Do cats grieve?

firstborn · 23 Mar 2008 at 10:34

Lost the little guy lying in the front of the pic below last night. Found him on the road having been been hit by a car. Now I'm upset enough as it is, but is his brother is likely to suffer more. They were 2 years old and I've had them since they were 6 weeks old. So, do cats grieve?

firstborn · 23 Mar 2008 at 11:25

knip said:
I showed my rabbit the body of his dead wife (she died from a complication with her tummy, so I brought her home from the vets) so he could see that she was "gone." He sat there for a bit with her, giving her a wash, the dog also tried to nose her and wake her up.

As shes unfortunately been hit by a car though you might not be able to do that.

Im sorry for your loss.

I did show the body to the brother, he had a bit of a sniff and a look then wandered off.

As amatuerjimmy says - it's better than waiting for him to come home. I'd prefer to know what had happened instead of constantly guessing.

The other half is away at the mo and just phoned, asked how the cats were

Had to lie as she has a long drive back today and I know she'll be in a mess when I tell her.

firstborn · 23 Mar 2008 at 11:41

gareth.e said:
poor kitty cat

Uh Oh!

Are you going to tell her the truth?

I'll have to tbh, and I'll do it straight away as the first things she does is look for the cats.

I buried the cat last night after his brother had seen him, thought about leaving him out for my grilfriend to help with the burial but thought that'd be worse for her.

firstborn · 23 Mar 2008 at 11:52

kitten_caboodle said:
you've done the right thing letting him see his brother -At least now he knows that his brother is gone, he won't always wonder where he is

One of our cats was hit and killed by a car and we took him and put him in the garage laid out because him and my dad had a really strong bond and we wanted to wait for him to come home from work so he could bury him. The cat's brother was searching everywhere for him and started to get frantic (normally he didn't bother cos the other cat would be out and about late, and he didn't seem to worry).
In the end we took him into the garage and he did the same as Knips rabbit - he sniffed him, briefly licked him and washed his wounds () then wandered away. I think they understand. He never looked for him again, he just sort of took over the places that his brother used to sit in - I guess he could smell him.

I'm so sorry, it's a horrid way to lose an animal and upsetting to see your other kitty suffering. See how he goes, and if he's really upset, then consider getting a kitten in a few weeks, will help fill the gap and your remaining cat will not feel alone (although he might not accept a newcomer straight away and there may be fisticuffs to begin with). Alternatively, he may just adjust to being a single puss and be fine

Good luck with telling your partner, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. When she arrives home just tell her quickly and let her grieve. Nothing worse than knowing someone is trying to tell you something but is having a hard time doing it.

Cheers, will see how it goes. As we both work I'd have a hard time knowing he was home alone after having his brother around.

firstborn · 23 Mar 2008 at 11:57

kitten_caboodle said:
Sometimes I think it upsets us more thinking about how they must be feeling than it does them.

That's exactly how I feel about it at the moment. I'm ok until I think about the other chap.

firstborn · 24 Mar 2008 at 00:26

Thanks for the comments all. I've now broken the news and it was recieved as expected, but we agree that the little chap had had a good life until now, so we will focus on that and the fact that his brother is still around and needs as much attention as he desires and all our love.

Cheers,

Steve & Cat.