Do cats grieve?

[FuzzyPuffling]

Our lovely Boycat died this week, peacefully at home, aged 12.5.

DH and I are obviously dreadfully sad.
But Girlcat ( Boycat's litter mate, never been apart) genuinely seems to be grieving. She's looked for him, sits by the catflap looking out, spends more time outside (she's never been hugely fussed before- he was) and seems depressed. When he was alive, they didn't seem very close; she often hissed at him- annoying little brother.

So do cats grieve for one another? And how can I help her? ( Extra cuddles are a given)

Yes they do grieve. Mine needed time and attention. They were calling out for their sibling for weeks. About 3 months in they seemed to calm down a little. It's a tough time and I wondered whether getting another cat might help them but about 6 months later they seem quite content and I didn't get them a new friend in the end.

When Maia was PTS, I took her sister along. She sat on the vets table with her. She sniffed Maia’s body and visibly recoiled. She absolutely blossomed from that day. Maia had always been the bossy dominant one. My friends cat died and her daughter definitely grieved and hasn’t been the same since. Shes 16 and I think has had enough.

Thank you.
We let Girlcat see Boycat's body ( she didn't want to come anywhere near, I guess that's a survival instinct thing) .
She's currently sleeping on my lap.

My mum’s cat did after her other cat was PTS. It was sad as they were always together and were like brothers. He literally cried (meowed) for him.

Yes.

When the ambulance took my partner to hospital he took the sofa blanket with him as he never tolerated the cold well. He was still wrapped up in it two days later when he died. I stayed with him for a few hours, then came home with the blanket.

I wanted to be able to show it to the cats so they would smell it and understand what happened. They had an immediate reaction to it. Two became very clingy with me almost immediately. The third, who was the one most closely bonded with my partner, curled up on the blanket and refused to move off it for three days.

It took them a couple of months to return to normal-ish behaviour. They'd known my partner their entire lives as we adopted them together and they were 10 years old when it happened.

Yes, I think so, they certainly miss companions.. But other cats seem to bounce back really well - neighbours two cats (siblings) never got on. One died, the other came out of her shell and flourished!

Yes they do. Mine left home after his brother died, I found him living wild a month later.

We had 2 brothers. 1 died at 8 years old. His brother was depressed and howled for 5 months and barely ate..
Was distressing to see.
We ended up getting a lone dkitten from CPL
.still besties 6 years on..

Some do , some don’t . We had boy / girl littermates , boy was a huge overwhelming character and sadly died very suddenly following surgery for a bowel problem aged 3.5 . We humans were all devastated his sister couldn’t have been less bothered and has blossomed into a lovely character who is obviously much happier as a single cat .

I think it depends on the cats and their relationship. Our girl searched for her brother (from another mother) for a week or two, it was piteous to see her confusion - but then she seemed to realise it was permanent - and absolutely flourished as an only cat, and her lifelong jippy tummy cleared up - he'd been stressing her and we didn't realise it...

What we think of as 'grief' may sometimes just be their usual cattish resistance to change... but I do believe they can love. ❤️

You absolutely did the right thing x

Thank you all. I was wondering if it was projecting, but it seems not. Extra cuddles and reassurance for Girlcat.

When our dog died our then cat definitely grieved him. She went around with her tail down, sniffing all ‘his’ spots in the house. Her tail was low, she moved more slowly and she ate less, too. It took 2-3 weeks before her normal personality began to return.

When we return from holiday our current cat is all over us, miaowing and going from person to person for headbutts and skritchies. His tail is up higher than normal. He is definitely delighted to see us, so I would not be surprised if he actively misses us when we are away.

So, yes, I do believe cats grieve.

Years ago, my previous cat went into complete emotional meltdown when the neighbor's little dog died. I had no idea what was wrong until, around day 2 or 3, the neighbor came over and told me that his dog had passed. She had had several seizures in the last day or two of her life, and my cat had somehow sensed what was happening. (They were longtime friends, but saw each other on an erratic schedule.). It was touching and sad. My kitty recovered her normal poise after four or five days, but I think that letting go of a sibling would be harder. Condolences to Girlcat and you and your husband.

Girlcat is now sitting in all the places her brother used to frequent, even places she's never been before. She's currently asleep in his spot on the sofa. She's getting lots of fuss.
So is DH. I'm just holding it all together for all of us.

I had a cat who arrived via the cat distribution system along with an accompanying kitten.

One day he just disappeared (never to be found) and her wailing through the night was horrible. It only stopped when we got her another kitten to mother. So yes, they absolutely grieve.

🫂

Ours grieved for 2 weeks when Ddog passed away. He literally curled up as tightly as he could, wouldn't come near us or make any eye contact :( I bought a large JellyCat dog teddy for myself a couple of months after and Dcat thought his best mate had come back until he realised it wasn't real.