In literature, animal deaths are taken a little differently than in visual media. In movies, TV, etc. animal deaths can drive audiences away (at least two movies failed at the box office because audiences just could not sit through the animal deaths on screen, though I don't know which two; Joe Bob Bfiggs tossed out the detail just before an animal death scene in a movie, I think it was called Strays - all I remember is the dead dog and Claudia Christian as a real estate agent). Audiences hate to see animals die. Readers can go either way, depending on how well detailed the animal is - Old Yeller's death hits like a ton of bricks in any medium, but Cujo's is painful to watch, but fitting in print.
