History Main / DeadPetSketch

See also BrokenTreasure and OfCorpseHesAlive. While many examples of this trope involve a replacement goldfish, they generally do not involve ''the'' ReplacementGoldfish.

** A throwaway line by Susan in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' implies that she has ''successfully'' pulled the pet-replacement trick on Twila at least once, with gerbils. Presumably Twila herself was the one who discovered the deaths of the three that are buried in the garden.
** By ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', Susan has evidently gotten tired of playing out this trope, as she chooses stick insects as the new class pet because it's hard to tell if they are dead.

* ''Series/TheArmyGame'': In "Snudge's Budgie'', the boys from Hut 29 attempt to replace Snudge's pet budgerigar with a lookalike after Bootsie lets the original one escape. They might have got away with it if their replacement 'male' budgie hadn't [[YourTomCatIsPregnant laid an egg]].

* ''Series/TheArmyGame'': In "Snudge's Budgie'', the boys from Hut 29 attempt to replace Snudge's pet budgerigar with a lookalike after Bootsie lets the original one escape. They might have got away with it if their replacement 'male' budgie hadn't [[YourTomCatIsPreganant laid an egg]].

* ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'', when [[spoiler: Penny's [[MiserAdvisor money-hungry agent]] decides to replace him with a lookalike dog to keep the show going, when the star dog fails to show up for a long time. The real Bolt and his friends return to the studio, but thinks Penny has [[YouHaveWaitedLongEnough given up the search for him and took to a new dog]], but he is convinced that Penny still loves him and she was forced to adopt the replacement. Bolt eventually saves his owner Penny from a fire in the studio.]]

Not to be confused with ''[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Monty Python]]'''s "Dead Parrot Sketch", which is an altogether different [[IncrediblyLamePun beast]] entirely... in which the Norwegian Blue Parrot was... resting. Here is an external [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npjOSLCR2hE link]] to that sketch.

* ''Series/{{Alice|1976}}'' has an episode where Vera bought a parrot named Birdie, who keeled over and died while she was away from the diner. The gang buy another one just like it and try to pass it off as the original -- until the bird says "My name is Irving" to her.

-->'''Rocky''': [[Series/TheBradyBunch The Bradies]], [[Series/ThePartridgeFamily the Partridges]], the Series/GrowingPains...oh, and Series/SavedByTheBell.
-->'''Bryan:''' Well, if it's good enough for Series/SavedByTheBell, it's good enough for me.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* ComicStrip/{{Curtis}} did not take Michelle's demands for her spoiled cat seriously. When the cat became unresponsive, he didn't panic... until he learned that the closest thing at the pet shop was way out of his price range.
* One ''ComicStrip/ShermansLagoon'' arc had Sherman ''eating'' a neighbor's pet catfish. He tries to get a new to replace it, only to learn that catfish are a pain to deal with, and the neighbor hated the pet to begin with. He ended up stuck with the replacement, up until Megan found a recipe for [[EatTheDog cooking catfish...]]

[[/folder]]

* Strong Bad refers to this trope in VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner:

* The ''Webcomic/BatmanAndSons'' story arc "Ace in the Hole" is all about this. [[spoiler:The Batfamily ends up going through ''five'' Aces before giving up - one of them, being female, apparently ''humped to death'' by Krypto.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' with a rooster.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' - Baljeet is to watch Perry and make sure he doesn't run away. Because Perry is a secret agent, he manages (with much difficulty) to escape to perform his mission, as he does [[OnceAnEpisode every day]]. Baljeet is convinced that he lost Perry and weeps incessantly. When Phineas returns, Baljeet is just about to break the news to him when Perry shows up and Phineas says "[[CatchPhrase Oh, there you are Perry]]."

* The original Petra on ''Series/BluePeter'' died after only her first appearance. Pet shops were scoured to find a replacement, as it was felt to be to upsetting for viewers. It worked too, and no-one knew for years.

* There's an old story about a woman who was flying on an airplane with her dog in a cage. She had forgotten something at home and left the dog with an airport official. The official noticed that the dog inside was dead. So he raced out and got a new dog that looked similar. When the woman returned, he gave her the new dog, and she knew right away that it wasn't her old dog. When he asked why, she told him that her dog was dead and she was taking him to his old home to be buried. This legend was adapted into a ''WesternAnimation/FreakyStories'' cartoon (see above under WesternAnimation), but with a twist ending where the woman never realizes the switch, but just assumes her dog was NotQuiteDead after all.

* In ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' GOB feels that he would be entitled to a full refund for the pigeon he accidentally killed then stuck in the freezer. The sketch itself happens off screen, and we see GOB throwing into the sea in anger over their return policy. He does the same thing a week later with a rabbit.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HTqbxYsYwc Episode 1]] of ''The Dr. Steel Show'', Music/DoctorSteel announces that it's time to "[[PetTheDog Feed the Hamster]]" (a segment with its own musical intro). However he soon notices that the hamster has expired. After a brief moment of mourning (with accompanying [[GriefSong sad violin music]]), he quips, "[[AnimalTesting But it does mean that my experiment ]][[YouCantMakeAnOmelette was a success!]]" before putting the body in a pneumatic tube and launching it off his [[IslandBase island]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldofGumball'' actualy did this with Penny's pet spider.

* Lampshaded in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When Bart and Lisa go off to summer camp, Lisa tells the parents not to replace the pets if they die, because she'll notice. Rather ironic, considering that the cat's been replaced four times. It just wasn't secret.

* ''Series/{{Alice|1976}} has an episode where Vera bought a parrot named Birdie, who keeled over and died while she was away from the diner. The gang buy another one just like it and try to pass it off as the original -- until the bird says "My name is Irving" to her.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', where Filburt isn't broken up about the accidental death of his pet mynah bird because it was from an extremely short-lived species, and was going to die of old age soon anyway.
** However, at the end of the episode, Filburt is quite shocked to find out the ''actual'' cause of death for the bird: [[spoiler:Heffer sat on it.]]

* Lampshaded in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When Bart and Lisa go off to summer camp, Lisa tells the parents not to replace the pets if they die, because she'll notice.
** Rather ironic, considering that the cat's been replaced four times. It just wasn't secret.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' episode 413 has this done mostly straight with a bluebird owned by a guest star character. Slightly changed because the bird wasn't sick and had no reason to die. [[spoiler:It was sick, they just didn't recognize it.]]
* Given a different twist in the ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'' Flash shorts. Mahiro asked Cuuko to take care of his goldfish, and when he gets back he starts demanding to know what kind of food she fed it... because it's sprouted human legs. Cuuko, being an alien, doesn't quite understand that this isn't normal.

* A Film/TheThreeStooges short features Moe, Larry, and Curly trying to cover up the fact that their animal hospital misplaced a valuable poodle, ending up finding a lame replacement until they can rescue the dog from dog-nappers.

* ''Film/DeuceBigalow'' has the gigolo's pet fish killed by blender. They replace it with a new one, but it doesn't fool him for long.
* ''Film/EasyVirtue'' Poor Larita sits on [[spoiler: the ghastly Whittaker family's pet dog.]] Since its the ample-bottomed Jessica Biel who plays Larita, [[spoiler: the poor lap dog never really had a prayer!]]

* ''Series/HomeImprovement'', with a [[ReplacementGoldfish goldfish]]
* ''Series/FriendsFromCollege'', Ethan and Sam replace Marianne's rabbit Anastasia, but cannot find the exact breed so they have to draw black circles around the new bunny's eyes with eyeliner.

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', with Slater's chameleon. It backfired as two students had the idea and neither warned the other.
* ''Series/BetterWithYou'', where Vicky and Joel adopt Mia and Casey's cat and then lose it
* ''Series/TrafficLight'', with a stuffed dog named CJ that Adam won for Callie
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', where Dewey is promised a dog if he can take care of a goldfish. His parents, not wanting a dog, pull a reverse ReplacementGoldfish by putting a dead one in the bowl. Only for Dewey to walk in the next morning [[AchievementsInIgnorance with the goldfish still alive]].
* Lampshaded in ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'', where the dog Doug's had from childhood dies and his family scrambles to replace it. [[spoiler: Turns out that this is actually the ''fourth'' version of the dog. When he died the first time his parents replaced it, and then kept doing it. When the truth comes out, Doug has to admit that a 32 year old dog is pretty unlikely[[note]](that's 224 dog years)[[/note]]-and then makes himself pretend it's the same dog as they celebrate the dog's 32nd birthday.]]
* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' twisted this beautifully when the main characters replaced the canary only to have the owner very surprised on her return because it had died the night before.
** A twist that is also [[http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/haredry.asp the entire basis of an urban legend.]]

* On ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', Bobby fish-sits for Tony with predictable results. Tony seems happy and everyone is relieved until he says, "I hope they get along with George and Wanda [the original goldfish]."
* ''Series/{{Alice|1976}} has an episode where Vera bought a parrot named Birdie, who keeled over and died while she was away from the diner. The gang buy another one just like it and try to pass it off as the original -- until the bird says "My name is Irving" to her.
* ''Series/TheCosbyShow'':
** With a hamster. The little girl wasn't fooled for a moment as this happened ''every'' time she left her hamster with somebody.
** There was also "Goodbye Mr. Fish", featuring a funeral attended by the whole family as Cliff wanted to teach the older kids a lesson in sensitivity when they made fun of Rudy for being sad about her fish's death only [[spoiler: for Rudy to lose interest abruptly in the middle of the ceremony to go watch TV.]]
* ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'', with the school's hamster. First, the family tries to convince Kady that he's just sleeping, then Michael buys a replacement. When the replacement has babies, they confess the truth; Kady is displeased ("You let me touch a dead hamster?! Eeew!!").
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' did a unique inversion wherein Carla loses Turk and J.D.'s stuffed dog Rowdy. Janitor offers to replace Rowdy by ''killing and stuffing another dog.'' After that idea was rejected, he found another, already stuffed dog, nearly the same, this one named Steven.
** Also a multi-season delayed BrickJoke, as J.D. and Turk didn't find out for a long time. When they do finally get Rowdy back, JD lets Turk keep Rowdy and keeps Steven for himself, as he got attached to him and could tell the two apart.
* ''Series/MorkAndMindy'', with a caterpillar. Turns out it was just transforming into a butterfly.
* ''Series/NorthernExposure'': When Chris in the Morning runs over a woman's dog in "Nothing's Perfect" (4.3), he falls for and tries to court her... but ends up killing ''all'' her pets.
* ''Series/KenanAndKel'' with Roger's (Kenan's Dad's) Cockatoo.
** Averted in another episode where the guys housesit for Chris, and his goldfish is just about the only thing in his house that isn't destroyed by the end of the episode.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' subverts this in that Dwight, while supposed to be caring for Angela's sick cat, intentionally kills it to put it out of its misery. He then tells her that it was dead when he got there. (He gave it pills and put it in the freezer.) Naturally, the truth comes out and there is hell to pay.
* In ''Series/{{MADtv}}'''s dead pet sketch, a house-sitting friend is saying goodbye to the pet parakeet [[http://youtu.be/3iqSIkunnz4 when it bites him and he flings it to the floor]], killing it. He then goes on to [[AccidentalMurder kill the friend when he returns]], the [[LeaveNoWitnesses friend's mother, and several bystanders including the mailman and a water deliveryman]] - the last of which is lampshaded as a ContrivedCoincidence by the house-sitter. He also calls ''in'' a jogger across the street, claiming he's addicted to it. But, of course, at the end we find out [[spoiler: the parrot wasn't dead, only unconscious. However, it saw all the ''actual'' murders [[NotInFrontOfTheParrot and is killed to prevent it from telling anyone.]]]]
* ''Series/WorstWeek'', the US adaptation of ''Series/TheWorstWeekOfMyLife'', had one episode which was entirely centered around this trope. The lead character feeds his in-laws' bird an avocado... unfortunately, it turns out that avocados are deadly for that kind of bird. So the lead character then buys a replacement... and, trying to avoid suspicion, carries it back in his ''pocket'', leading to a rather awkward moment when the bird starts moving around. He manages to kill ''that'' bird too while trying, a bit too forcefully, to keep it quiet in his pocket...
** The UK version has an hilarious arc in the first series in which Howard accidentally throws his in-laws' scottie dog into a cement mixer and is forced to find a replacement by the wedding day. Unlike most of the above examples, the in-laws are well aware of what happened to the dog.

* ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'': Herb accidentally spray-painted his daughter's pet frog in one episode.

* In ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' GOB feels that he would be entitled to a full refund for the pigeon he accidentally killed then stuck in the freezer. The sketch itself happens off screen, and we see GOB throwing into the sea in anger over their return policy. He does the same thing a week later with a rabbit.
* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' does this during an ''Series/EmptyNest'' crossover. Dreyfuss runs away when Sophia is supposed to be watching him, and she gets a replacement lookalike. The real Dreyfuss then comes back, and the girls wind up with both of them, with Rose having to ferret out the real one before Harry gets home and take back the duplicate. It's indicated, though, that the wrong dog got taken back.
* In an episode of ''Series/FullHouse'', Joey promises Michelle, who is traumatized over accidentally killing her pet fish, that the new one he bought for her is going to live for a long, long time. After she leaves, Jesse asks him what's going to happen if the fish ''does'' die, leading Joey to reveal an entire kitchen cabinet full of identical replacements on standby.
* DoubleSubverted in ''Series/TheNewNormal''. Shania's guinea pig dies while under David and Bryan's care, and Bryan suggest going to the pet store and getting an identical one. [[SassyBlackWoman Rocky]] [[GenreSavvy immediately googles]] to see how many sitcoms have used the exact same ploy.
-->'''Rocky''': [[Series/TheBradyBunch The Bradies]], [[Series/ThePartridgeFamily the Partridges]], the Series/GrowingPains...oh, and Series/SavedByTheBell.
-->'''Bryan:''' Well, if it's good enough for Series/SavedByTheBell, it's good enough for me.
* ''Series/GraceUnderFire'': Grace has told her daughter Libby that she could get a dog if she kept her goldfish Fishy Fishman alive for six months, thinking it was impossible, and is now dismayed that Fishy's six month birthday is approaching. However, when Fishy dies just short of the deadline, Grace feels so bad that she secretly buys another goldfish to replace him with. When she goes to make the switch, she is surprised to see that Fishy is still alive and it eventually comes out that there have been many, many Fishy Fishmans and Libby has been secretly getting a new goldfish every time her current one died, just so she could meet the deadline and get a dog.
* A rather over-the-top example in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', where in a flashback Robin's parents replace her pet dog with a ''turtle''.

* An early ''{{Series/Neighbours}}'' storyline had Daphne's grandfather come to stay with her and Des, bringing his pet bird with him. When they find the bird apparently dead in the morning, they buy a replacement...then learn the bird often plays dead while asleep, and has now escaped. Cue a lot of switching until they get the original bird back.
* Played straight in ''Series/CoronationStreet'' when Percy Sugden learns his budgie is older than the recorded maximum age for the species. He intends to correct this "mistake" until Emily tells him his budgie died several years earlier, shortly after he moved in, and he never noticed that she'd bought a replacement.
* In one episode of the Israeli sitcom ''[=HaPijamot=]'', the LocalHangout owner Gary, who has already killed some of his daughter’s pets by accident, accidentally kills another, a white mouse. When he can’t find one to replace it, he winds up stealing a mouse from a lab, [[spoiler:on which researchers were testing the hair-growing formula Gary wanted to use and was now lost for years to come--the mouse was used as a feeder rat for the snake in his daughter’s biology class]].
* In ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'', Bob Stuyvestant mentions this happening in his childhood with Fifi, his miniature French poodle.
* ''Series/NickyRickyDickyAndDawn'': The father was caught switching goldfish by the kids in "The Secret". This was the seventh fish to be replaced. Dawn, however, is more upset that the boys have known about it since the third goldfish died than the fact that it did die (apart from accidentally being hit in the face by the dead fish when they were trying to get their father to show what was in his hands).
* A variant on ''Series/OneHundredThingsToDoBeforeHighSchool''. Fenwick's elderly godmother's beloved cat died and Fenwick didn't have the heart to tell her he was dead so he convinced her that it was pet week at his school, keeping the dead cat in his locker. One idea of his was to [[OfCorpseHesAlive strap it to an RC car]]. That idea was quickly nixed. At the end, [[spoiler:a stray cat that looked just like her cat came in just as Fenwick was about to tell her the truth.]]
* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'': After Drake & Josh fear they have accidentally killed Megan's pet hamster, they spend the rest of the episode in paranoia about how Megan will get her revenge on them.
* This happened in an early episode of ''{{Series/Cheers}}'' where Diane receives a phone call from her mother that her pet cat, Elizabeth, has died. None of the other characters are very supportive, until Diane tells Sam about how much Elizabeth meant to her, including stopping her from committing suicide when her parents spilt up, which brings Sam to tears.
* Done in ''Series/MotherAndSon'' with a budgerigar. Maggie manages to replace it without Arthur finding out (going so far as to bring the dead budgie to the pet shop as a reference), until it [[YourTomcatIsPregnant happens to lay an egg]], at which point Arthur finds the dead budgie still in her handbag.

* The ''Webcomic/BatmanAndSons'' story arc "Ace in the Hole" is all about this. [[spoiler:The Batfamily ends up going through ''five'' Aces before giving up - one of them, being female, apparently ''humped to death'' by Krypto.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': In "I Remember Melville," Chuckie's pillbug Melville dies while Tommy, Phil and Lil are watching him.
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' - Baljeet is to watch Perry and make sure he doesn't run away. Because Perry is a secret agent, he manages (with much difficulty) to escape to perform his mission, as he does [[OnceAnEpisode every day]]. Baljeet is convinced that he lost Perry and weeps incessantly. When Phineas returns, Baljeet is just about to break the news to him when Perry shows up and Phineas says "[[CatchPhrase Oh, there you are Perry]]."

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', where Filburt isn't broken up about the accidental death of his pet mynah bird because it was from an extremely short-lived species, and was going to die of old age soon anyway.
** However, at the end of the episode, Filburt is quite shocked to find out the ''actual'' cause of death for the bird: [[spoiler:Heffer sat on it.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': While minding Hank's elderly bloodhound Ladybird, Luann mistook the dog's stubborn lethargy for death and, predictably, bought a new bloodhound to replace her. The presence of the second dog roused Ladybird into a flurry of activity, leaving Luann with the new problem of identifying the correct dog.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' with a rooster.

* ''WesternAnimation/AngelaAnaconda'' with a turtle.
* Lampshaded in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When Bart and Lisa go off to summer camp, Lisa tells the parents not to replace the pets if they die, because she'll notice.
** Rather ironic, considering that the cat's been replaced four times. It just wasn't secret.
* The "missing pet" variant was played straight in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Franklin}}'' episode ''Franklin and the Two Henrys''. Beaver gets Franklin to look after her hamster, Henry. Franklin accidentally lets Henry escape from the cage. So, he gets a replacement hamster. Beaver returns, and then the original Henry turns up while Franklin tries to pass the other hamster off as Henry, HilarityEnsues.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "I was a Teenage Gary", [=SpongeBob=] leaves Gary in Squidward's care when he leaves, and Squidward immediately forgets about him. He doesn't try to replace him though, because he doesn't remember until [=SpongeBob=] returns.
** Also the episode "Wormy" where [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick petsit for Sandy and become best friends with her caterpillar, who turns into a butterfly the next day, but they think the butterfly is a monster that ate it.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye" had the kids come back after a long weekend to discover that Speedy, the class hamster, had died. During his funeral, several older kids and even some parents turn up to pay their respects to their beloved class pet. Then someone pulls out an old class photo with Speedy in it, and everyone starts noticing that the details are wrong--Speedy's feet were supposed to be white, Speedy was supposed to be a ''girl'', etc. [[HippieTeacher Ms. Grotke]] awkwardly admits that since the teachers thought the students would be too young to know how to cope with death, they would secretly replace Speedy with a new hamster every time the old one died. As this has happened over 40 years, several of the older mourners then begin to realize that that's rather long-lived for a hamster.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a variant in the episode "A Bird In The Hoof"; it differs in that Fluttershy literally ''steals'' the Princess' pet bird in order to give it medical attention, and the drama lies in her caring for it adequately before giving it back to her. The bird dies at the last possible moment... [[spoiler: before it is resurrected from its own ashes, because it's a phoenix.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldofGumball'' actualy did this with Penny's pet spider.
** It also has a bizarre inversion with Darwin and Gumball caring for the class hamster. They mistake a clump of Principal Brown's hair for the hamster and spend half the episode bonding with it before they realize their mistake. This being Gumball, the hamster is intelligent and forces them through an over the top action sequence before being caught. They then play the trope straight in order to let the hamster go free.
* ''WesternAnimation/SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat'' did this with a cricket. Parodied in that it ''is'' the same cricket but the humans don't realize it.

* In ''Animation/TheRabbitWithTheCheckeredEars'', the episode "The Lost Parrot" sees Kriszta trying to re-capture her friend Kistöfi's pet parrot after it escapes when she opens its cage to give it a treat. Her attempts are unsuccessful, but she passes a pet shop and decides to buy Kistöfi a replacement, hoping he won't notice the difference... unfortunately, Kistöfi's parrot is pink, and the replacement bird is green. (Fortunately, the series' title character has managed to retrieve the original - who gets on quite well with the new bird.)

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk Dragons: Race to the Edge]]'', Stoick and Gobber are watching the Edge and taking care of Tuffnut's pet chicken. Gobber sees Stoick's dragon, Skullcrusher, spit out some small bones, comes to the conclusion that Skullcrusher ate the chicken, gathers up the bones, and goes looking for a replacement. Stoick sees Gobber drop a bone, comes to the conclusion that ''Gobber'' ate the chicken, and also goes looking for a replacement. [[spoiler:Tuffnut is not fooled for one moment by either replacement. Fortunately, his chicken was still alive after all.]]

* There's an old story about a woman who was flying on an airplane with her dog in a cage. She had forgotten something at home and left the dog with an airport official. The official noticed that the dog inside was dead. So he raced out and got a new dog that looked similar. When the woman returned, he gave her the new dog, and she knew right away that it wasn't her old dog. When he asked why, she told him that her dog was dead and she was taking him to his old home to be buried.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', with a pillbug.

* A driving force behind the plot of the movie ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', in which this is the exact reason why the Big Bad became that way.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode "I was a Teenage Gary", Spongebob leaves Gary in Squidward's care when he leaves, and Squidward immediately forgets about him. He doesn't try to replace him though, because he doesn't remember until Spongebob returns.
** Also the episode "Wormy" where Spongebob and Patrick petsit for Sandy, and become best friends with her caterpillar, who turns into a butterfly the next day, but they think the butterfly is a monster that ate it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' has an episode wherein we discover every time Timmy goes to summer camp, his parents are in charge of his pets. Since his parents' negligence is the reason Timmy ''has'' Fairy Godparents, you do the math. HilarityEnsues when Timmy wishes for everything in his mom's garden to be "filled with life," and all the pets who "ran away" come back as zombies.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', where Dewey is promised a dog if he can take care of a goldfish. His parents, not wanting a dog, replace the live goldfish with a dead one. Only for Dewey to walk in the next morning with the goldfish still alive.

* ''Film/MeetTheParents'' with a cat. To clarify, the cat ran away and Greg spraypaints a stray to look like the escaped pet. The stray tears up everything in the room, including the bridal gown.

* The "missing pet" variant was played straight in the ''{{Franklin}}'' episode ''Franklin and the Two Henrys''. Beaver gets Franklin to look after her hamster, Henry. Franklin accidentally lets Henry escape from the cage. So, he gets a replacement hamster. Beaver returns, and then the original Henry turns up while Franklin tries to pass the other hamster off as Henry, HilarityEnsues.

* The driver of the plot in the play ''Theatre/TheLieutenantOfInishmore''. Padraic's cat Wee Thomas is killed by rival IRA thugs, and his father and neighbor spend much of the first act trying to find a replacement. They do, but he ends up shooting it when he finds out its not really his cat.

* In ''FanboyAndChumChum'' the titular characters have to watch over a digital pet for their friend, only to kill it. They decide to go bury it at the haunted Pet Cemetary, which makes it come back to life again! ...Only for them to accidentally kill it and bury it again '''several times'''.