Animals are always a great source of comfort. And they don’t just provide comfort to humans, they sometimes also provide comfort to each other.
There are some dogs or cats that actually live at the vet’s office, or just hang out there during working hours, and have a pretty special job of their own: they comfort any visiting animals that might be scared.
In fact, one vet’s “comfort dog assistant” was captured in a picture providing consolation to a dog patient – and the photo has gone viral.
The caption on the picture reads, “This veterinarian has a comfort dog assistant that helps sick dog patients know that everything will be alright.”
In the picture, you can see a cute dog hooked up to IVs on his little vet bed, while the dog next to him is giving him a gentle nudge with his nose in order to comfort him.
It is such a sweet and tender moment, it’s easy to see why the picture has been receiving loads of attention. There is something just so pure about one dog comforting another during its time of need. It definitely evokes all the emotions and makes us want to cry.
Redditors have been posting all kinds of comments and opinions about the picture. There are many that couldn’t help but gush over the adorableness of the whole heartbreaking situation.
“This is the saddest and cutest photo I’ve seen in my life,” wrote one Redditor called JungleLiquor.
“Those sad eyebrows and the gentle nose touch,” another called r/putfoodonyourfamily commented.
r/Adventurous_Opinion imagined that the one dog providing comfort must be saying, “‘It’s going to be okay fren.’”
Then r/conundrumbombs summed it up with the words, “Snoot boop.”
There were plenty of other Redditors who were speculating about the lives of the two dogs.
One Redditor, r/tecknoize, shared their devastating theory, saying, “What if that picture is actually of a veteran comfort dog, after helping countless others go through bad days, is now the patient, looking at the eyes of a new comfort dog recruit. As he remembers how he felt on his first day, he can’t help but do his job one last time, comforting the recruit that everything is going to be alright.”
r/Cactihoarder was suspicious about the level of cuteness, saying, “Is this true? I feel like it could cause more harm than good based on how the other dog is.”
r/Elan-Morin-Tedronai replied with, “I mean you are going to choose a dog based on affableness for a comfort dog, and if the sick dog wasn’t down with a friend you could just immediately remove him.”
r/ricebasket seemed to agree with cactihoarder, and wrote, “Yeah if my dog is unable to sniff the butt because she’s mobility limited or hooked to an IV she’s gonna be more stressed by another dog than comforted.”
Then r/malefiz123 chimed in with, “My old vet had her two dogs always in her examination room. She would send them out if the ‘patient’ was an anxious dog or another animal like a cat. For most dog patients they stayed there and I thought it helped “distract” the dog if that makes sense.”
Regardless of the specifics behind this picture, I think we can all agree that it is a very sweet moment between two dogs, and we could all use some more of it in this world.
