I do understand that, I have RL friends that go to the ends of earth for their pets. Still and all, without kids or spouse, there are parents and siblings, no?
I know I love Julia Roberts, our dog. However, if something happened to my friends, her passing would pale. Granted, she gives only love, well except that time she 'ate' my hearing aid. Come to think of it, not even an enemy ever did that! LOL!
Seriously, pets are the closest we'll ever get to 'unconditional love' if we treat them right. However, humans, with their conditional love are still more important to most of us. My parents passing is still nearly impossible to bear, as is my sister's. I don't know how to explain the difference, but it's there.
"The government is a child that has found their parents credit card, and spends knowing that they never have to reconcile the bill with their own money"-Shannon Churchill