This afternoon, my dog will leave this world in my arms without pain, with my lipstick kiss on her mature Maltese mane. Tonight, when it is late and dark and time to sleep, I will feel her presence beside me.

It is clear that, come the time, I will do the right thing by my Scout. My baby. I will not let her suffer. We are told that we love our animals so much, we know when that moment is upon us. And we do the right thing. But how?

Some people who write about their pets really write about their pets -- and they do it in a way that speaks to the hearts of other humans who have also had significant interspecies relationships.

I believe five pounds of fur and love taught me more about life than my bookshelf of self-help books.

Have you ever considered the lessons you learned and the love you expressed through your relationship with animals? Pets connect us to nature and are one of nature's best sources of love.

When I was 26 I had the perfect boyfriend. Big, strong, loving, caring, attentive, and always around. Happy to curl up on the bed next to me while I read a book. Okay, so he was an Airedale, is there something wrong with that? No downside at all as far as I was concerned.

Perhaps it was the fish, or maybe it just goes with the territory of moving, but I found myself reminiscing on past big events and the bettas who went along with them.

Bernie's cancer went into remission, and he survived to meet my daughter. Then, amazingly, he held on to his remission to meet my son 20 months later. But living that long wasn't easy on him, and it took its toll on us, too.

I have been told by very wise people that I have to make friends with Death. I believe they are right. But I have not yet been able.

As intentional and gracious as she was in living, so she was in dying. Instead of going off to a hiding place in the woods, Sugar let us witness, share and learn from the natural ending to a life complete. That's how generous was her big, big heart.

I'm way too old for this. Nobody gets his first pet in his sixth decade. Then again, I'd always known pretty much everything I needed to know about w...

She was my first dog, my mentor and my trusted guardian. So when the time came, I did what I promised I would do: I held her and I watched her die.

Some people feel silly for being so struck by their dog or cat's death, but to deny such sadness and pain is to deny the importance of these dear frie...

It's normal to feel angry, normal to feel guilty, normal to feel sad, normal to hallucinate: That's what I learned recently when my cat Velma died.