can cats get depessed by a death of another cat?

[wrs]

My cat Molly seems very depressed ever sence Emma went to the vet and died. She isnt play ful, and she just mopes around most of the time. I am not sure if it is the heat, or depression. We have these stuffed cats for when my cousin comes over, shes 1 and she loves "kitties" which everything is, so we have some for her, and Molly licks and cleans them. I think she misses Emma alot, she was just begining to like her and clean her.

If she is depressed, what should I do to make her better?

 

[wwestar2000]

Emma was the new kitten right? omg why did she die? was it the distemper thing you were talking about the other day?

 

[digital_run]

So sorry about loosing you cat...While i can't myself definately say if animals become depressed or not by the loss of another...I do know that my parents 12 year old daschund (Dasher) became quite upset by the loss of our cat Sierra a few years back. He would sulk and hide under the bed and whine for no apparent reason for almost a month after that....He eventually got over it and has been fine since. Especially because they got a new kitten/cat and the two are attached at the hips. So i'd totally believe that they can sense the loss of a fellow animal....and maybe even be affected emotionally....

Theres plenty of little kittens out there that need good homes and people like you...maybe another one

ÐR

 

[wrs]

yes it was distemper, panlukopedia to be exact. Not sure if its spelled right though.

Well, we would have to wait a while, and my mom isnt sure if she wants a new animal. I know my dad, myself and my brother want one, but it wouldnt be till August at the ealiest, though the vt said October would be the time, but thats longer than his couple of weeks for the disease to clear up.

Molly does have her mother, but she is an old bitty, shes 5, and she doesnt play with Molly, so shes is on her own in cat department.

I was wondering if its the heat, but she usually spends her days upstairs in the hot bed rooms, so I am not sure about that.

I feel bad that she is depressed.

 

[Bloo]

I think cats can certainly get depressed, but *generally* only if they have formed a strong bond with another cat / human being. However, I'd be very doubtful that she's depressed because of Emma, as you only had Emma (sadly) for a few weeks.

I think it's far more likely to be the heat. I've actually become a bit worried about my own cat - he just lies around like a sack of potatoes and hardly moves or lifts his head. Which is very unlike him and out of character.
Where he's normally patrolling the house and meowing his head off.

Though I do find it amazing how incredibly perceptive cats are. Sometimes when I cry (really not that often ! lol) my cat will come running to me and snuggle right up under my chin and purr his little heart out.

Sorry to go a bit off topic, but I gave him a bath yesterday (to help hopefully cool him down and get rid of his "sticky" coat) and poor thing was horrified and almost didn't "speak" to me for 2 hours
But now he's sleek and soft again and I know he feels a lot better about himself !

 

[wwestar2000]

Shouldn't the breeder you got emma give you back the money? Or at least another kitten testing negative with distemper?

 

[wrs]

my cats would kill me if I tryewd to bathe them.

Molly did seem liuke she was the mom of emma, but she onyly did that for a day or so before she left. I just think Molly wanted a play mate, and she found one in emma, and Peaches isa large and lazy cat, lol.

When I was upset about Emma, the girls, that what I call Peaches and Molly, did what you said your cat did. Though after a while they ran away, they dont like to be picked up much, lol.

 

[JackDemp528]

All animals get depressed when they lose another animal that they are close to. Dogs deffinately greive. We had to but our 18 yr old lhasa apso to sleep about a month ago and my little Mazi was upset about it. And even looked for her. And my boss who has had over 30 dogs so far in her life and she had a son and his mother once, and the mother would always take her treats down behind the bar downstairs to hide them for him. And when she died he would lay down there whimpering. I think all animals greive.

 

[Kiarra]

They can definitely get depressed!

My dog was 11 1/2 years old when she died. My cat was about 7, and had known this dog her whole, entire life. We didn't have any other indoor pets at the time, and, when Tasha (the dog) didn't get back from the vet (where she died), my cat searched the entire house for her dog for WEEKS after Tasha died. She stopped eating for about 4 days (something she physically could not afford to do, and it nearly made her very sick), and, for months afterward, if she'd get a single whiff of Tasha's stuff, she'd search the house for her dog.

I pulled out some of Tasha's old ribbons the other day, and the cat was there when I did it. She took one whiff and started meowing at me. Tasha will have been dead for two years come September 6.

 

[wrs]

Aww. Those are all sad to here. I do think that my cat Lucy was upset when my dog died, but she died about 6 months after him, and she had a disease, so Im not sure.