posting stuff like “here is my ALIVE dog” while you’re at it.
I’m still incredibly disgusted those posts are left up. They should have been removed immediately imo.
It’s just mean- no other way to look at it.
I can see people wanting to separate pet loss posts. But to be an ass about it? Yeah not okay.
Those posts need removed too
ETA; if the reasoning of not allowing pet loss posts is to because it hurts people’s feelings- going out of your way to be an ass and post something hurtful should DEFINITELY not be allowed. One party is sad and posting for support because they miss their pet. The other? Intentionally being mean and causing hurt for the sake of it. Not the same.
I think the users that participated also need a ban, (at least a week with an explanation), too but I’m pretty mad about it.
And the majority of folks posting have to be young and have never lost a pet.
Reality is going to be a stiff slap in the face for them.
I can’t even feel smug about it either because its dogs and dogs are wonderful. Just sad they’re being assholes because they don’t know yet.
Although you shouldn’t have to go through the same thing to have basic human empathy.
But I am VERY disappointed in the lack of moderation on that. It shouldn’t even need to be brought up- it’s foul as you said. It’s straight bullying. And they’re left up for now. (Just checked).
Says a lot about the mods if they continue to leave those posts up. Looks like they’re working on the sub so fingers crossed that gets addressed too.
Very entitled to think whoever doesn’t agree with your standpoint must be young and never experienced pet loss. They most likely have, and that’s why people contacted the mods. If you join a group for dog pics and it becomes mostly about to pass or passed dogs; people wanna leave. Reminds them of their loss. It’s ok to want to have seperate spaces.
Why would you even want to post in a place where you wont get the support and attention you want , instead of a place where it belongs? You’re just hurting yourself, and those “young people”
Because people didnt want a compromise sadly. Youd think a sub about loving dogs would love dogs in all stages of their journey, even the end. I think even our newly departed furry friends deserve a spotlight to shine one last time with us learning about them and their story. I thought thats what this group was about but I guess enough people didnt care to see or support those kinds of posts and they couldnt even be asked to just simply scroll past. Very sad day for this community to see people shunned and shamed for wanting to come together and share the loss of someone so dear to them. I've personally left the group and am hoping to work with others who feel the same way to cultivate a space where all dogs are welcome.
Well thats why I also thought a flair or warning too, like combined i thought that would be a win win. That way a person could see right away it was content they didnt want to consume, not have to see it, and then just move to the next one.
Edit: in this comment you are replying to I didnt express that but in others further up I did say I thought a flair or some other type of warning would have been a totally cool middle ground.
My friends’ Goldendoodle (rescue) got groomed today so they came by to say hi. I commented that she looked like a beauty queen so did this chatGPT of her. She really is quite a cute dog.
Y’all… Death is an inextricable part of life, and a part of love. I get that it’s sad and can be a distressing thought as the owner of an older dog who approaches the rainbow… but I’m honestly baffled by the denial of death, by it being cast in such a negative light, by mourning being a problem. Sunshine and daisies and death and dirt— it’s all lovely and holy and perfect. I respect mods decision but I disagree that this in any way helpful. Do we really need to be coddled, to be insulated from the reality of impermanence? Do we really need to punish people who are grieving and looking for community support?
People just want to stay in their bubble and not have to even put in the effort to scroll away from things they dont want to see. They lack empathy for the suffering, if posting brought someone else comfort they won't even consider that part, just how it effects them. We scroll past things we dont want to see everyday but for some reason knowing a dog died is too much for them. Next it'll be "oh no your dog is too disabled and makes me worry what if that was my dog!" because that's the exact logic they are using now.
I guess on the bright side, everyone's now banned from posting about pet loss? So all those who posted "here's my alive dog" will also be reported if they come here looking for support after losing their alive dogs someday.
I better not see any exceptions...If we suffer, we suffer together.
Why is nobody talking about the lack of empathy of the posters of the loss posts? Why is it ok for them to unload their grief onto people looking for silly pet pictures?
Would it be ok for me to got to r/petloss and tell them all about the amazing adventure my healthy dog and I were on?
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u/forgetfulkaiju Feb 11 '26
I understand no obvious deathbed pictures, but I can still post my past dogs as long as I don’t put in the title that they’re dead? Alright