One of our two cats died

RumbleBee

RumbleBee

RumbleBee

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1,190
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Teesside, UK
One of our two cats has recently been put to rest. She went to the vets on Saturday and never came back. Her back legs had given way due to a blood clot and problems with her heart. It was all very sudden and we are all devastated. My wife loved the cat so much and is heartbroken.

So now we have the one cat. They were both from the same litter aged 9 years. There last night together they spent as close as I've ever seen them.

The cats were complete opposites. The one that died was agile and always out and about, sometimes for days, where as the only cat we now have never goes past the garden fence. They did brush against each other and sit together while we were at work.

Anyone care to share any experiences of losing one of two pets at such an age. I'm not sure what we should be doing other than fussing over her. I feel sad when I look at her and want her to know that her sister won't be coming back. Probably too soon to tell, but she is acting the same as usual. Eating plenty and sitting on everybody's knee when the TV is on.

We have holidays planned in a few months and I'm worried about leaving her. She will be fed by the mother in law but she will be alone 99% of the time.

Is it wise to consider a new companion for her. If so a kitten, or a cat of a similar age. I'm not about to rush into anything as it's only been a few days. Just wondering what the best will be for her. I know some cats don't take to new companions. Anyone have a similar experience?
 
We lost our second cat about a year ago and our other one did go looking for him for a bit. We have also introduced cats of varying ages to each other with never any problems.

Sucks to loose a pet, sorry to hear about it.
 
I lost a cat last week so I know how you feel. Not sure on introducing a new cat into it's territory may be a good idea though?

Best ring the RSPCA and get their advice, if they said a new cat may be good for this other one then you can get one from them :)

Just noticed your from Teesside :p

Ring the RSPCA in Great Ayton. There's where I got my first.
 
the surviving cat will get over it quicker than you expect and probably quicker than you will do. there will be a few weeks of looking around for the other one but thats about it

when i was young one of our two cats (where brothers) was poisoned by a ******** round the corner. when we arrived home he was in a bad way on doorstep with his brother waiting by his side and died later on with them still together :(

getting a companion depends completely what type of cat she is . does she get on with other cats ? our old one mentioned above was fine with a new cat after a bit of fighting to determine whos in charge

also... from teesside too. we had a great cat from a cat protection place in stockton. no one else wanted him because he was so violent due to being beaten (had had most his teeth kicked out :( ) . after weeks of ripping our feet to shreds he became the best cat we ever had. used too see off the neighbours dog. he just didnt give a crap!
 
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RumbleBee said:
We have holidays planned in a few months and I'm worried about leaving her. She will be fed by the mother in law but she will be alone 99% of the time.
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If you're away more than a day or two you really should put your remaining cat in a cattery. It'll no longer have any company and shouldn't be left on it's own for so long, it'd be a for of cruelty. Unless you can house it with a friend or have someone visit for a few HOURS a day then it needs to be in a cattery mate.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Regarding our holiday and leaving the cat. I was considering asking if my mam can look after her. It's only 3 doors away so the view from the window is nearly the same and she has on rare occasions ventured to her garden. I can almost guarantee the mother in law would not visit for a few hours. Minutes at the most, even if we asked her to stay longer.

About getting on with other cats. I'm not really sure. Random cats do appear in the garden on occasions and she is startled by them and her ears pop but she never wants to get out to mix, or fight with them. Even if the door was open she'd prefer to stay at the window just looking. The cat that has sadly died did on occasions fight with other cats as I'd hear the howling and crying just outside the house.
They are both female by the way.

And peterattheboro. I'm sorry to here about your loss too. It is painful
 
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Sorry to hear about your cat mate, its horrible, back when i was younger we had 2 kittens and one got run over aged 7 months, as said above, the other cat spent a day or 3 looking round for him, but came to terms with it much quicker than I did.

As for introducing your cat to another, it might work, might not, its really hard to tell, with your current cat being quite shy around other cats, its hard to know what personality would work well with it, or if a kitten might get along well as they have a chance to learn eachother and grow closer as the kitten grows up?

Either way, hope it all works out as well as it can :)
 
Might be a bit short depending on when the holidays are.

The current cat will have the upheaval of losing his companion and the issues of having a new cat in the house, especially as it doesn't go out and wouldn't have mixed. And the new cat will be put into a new home and have its owners go away for a bit.

Might be a bit tight on time whether both have fully settled in a few months before you go.
 
sorry to hear that, it's awful when it happens :(

TBH I would not bring a new cat into an envirinment that one cat considers it's own
 
Yeah I agree. I've been reading up a little on pets grieving and I guess the best we can do is just see how things go over the next few months and make a decision on a new companion or not when the time feels right.

We'll make arrangements to suit the cat best for our holidays. That may be convincing my mam to watch TV in our house every night, or moving the cat into her house for 2 weeks. Like I said she only lives a few doors away so I'm sure pussycat will know she's close to home form the window view.

My wife is not keen on putting her in a cat home so it's one of the above. Then again if she wants to rearrange the holiday then I guess we can do that. Holiday currently planned for end of March.

Thanks for your replies. I'm sorry to here a few of you have been through this. It's amazing how you take things for granted then wham. Something completely unexpected changes everything.

I remember losing my dog when I was younger. As sad as it was he was old and clinging onto life and I knew what to expect. time to prepare, time to say goodbye and time to reflect on the wonderful life he had. No anger, no Why's?. I still carry a picture of him in my wallet some 11 years on. Whilst the grieving feels the same as then. Now I have a family to support with a wife in tears every night when she looks down at her dressing gown where the cat slept.
 
Sorry to hear about your cat. We had to put the family cat to sleep in September, he was about 8 years old.

If your surviving cat is accustomed to having a companion then it might be a good idea to look into getting another cat.
 
We had a similar thing with our cat Jem, she had been aging for a while and then one week she got quite ill. She wasn't suffering so we just carried on as usual, then for some reason she went out one night and she took a turn for the worse, she sunndely got so ill she couldn't move and ended up in the cold all night, luckily nearer to summer than now.

The next day she was very ill not at all her self, she smelt awful because she couldn't move to go to the toilet, she occasionally found a spurt of engrgy to move and then was crying after from the pain.

We had already booked into see the vet but we had to wait until after lunch to see her. It was terrible she was so quite and seemed very down. Was a shame to see that happen because she was the most brilliant cat, we always thought of her as a dumb blond, very pretty cat and always around.

We miss her very dearly.
 
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