The cat’s mourning process

An American research (1996) showed that 46% of the cats eat less after they have lost a cat mate. In extreme cases it has even led to death. 70% of the cats started to miaow more or on the contrary less. It also turned out that the remaining cats often searched other sleeping places and started sleeping much more. More than half of the remaining cats became more affectionate towards their boss. You can conclude from the research results that 65% of the cats show 4 or more behavior changes after having lost a cat mate in his direct surroundings. If a person looses a beloved one it might occur that this person has concentration problems, gets listless, doesn’t want toe eat and/or is not interested in what happens around him. The person cries and starts to sleep less or more. Don’t forget that a sick cat also starts to sleep more. A cat reacts pretty much the same as a human being when he looses a cat mate. The remainingr cat might change his eating pattern due to amongst others sickness. The cat might suddenly loose a lot of hairs with often occurs due to excessive washing. Some cats suddenly show untrained behavior. They also might stare out of the window during a couple of days hoping the other cat will come back . This waiting in front of the window is also called “separation fear”. The emotion a cat experiences cannot be known. The only thing we can definitely say is that the cat is aware of the other cat’s absence. It goes without saying that this has a huge impact on the cat. A cat mourns due to sudden absence, in other words: the human being or cat over whom/which the cat mourns doesn’t have to be dead. The cat may also mourn after a divorce, a child leaving the house in order to start living on his own or even if the cat itself is placed in another home. All these events have impact. This therefore goes for all cases in which an animal or person is absent for some time. Experience shows that many cats stop searching for the diseased cat if you show them the dead body. This shows that there is a possibility that the cat understands that what is dead will never become alive anymore. Researchers think that the reason for this is the fact that cats are beasts of prey. We advise you to show the dead cat to the remaining cat(s)

How can you help your cat?
The first phase of the mourning process is activity. The remaining cat will actively search for the person/animal who/which is absent. If your cat is an outside cat you better keep him inside in this phase. They will search a huge domain which enlarges the risk that the cat crashes a car. This phase is followed by a “depression”. This second phase lasts a couple of weeks, sometimes longer. The “depressed” periods will become shorter and less frequent. The cat will more and more show his old behavior with some permanent behavior changes which have to do with the territorial rights and social structure of the cat.
In general you can assume that the complete mourning process lasts 2-6 months. During this period the cat needs confirmation, extra love and care. Think of a candy when the cat is on your lap or toys with catnip or valerian on it. Make sure that you don’t encourage undesirable behavior! Also make sure that you don’t force your cat. Many people think that purchasing a new cat will help. Unfortunately this is not the case. Would you love to have a new cat around, wait until the cat is over his mourning process. If you purchase a new cat earlier you will force your old cat too much which brings extra stress next to accepting the loss. Give your cat some time to accept the loss.