Grieving Cat

pettingcats

Hi there
need a bit of advice re my cat Tabitha. Unfortunately her sister Tc had to be put to sleep last Thursday and I am not sure how to help her surviving sister Tabitha.They have been together all of their lives but due to a neurological condition and her constant fitting it was kinder to let Tc go. Hubby and I are in pieces but am worried about her Tabitha, she is eating but constantly looking for Tc. I had some of Tcs Fur clipped and let her sniff that , and give her loads of cuddles but she just looks downcast. We do have another cat in the house but he is not related and does not seem that bothered. I have feliway plugged in but would welcome any suggestions please. Thank you.

G-WWBB

So sorry to hear about your loss

It's hard for us humans to come to terms with the loss of an animal, but I guess we don't always expect it to affect any of our other animals in the same way.
We experienced this with the loss of our boy Stanley when I was growing up, he'd deteriorated with old age and the kindest thing to do was to let him go. His 'wife' Ollie, who was blind and deaf by this point, pined so much for him when he was pts, to the point she would howl all through the night for him. It was so hard seeing her like this but there wasn't much we could do. We comforted her best we could, she still had a healthy appetite so that was a relief. She pined full on like this for about two weeks, after then her howling gradually got less and less and she got back to normal.
My advice would be to continue what you're doing, comforting her through her grieving, if she's a playful cat, try distracting her with toys on a string she can chase, a few treats every now and again, a sweet wrapper also makes a brilliant toy, she will come through it, it'll just take a little time.

RIP Tc

pettingcats

Thank you so much for your help. She played a bit this morning and I am sleeping in the room with her until she goes to sleep. I did not know whether to move TCs cat cradle and blankets etc or is it too soon? The thing that makes me feel less guilty is that she is free from pain and confusion, she has just left such a hole in my heart!

bacardi66

So sorry to hear about your loss. My two cats were from the same litter and inseparable for 14 years until one died suddenly at home. My remaining cat did show signs of grief - he wouldn't sleep upstairs like he used to with his brother and seemed down & sometimes seemed to be looking for him but he carried on eating as normal.

I bought him a cuddly teddy bear and a microwaveable heat pad to sleep with as they had always slept together, gave him lots of cuddles and treats and after a few weeks he was much more himself and four years on seems to love being the only cat getting undivided attention

If you want to move TCs bedding I would, the scent of TC will still be around the rest of your house.

Its so sad when you lose a beloved pet and the worry about the remaining cat is an added sadness, but please believe me they do seem to recover much quicker than we do.

Yolina

There's very little you can you I think, apart from just letting them get on with adjusting. I had my old moggy pts 6 months ago, the other cat who had never been without him for nearly 7 years and absolutely adored him, spent the first 2 months pretty much not moving from her basket-bed thingy - the only things she would leave it for was food and litter tray. She just wasn't interested in anything at all, no matter what I tried. After those couple of months, she started wanting cuddles again and going to sleep on my bed at night etc. I had the feliway going for about 3 months, don't know if it helped or not.

And sorry to hear that you've lost a cat.

pettingcats

Thank you for your replies. She seems to want me just to be in the room with her at night, but otherwise is eating okay. Wish I could speak cat and tell her that Tc might be gone but is looking over her and that we love her loads. Tried to give her a cuddly toy cat but she hissed at it and ran away. Maybe try a smaller one. Thanks again.