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Growing up, my family had 2 cats, both adopted at the same time as kittens. They slept curled up with each other and played together constantly. One of them di
by MentatOnMelange 2y ago
Growing up, my family had 2 cats, both adopted at the same time as kittens. They slept curled up with each other and played together constantly.
One of them died suddenly years later. As painful as that was, it was even more heartbreaking to see our other cat dealing with his death. She did not understand why he had disappeared, and grew increasingly upset in the days following. Searching everywhere around the house making distressed meows at all hours. Demanding to have every door opened so she could search every inch of the house multiple times.
After a week, she began to understand our other cat was not coming back. For at least a month, her appetite disappeared, she was grooming herself compulsively and needed to be near one of us 24/7.
This is only one anecdote… but to me the fact animals can grieve is beyond question
- not2b 2y agoWe had a very similar experience when one of our two cats who had been together for many years died. The survivor was miserable to the point that we were worried about her. After a few months we adopted a kitten, and after a period of adjustment (lots of hissing at first), the old cat bonded with the new cat and seemed much happier.
- shepherdjerred 2y agoI have a similar experience. My cats were brothers and one disappeared (I allowed them to be indoors/outdoors). The remaining cat meowed constantly; it was incredibly sad. I got a kitten a couple of months later and they bonded quickly. In my experience cats are always happier when they have a friend, which isn't surprising.
- not2b 2y agoTwo cats is the right number of cats to have, at least for us. Two are much happier than one, and more than two is hard to deal with.
- DidYaWipe 2y agoYeah, the title of this post is so odd. "Even dogs?" Of course dogs are included. Dogs and cats are often inseparable companions.
- thaumasiotes 2y agoThe title is driven by the fact that, in American mythology, dogs are the natural predator of cats. In the same way that mice mythologically prefer to eat cheese.
- vbezhenar 2y agoIt is not mythology. Dogs hunt cats. Just like cats sometimes live with domesticated mouses.
- thaumasiotes 2y agoIn Chinese mythology, early settlements were plagued with violence when men started fighting over women.
- jncfhnb 2y agoViolence over mating competition? Certainly a myth.
- AlbertCory 2y agoRight, it's not mythology. My dog barked when he saw a cat outside, and wanted to chase it. And he grew up with a cat. (And by the way, showed no emotion at all when the cat had to be put down, although I'm not for one second denying that animals grieve.) He ignored squirrels, oddly enough. Too many of those.
- cityofdelusion 2y agoMythology? Dogs are a natural predator of all small mammals, cats included. Prey drive is a big reason that extreme caution is advised when introducing an adopted dog to a cat with an unknown history.
- consf 2y ago[dead]
- IMTDb 2y agoOut of curiosity, did the surviving cat have a chance to see (and smell) the remains of the dead cat ? I know it's often advised to show to pets (cats and dogs at least) the remains of any human or other pets that die, so that they understand what happened and don't interpret this as "abandonment". Similarly, families of people that disappear are often "relieved" when a body is found, since they can properly start to grief instead of clinging on some hopeless dream that their loved one might reappear out of thin air.
- seanw444 2y agoThat's a great point actually. I guess literally seeing the dead body of a loved one isn't so relieving to humans, but there's no way to communicate the death to an animal other than just visually. So that's probably the best way to go about it. I'm keeping that in mind for the future.
- LanceH 2y agoFor dogs at least it seems to be smell.
- dpig_ 2y agoI had two cats, siblings, growing up. One died unexpectedly. We thought about showing it to the other cat for closure, but decided instead that the cat might interpret it as a Mafia-type threat.
- punyearthling 2y agoMy cat did this when my dog passed. The day it happened, she went to every spot our dog slept and cried. It was heartbreaking tbh
- raxxorraxor 2y agoDogs can get terrible lovesickness for quite some time. Usually dogs get separated at least after the puppies are born and they are not at all amused by that. Perhaps separating them should be far more questionable than it is. Parents had some beagles and they could never get enough affection from humans. But for some weeks they would just growl at you if you came near them. Also you could really see the sadness in their faces.