A bit morbid but if you have 2 cats and one dies

[WildFlowerBees]

Did you get another for company? Our 2 are getting on in years and they've been together since they were kittens we got them from a rescue at a year old. Although they don't really curl up together they are never far from each other and it worries me what we'll do when one leaves us.

I don't really want any more cats after ours but I also don't want to see the one left stressed in any way.

One of ours I think will cope fine the other I'm not so sure about.

I'm hoping we have a long while yet so really I'm musing at this point.

I have gotten a kitten. Our cat mourned for his sister and after a year I did think it was a good idea. I don't think it was, I think he'd be happier as an only cat, yes he might accept the kitten and tolerate him in time but he's not happy now.

We had brothers and had to have one of them PTS a couple of months ago. His brother is fine by himself. Hasn’t really changed and we wouldn’t want to stress him out by adding another cat.

We introduced a kitten when DCat 1 was about 4 - she was always the boss but they curled up together and got along pretty well.

When DCat 1 died at age 12 the younger cat was 8 but I don’t think she really missed the older one after the first week or two. I have swithered about getting another cat but DCat 2 seems happy being an only cat and I don’t want to upset the status quo.

Depends on the surviving cat. We had two and one died. The survivor was lonely so we got cat 3.

many years later cat 2 died. Cat 3 was perfectly happy being the sole resident cat, so we didn’t get another.

Our two are the extremes of ages, so the old one is nearly 14 and diabetic and the other 9 months. We only got the kitten as we’d had a bereavement in our household (human) and couldn’t deal with the impact of another bereavement on DC, vet said they were uncertain he’d last. As things stand our old boy has adapted very well considering but I don’t think he’d miss the kitten if he passed - more the lone wolf/socially distant/cleared the terror of other cats type. The kitten on the other hand is extremely sociable and has cat friends etc so he’d need someone else.

We got kittens because the house felt empty.
Luckily old cat adapted to the kittens quickly.

We bought kittens for our cat years ago after his sister (who he loved) died and honestly he never forgave us. He was a sweet thing, got on with the neighbours cat for example, but needed his own territory and I am sure would have been much happier if he had been allowed to be an only cat. Actually the last cat my parents had was an absolute bitch while there were any other cats around but once they were all dead she became a lovely thing, terribly relaxed. So I think cats are mostly happy to be solitary. They may have the odd cat (usually a sibling) who they quite like but otherwise seem better alone.

We had 2 littermate sisters For a couple of years they were inseperable, did everything together.
The runt of the litter died at 19 years old, and her big sister, literally she was twice the size, really came out of her shell.
She turned into a clown, so playful and much happier. It was very surprising.
She had a great year before we had to have her put to sleep at 20.

We adopted a pair of brothers, at 10 months old. They were inseparable, always together, always snuggling.

One of them died, very suddenly, at only 18 months. His brother has been largely okay, but noticeably needier, since he has been an only. He wants company, all the time, and he has gone from mostly silent to extremely vocal.

I would 100% get a kitten to keep him company, but unfortunately, he has the same virus that killed his brother. It appears to be dormant in our survivor, but is usually fatal, so there is no way I can bring another cat into the house.

A long time ago, I had 2 cats (females, siblings). I was very worried when one of them died, but to be honest, it looked like my other cat just didn't care. I didn't notice any change in behaviour at all. If anything, she enjoyed the undisputed 'queen of the house' status.

We had 3 cats and lost 2 within 6 months. The final one was very lonely. She kept going to the opposite floor of the house and calling us until we came down/ went up. Then when one of us arrived she looked for a few seconds and walked away. Sounds sweet but it was a nightmare while trying to work.

We got a new kitten which stopped the calling but she wasn't his biggest fan at first. They play together now but they don't have the same bond she had with the others. He doesn't have the attention span to sit and clean her while she falls asleep, the other two did.

We had two sisters for over 10 years. Both very different characters. Let's call them A and B. I have to say I loved A more than B because A was extremely inquisitive, sociable, chatty and really related to the dogs we had during her lifetime. She used to follow us (up to a certain point) when I took the dog out for a walk.

Cat B always seemed to want to hiss at me, swipe me with her claws if I told her not to do something and we never really got along. DC1 had a much better relationship with B for some reason.

Cat A sadly died a while ago from a medical condition (non-infectious) which we got treated by the vet but was terminal and we were all heartbroken when she died.

Cat B spent two or three days going about her normal business but then realised that cat A wasn't around anymore and did spend some time out in the garden doing a sort of 'where are you?' type of call.

She has now seemingly accepted that Cat A is no longer here and is, actually, a bit more aggressive towards me but I can't say we're the best of friends yet.

I think the point I'm trying to make is that the survivor adapts - maybe has a bit of a worry for a while but carries on and, generally, adapts their ways to a certain extent...

Damn, why don't we have an edit button?
This:

"a bit more aggressive towards me"

Should have read

"a bit less aggressive towards me"

HRTWT but thinking of getting kitten when we come back home after an august away. Beloved much older cat died a few weeks ago. Brenda , beloved young cat, didn’t take any notice even though they were companions for 6 years! They’d curl up next to each other but not on each other - and play until Boy cat twatted her one. But now she wanders the house at night crying a pitiful meow and I wonder if she’s feeling his absence. He was always there at night to be jumped on or just to lie down beside. She’s quite clingy too.

I think I’ll chance it but read up about proper introductions and how to introduce them for best outcome .

my house with just one cat in now just seeing feel right

Hi, I have 2 cats - brothers aged 5 and one was killed 2 nights ago when a car hit him outside our house . We are all devastated. My remaining cat Tom has been looking for Elvis outside and calling him, and has just been sleeping .
I am anxious that Tom is now in his own and wonder if I am going to eventually have to get another friend for him - can’t even contempt another cat at the moment but just wonder what peoples experiences have been ? Thanks

We had two cats-brother and sister. When they were 18, one died we were worried about how the other would react, but she had a completely new lease of life and was the happiest she had ever been for the next 18 months until she too died. I do hope she isn't having to spend time with him in cat heaven!

No. Siblings, both 19. One went first, the other missed him terribly but was too old and frail herself to accept anyone new. She passed 6 months later.
We then acquired one new kitten and another 3, 6.5 years later. The 7 year old took a while but a year on they were all happy together.

I'm so sorry @Shawy you must be devastated. I think from this thread all you can do is give Tom time and see if he settles it's very early days. If he seems stressed in anyway then you can perhaps decide to find a new friend. 💐

We had litter mate sisters.Lovely cats.
One had to be put to sleep at 19.She was the small one, the runt of the litter.
Her sister absolutely blossomed after her sister died She came out of her shell, and seemed a lot happier.
As for people saying their cat mourned the loss, they probably did but were upset about the loss of that particular cat.It doesn't always work.

I'm so sorry Shawy.
Must be devastating for you.
As other posters have said just give him and you time to come to terms with the loss.
I hope you will all be ok soon

We did this with the best of intentions, introduced a kitten... They hate each other and still spitting and hissing if they're in the same room six years later!

We had two old boys who had been rescued together as kittens. They generally ignored one another, but when the more communicative and affectionate one died aged 16 the other was like a poor lost soul for months before going back to his aloof old self. We weren't prepared to risk introducing him to another cat at that age.

Something I think some people don’t consider is that while a surviving cat may have been friendly towards his / her sibling or the cat they shared a house with for years, it doesn’t automatically follow that they’ll like any random kitten or new cat. Even cats who appear to show grief are usually grieving that particular cat rather than company per se, so you can’t assume they will bond with any new arrival.

Ha! This made me laugh (guiltily) as I have done the same. I lost my boycat and his companion frankly was quite happy as a singleton and I went and got 2 kittens..

This is so very dependent not just on the individual cat but the circumstances as well.

I had 2 cats, bonded litter mates ex-ferals, indoor only. They were very close to each other, Boycat had a few "issues" (thick, clumsy, no attention span, no common sense, terrified of anything new) and his sister sort of looked after him e.g. took the lead on everything, always let him have first dibs at food & things (except Dreamies!). He was very cuddly indeed, she was more aloof.

At 8 he developed CKD & had to be PTS a few months later. She became incredibly clingy and needy. I usually work 4 days in office & 1 day WFH, she had clearly desperately missed me when I was in office and was so needy that WFH was almost impossible.

An only cat would have been fine I suppose if they could go out & meet local cats, but she'd been an indoor cat for nearly 7 years, there's a couple of VERY mean cats locally, and keeping her as indoor only was a condition of adoption. So I went out & found a young adult ex-stray male to keep her company, about 3 years old. He was very happy living with other cats at the rescue, especially females.

It's taken a bit of time, but they get on very well now. I've seen him licking her face and ears, they are always sleeping in the same room whether their own or mine and are starting to sleep closer & closer to each other on the bed, they play together etc. She is definitely the boss. The added bonus is though she's kept up with being more affectionate to me, she doesn't pester me non stop like the did when she was an only cat.

I would never have brought a kitten in for her company as I don't think she would have liked that. I was ideally looking for someone closer to her age but Tobias was there & he seemed just right. I wouldn't have taken a much older cat, as it wouldn't be fair on either me or Girlcat when they died, but if she'd been much older I would have looked at one nearer her age.

So to summarise, depends so much on the cat's nature, your circumstances, and the age of both the remaining cat & what you are looking to find as a companion.