(One of your best friends has gone away on vacation and left you in care
of his pet. You come home the next night to find the pet dead on your
kitchen floor!)

(do you tell your friend that his pet died?)

29 responses total.

Yes you tell him. If he is truly your friend he will be mad, and then he 
will forgive you.

What's the alternative, leave the pet there for the friend to find when
they walk in?  Of course I would tell the friend.  As hard as it is, it
would be the only responsable thing to do in the situation (what, Steve is
worrying about being responsable?).

I would get the pet stuffed and hope that the owner is really stupid

I'd tell them...I mean...I would want the same...wouldn't you?

tell them.

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now, now, now, be serious.  :)

This is sitcom plot #11.

Do you mean, do you call your friend in the middle of his long awaited vacation
in an exotic locale, or do you ever tell him at all.  I like the idea of
substituting another pet and hoping he doesnt notice.

Certainily I tell my friend.  How much of a crisis this is, depends 
on the pet and the apparent manner of its death -- did the dowager
cat peacefully come to the end of her ninth life, did the kitten get
into the garbage that I forgot to conceal, did the goldfish try to
fly, did the hamster injure himself escaping from the cage, did the
dog just mysteriously die ... ?

...did the hamster get caught in the garbage disposal?...

Deees-gusting!

I'd tell my friend, most definitely.

Oh, god, this HAPPENED to me when I was a child watching our neighbor's 
goldfish.  They got some sort of disease and died.  It occurred to me to 
replace the fish, but I thought it best to do that after the family got
back into town.  Turns out they had lost a plethora of fish in that tank
to the same disease, so it didn't even surprise them.  They did not tell
me this before they left.  Anyway, of course I'd tell.  I did the best I
could with what I had.

Once on the Tonight Show, Truman Capote told about a friend
of his who went to take a friend to dinner.  She hadn't finished
dressing yet, so she asked him to wait in her livingroom for her.
He started a game of "fetch" with her dog to pass the time, the
ball bounced out an open window, and the dog jumped out after
it and fell to his death.  All night long, the guy tried to think
of a way to tell her what had happened, but the longer he waited
the more impossible it seemed, and finally he never did tell her.
He never saw her again after that.  Capote posed the question:
"Well, how *would* you tel someone something like that.  A few
weeks later, Elaine May was a guest on the show and brought up
Capote's story.  She said she would've waited for an opening
during dinner, then she would've said, "You know, your dog seemed
kind of...depressed."

That would certainly be an uncomfortable situation, but the dog could have
been just seriously injured, instead of dead.  I would have gotten the
friend immediately and told her not that her dog was dead, but that it had
jumped out the window and looked hurt.  That way she could give it
whatever attention she thought it needed.  Sure it would ruin what might
otherwise be a very nice evening, but maybe some evenings just aren't
meant to be nice.

Yes. I can't imagine what sort of effort could go into the hiding of
a loved one, and that's exactly what a pet would be. It's very possible
that the pet was "of age" anyway. A true friend would understand that
there was nothing you could have done to save the pet, and a truer 
friend would be there to share the grief and anguish that comes with the
loss of a family member.

Yes, after all, it's not your fault (suppose the pet was to old to live
anymore) and if it was admit it.

I'm rather disappointed that we haven't more seriously delved into
sitcom plot #12, the reapplacement, of a lost pet with one that looks
much the same.   It always works for at *least* ten minutes on TV,
so isn't it worth a shot?  At least,m if you're resposnisble for
it's demise, cuz we don't want to get caught, but odn't go spending 
$400 on a pooch  just becausse.  ( does this qualify me as being completely
immoral? sigh)

Determione the cause of death and relay the information to your friend as soon
as possible. Friends are honesty.

tell him. (trust me I tried it the other way and it didn't work.)

I would tell my friend as soon as s(he) got back. No need to take a day or
two away from a vacation. If I could determine how long the pet had been dead,
and if I thought it was safe, and the owner was the kind of person who
wouldn't mind, I'd cook and eat the pet (saving any unedible parts, of
course).

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Valerie, I take it you would not join me.   ;->

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Well, we could switch 'pet' with 'house plant'.  ;->

sure... we could switch, but i think they'd notice right away.

Tell them, definitely. But wait till they got back from vacation so as not
to spoil their time. 

No. I would tell them the pet ran away.

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