coping with pet loss

For Makiki resident Joyce Tsuji, Toro was a companion and confidant, a reliable morning alarm clock and an occasional "bedtime hat."

The fawn-colored tabby, a stray who hung out under Tsuji's car and eventually worked his way into her heart, was a beloved pet for more than five years.

"Toro became family from the moment he adopted me," Tsuji said.

When her cat was diagnosed with lymphoma about five years ago on top of a bowel syndrome, the animal was too weak for surgery, and Tsuji had to make the heartbreaking decision to euthanize her pet.

Losing Toro left a a void in her life. She said she cried just as hard when she lost Toro as the day her grandparents died.

Five years later Tsuji still misses him.

This kind of grief for pet owners is very real, according to Julie Ann Luiz Adrian, a veterinarian and assistant professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo who co-authored a study last year on the emotional impacts of the loss of a pet.