Grieving Cat

Biggeeangelpie

Hi everyone

We had to get our 16 year old cat put to sleep on Valentine's Day.

Her sister is crying all through the night since this happened.

We are making a big fuss (more so than usual) of her but the whole family are shattered from lack of sleep.

Any advice on how to help her would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
G

spike7451

I'm so sorry for the loss of your pet. As to your question,the is an advice thread on Purrs dealing with Feline Bereavement in the link below;

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,4929.0.html

AJS71

So sorry to hear that - I had my 7 year old put to sleep a week ago after a 10 week illness, my female cat couldn't care less - more lap space for her, but my other tom is very quiet and eating less, and also more bitey than usual - like sudden temper flares.

The big change in him is he wants to cwch (cuddle up) much more and wants to sleep on my bed at night instead of going on his nocturnal prowls - so I am letting him and this seems to bring him some comfort as he actually purred this morning when I was stroking him - first time in a week.

I recommend letting her do what she wants (which includes NOT making a fuss of her or following her if she takes herself off to an empty room) and not pushing her off laps or beds as much as possible (the kids may have to do some more washing up / channel changing / answering phones) so she feels as secure as possible.

Other than that I recommend keeping everything else the same - food, mealtimes, bedtimes, so she only has one change in her life to deal with.

If you have done all this (and you probably have) and it has not worked, then is there any way you can do shifts so someone is always up to be with her at night?
I appreciate this may only be possible if one of you does not have to go out to work or if you have older teenagers to help out, but at least the rest of the family would get some sleep.

She will settle eventually - not having her sister there will become more 'normal' every day, but my heart goes out to you in the meantime.

bacardi66

So sorry to hear about the loss of your cat.

I had a similar situation 2 and a half years ago when one of my cats died suddenly aged 14, he and his brother had been inseparable all their lives and it did really affect my remaining cat for a while.

He started crying at night which he had never done before but this didn't last long - maybe three or four weeks. But it was another 2 months or so before he would sleep upstairs where he had always slept with his brother. He took to sleeping downstairs on the sofa, I bought him a snuggly blanket and someone suggested getting him a cuddly toy to sleep with, which I did, and he became a lot less disturbed in the night.

I didn't change anything else in the daily routine and he was soon back to normal, unfortunately he has now started occasionally waking me in the night crying or walking all over the bed but I think this is quite common in older cats and with a bit of reassurance he normally settles down.

I hope your remaining cat improves soon

Lx

Biggeeangelpie

Hi Everyone

Thank you all for your kind wishes, I am now trying to keep her routine as normal as possible. Ive also put a teddy in her basket.

Bought some earplugs and made up the spare bed (hopefully she will be quieter tonight) either that or i wont hear her in the front room.

wish me luck and thanks again to everyone
Gx