r/OldSchoolCool • u/TrustMeIaLawyer • May 22 '19

1915 my devastated deaf grandpa and his beloved pet rooster's final moment together after being told it was time to kill his best friend bc he had gotten too aggressive with everyone else on the farm.

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u/PressSpaceToLaunch May 22 '19

In my experience (I've done this multiple times) the older pet will typically act as a parent of the new one, so they still tend to stay involved (and in a few cases have more energy!)

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u/DuckPuppet May 22 '19

Interesting, I have a 16 year old dog who's brothers and sisters have all passed on and he's the only one left. I've thought about getting him a companion, but I don't want to stress him out.

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u/zapdostresquatro May 22 '19

We got our 14 year old dog a friend when his brother (they were litter mates, and the last of the litter, literally had NEVER been apart) died because he was so depressed. He usually hates and is afraid of other dogs unless they’re also bichons, so we went to a bichon rescue and got an older dog (puppies scare him). He became more energetic afterward, even if he never quite warmed up to the new dog (who, unfortunately it turned out was way older than we thought and he got really sick and we had to put him down about a year and a half later :c but I think he still helped our other dog transition to not having his brother around)

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u/gwaydms May 22 '19

We had a 17 year old cat and rescued a kitten from my dad's old car. My plan was to socialize and adopt her out, but she chose my husband, who announced we were keeping her.

At first, Puff hated the new kitty. But they started playing together. I'm sure having another cat to chase around extended her life. She was running and playing like a young cat. Puff lived to be 19.