I don't want to discount the author's grief over the loss of his pets, which I can wholeheartedly understand and commiserate with, but his "journey" is so unlike anything that any other pet owner on the face of the earth is ever likely to go through, and he was so blind to the gifts that he received that the rest of will never even come close to, that I found myself incensed at his bad attitude and behavior. I could not in any way relate to this mans "journey."

His animals died quietly in their sleep. He didn't have to live with long terminal illnesses, painful treatments, or horrible decisions. I don't want any of my pets to die, but as they have to, I would pray to have them pass as his did rather than suffer through illness. But was he even remotely grateful for such a quick and painless passing? No.

He was a public figure so hundreds (no joke!)of people offered their sympathy and support to him. But there were two people who did not...and he was so angred by these two people that he felt it necessary to write about them, by name, in this book. A whole whopping two people were insensitive to his ordeal and this so enraged him that he felt it necessary to lash out at them? Poor baby. If I could find two people who understood what I was going through I'd feel blessed and lucky.

He got to stop working, due to his grief. Have any of us ever had that luxury? Or did our bosses not want to hear about it? Again, was he grateful? or annoyed when people hinted it was time to come back to work?

He held a public memorial service for his pets in a theater and it was standing room only. He got to talk about it, share it, let it go. How many of us get any opportunity to talk about our dead pets to anyone, least wise hundreds of people? Most of us know that no one wants to hear about it. We have to keep it inside. Again I feel he was blessed and yet he didn't see it.

Despite his grief he got twice as many new pets within a very short period of time. But does he enjoy them? No, in fact, he refuses to even celebrate Christmas with new pets. And once again gets irritated when a couple of people don't understand this. This proved to me that he learned nothing from the deaths of the original five....life is short and can be taken at any moment. He should have celebrated joyously that he had new pets...but he "couldn't bring himself" to do so. I barely had time to grieve one death before another was occurring yet I assure you I celebrated Christmas and every other day I could with the new pets.

The authors attitude annoyed me. He was given the best of everything and it still wasn't enough for him. If he had seen those five pets through long, painful, illnesses one right after the other, and had to grapple with painful treatments and surgeries, when to euthansize, digging a grave in his backyard one night and getting up and having to go to work the next day, all the while having no one to talk to about this...then he might begin to understand what the average pet owner goes through. I don't think he has a clue what it's like for the rest of us....and I hope he never has to.


Celebrating Life with a Fur Family   June 23, 2003
Just finished another interesting paperback book I bought thru Amazon.com titled
Three Cats and Two Dogs--One Journey Through Multiple Pet Loss by David Congalton. Copyright 2000 Publisher: NewSage Press

It is a story about a writer who is also a radio talk show host and his wife who lose all their five pets one night in December 1997 to an accidental fire while the couple was out. In the months that followed, not only were they grief stricken and felt a deep sense of loss but also felt a sense of guilt and great emptiness. Within months and after lots and lots of tears, they started to "move on" as best they could. Within two years they had rebuilt their fur family including among them several handicapped animals. At the end of the book, their family consisted of a grand total of nine cats, one kitten and four dogs and they couldn't seem happier although they will always think about the night when all 5 of their pets died.
This is a great book for anyone who has ever lost a pet and would understand the couple's grieving process. And happily the book does end on a joyous note.
Happy Reading.


Emotionally challenging and honest.   May 29, 2002
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Having suffered pet loss in two different forms, ( as a result of death and as a result of a divorce) I could empathise and sympathise with David and Charlotte on losing not just one animal companion, but five. Although I do not by any means claim that I fully understand the depth of their grief, no one truly can. Grief is an individual process and experience, because of the relationships that exist between all individuals.

As I read this book I could only do so a page at a time, stop to cry and grieve for David and Charlotte and then move on again sometime later, to the next page. Once I read up to Chapter Four (I think it was) I could proceed reading normally, although somewhat bleary eyed.

This is a truly moving and emotionally draining encounter of love, connection, companionship, loss and grief in the truest sense.

My condolences and my congratulations to David and Charlotte, not just on their loss and a wonderful book respectively, but also for being able to 'see the light' in a time of darkness, by showing the world how animal companionship is, in its most pure and deepest form, and for being able to 'move on' out of respect for five wonderful soul companions.

As a result of reading their true story, David and Charlotte inspired me to commit 'deeds, not just words' to the animal kingdom. I have committed my spare time to my local animal shelter (Blue Cross Animal Shelter)...and as a result of that deed, I adopted two cats and a rabbit....(to add to my two canine companions and rabbit!!!!)

You two should be proud of yourselves...your committment is infectious.

Well done David and Charlotte.

Blessings for all Animals. May they always have people such as yourselves to see them in peace and harmony, with love.


I Already Knew This   November 27, 2001
 6 out of 10 found this review helpful

This book tells me it is okay to grieve and it does it very well. The problem is I already knew it was okay to grieve because I was grieving - terribly. I wanted to find out how to deal with my grief. I read a lot of reviews and a lot of books, but the only books that worked for me were Will Fido Be in Heaven and Cold Noses by the pearly gates.