I do write a lot in my book about how different cultures have different attachments to their pets, often because of historical context re: perspectives on animals or even just having to deal with other hard things. (For example, sometimes people in countries that have experienced a lot of recent war/famine often can't/don't prioritize having pets when just making it through day-to-day life as a human is so hard.) There is also a difference in who has disposable incomes to have pets in the first place and/or then spent a lot of money on elaborate mourning rituals. Though I will say that even in Latin America not everyone just goes and gets a new one! I wrote a piece for Slate about a pet composting company in Colombia: https://slate.com/technology/2022/08/pet-composting-pleia.html. So elaborate pet mourning rituals are alive and well almost everywhere these days!

And some people do feel they can go out and easily get a replacement pet -- I saw many family plots in pet cemeteries where people had dozens of the same breed of dog or even named the pet the same thing over and over (Charlie 1, Charlie 2, Charlie 3, etc.) but a lot of people feel strongly that every pet is different and unique, even if you get one that looks the same as the old one and does similar things to the old one, so it is still sad to lose that original pet regardless of whatever pets follow that first one.