@Samlish - Hmm. You know what, now that I think about it I've never let a pet get taken away so I can't really speak from first-hand experience. If I find it too difficult to maintain their social needs, which can be the tricky one, the obvious (to me) solution is to get them another pet so they can socialize with each other. Keeping them fed, safe, and happy doesn't usually seem like that much of a burden.
So anyway, perhaps I was going on a false assumption that re-adoption would not be possible unless one is using mods and moves in very quickly with MasterController to make that happen, before the pet gets removed from the scene and possibly the world roster.
And yes thanks, the next day (today) has been much better. The stress was mostly work-related, with a temporary not feeling well moodlet thrown in for extra fun. :)