Lost Companions: Reflections on the Death of Pets

Masson (The Secret World of Farm Animals) discusses people’s close relationships with their pets through the lens of mortality in this moving and intimate study. Now 79, he reflects on a lifetime of pets, including his current one, yellow Labrador Benjy, who at 13 is already a year beyond the breed’s average life expectancy, a realization Masson finds “unbearable.” He also elicits stories from friends, which are moving and occasionally heartbreaking, dealing with cats and dogs, as well as less traditional pets, including turkeys and wombats. “Grief is grief,” Masson writes, and though he’s decidedly “not a great fan of psychology,” he covers the stages of grief. Masson also tracks how humans’ relationships with animals have changed over time (a “coevolution,” he terms it) and suggests that dogs have “developed something unique in their ability to intuit our emotional states and to show empathy.” Anyone who’s found it difficult to deal with the fact that pets’ “lives are so much shorter” than humans’ will appreciate this compassionate work. (June)