Pussy died - I now have a distraut little girl - what do I do?

[KatyMac]

My instinct is to wait

Our cat only died on Tuesday, DH, DD & I are still mourning him.

But DD is terribly upset - beyond what I was expecting (& tbh I'm not doing too well)

Of course Kittens usually arrive later in the year - & pedigrees are very expensive and rare to find.

But I just don't know how to comfort her, she is disparate for another cat - she has enough other crap in her life, maybe I should hunt out a new kitten for her. She is as upset as she was when her Nana died.

I am at a loss

Sorry about your cat

Blatant plug - www.pinkpawsrescue.org.uk/ - run by a friend of mine who's also a mum.

Aww Romeo sounds so lovely.

What happened? Was it just old age? I suppose 15 is a good age for a cat

15 is quite old for a pedigree but not so bad for a moggie

We thought he had hypothermia in Jan but it 'came back' on Tuesday - we took him in & it was total circulation failure - his heart was just worn out

So sorry to hear about your much loved puss, I can only say from my experience that things didn't get better with DS2 (then aged 10) quite the reverse and having said we wouldn't have another cat, we ended up buying a half pedigree kitten 2 months after our much loved 16 year old moggy passed away. DS2 at this point was still crying himself to sleep every night, we actually feared that he was becoming depressed. He was transformed after the kitten came home, but your DD may be disappointed that the new kitten doesn't act the same as your old puss. Our old girl used to go to bed with DS2 every night like a teddy and of course a kitten is very lively in comparison, second what others have said that an older cat from a rescue may be better. It did help my sense of loss enormously to have the new kitten.

I just don't know what to do

What is your heart saying? For me there were practical reasons not to get another cat, we had one still and two dogs and had agreed to not get more pets for financial reasons and difficulty of kenneling etc for holidays. I think I would have got a cat a lot sooner if that had not been the case, we couldn't bear to see DS so distressed. We did find a book called Badger's Parting Gifts very helpful, but he was a bit younger than your DD. Thinking of you, it is so hard to know what is the best thing to do.

I hate it when a cat goes. We try and keep 3 Siamese because of the grieving of the other cat if we only have two. I can understand DDs loss, after all the cats are part of the family, and usually a pretty forceful one at that. I would try and get another cat - good luck.

My DS also found the Rainbow Bridge concept very comforting www.rainbowbridge.com/Poem.htm but it is very emotional.

I would wait just a little bit before I would get another cat. The problem is that the new kitten will not behave like the old faithful cat who knew you ways and slept on the ht bed etc.

I don't think there is anything wrong in grief and feeling sad when we lose a loved one and maybe if given time to get through that it is better to make a more informed decision

Can you go on trips and have special days out etc to fill the time and see how things go. You must all beig feeling very raw at the moment but that is natural.

Can't you just call it a cat, I hate the word pussy.

Cats protection will rehome some cats with young children. We got our lovely Mia from there a month ago and our youngest is only 2 3/4. They have notices on each pen which say 'Happy in a family' or 'Happy with older children' according to how the cat seems.

Cats protection have a lot of discretion in rehoming with small children - worth asking.

They have older kittens and young adult cats desperately needing homes, and who make fantastic pets.

Best of luck whatever x

Our cats has been a delight - 10 months old and had already had kittens .

Katymac - if there is a CP place near you I would think about taking your girls for a look and see if there is any cat there that clicks?

Sorry to hear about Romeo I would wait a little personally having gone out too quickly in the past and ended up with cats that haven't been as good pets as the ones where I took a bit more time.

My DD is the same age and is always distraught when one of our cats die (we have 3 at a time these days), I know how hard it is, but I think a little time is a good thing.

I think I will have no choice but to wait

There aren't many kittens at this time of year so May looks much more likely

TBH DH & I would consider a siamese cross - but I don't know how often they come up & I have been quite shocked at how often breeders say there cats should be not allowed outside

That was really me....honest