Meowing cat after death of feline friend

by Rebecca Mackay
(canada)

Jakeey our cat

Jakeey our cat

My 21 year old cat just died now my 17 year old cat goes to windows and doors and looks out them meowing he is an indoor cat so its not like he wants to go outside. Is he lonely or sad what is wrong?


Reply
Hi
It sounds to me like he is grieving for his friend. This is normal. After all the cat may not know about death etc but he does know that the other cat is not around any more and that change can take awhile to adjust to.

his behavior is normal and will pass. You need to try and distract his with new toys and more time with you. The worst thing you could do is to get him another cat, this is likely to cause more upset than good.

i have a web page about this behavior which you may find of further interest here

cat-grief.html

best wishes kate

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Loss of BFF
by: Jim Bower

We adopted a pair of friends from a shelter about 6 years ago. Louie is a big white cat and Jack was a smaller solid black cat. Louie was afraid and shy when he arrived at the shelter, and Jack took him under his wing. We had them for 6 wonderful years until Jack was diagnosed with lymphoma. Now, Louie is a lot more vocal than he ever was, and I'm assuming it's because Jack is no longer around. I really miss having a black cat around (they're fun to watch), and considered getting another one. However, I understand your advice about not introducing another cat. I'll just see what develops, and if somebody needs us, we can adopt another one.

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