Cat Emotions

[matt819]

We had (sadly) two indoor/outdoor cats, brothers. Two years old, been with us since they were kittens - from the pound. One of them was a roamer, and he'd be gone for days at a time. Drove us nuts. But he kept returning. His brother was a home body, but he's the one who's gone walkabout - two weeks now. As with others who have followed in those footsteps previously, we hope he's found a new home, but the odds are slim.

His brother - the now former roamer (we don't let him out) - seems down, but how much of that is him in reality and how much is us anthropomorphising him? For the cat experts here, how do cats - whether siblings or housemates - experience loss of one of their pack?

[haele]

1. Yes, they do experiance loss. Not quite the same as we do, but there is a reaction.

Cats tend to internalize stress and change and will mentally lock in experiences (fright, comfort) to objects and people.
Cats that are born domesticated (not ones that had "grown up" feral) tend to remain kittens - they link humans that care for them as "Mommy/Daddy" and any other young animals as fellow littermates or, if they have had kittens of their own, other kittens.
I've observed my cats go through a period of looking for the other that has "disappeared" (whether they loved them or hated them)- usually for a period of a week to a couple months, and then the experience of that other gets tucked away into a corner of their brains until something happens that is similar to a shared experience they have linked to that other. It's more of memory of a habit. They'll go about looking for whatever they think belongs in the scenario for a while, then they'll go on with their new habits that they have developed for their day to day routine.

It's harder for older cats who have lost a long-time companion. The stress of the change of routine is too great for them to internalize and deal with. That's why so many older cats will pass in clusters if they are siblings (like my two old boys - a year apart), or after the only "Mommy/Daddy" human in their lives is no longer there - as what happened to an elderly neighbor's old man cat. He was comfortable, but just wasn't happy anymore with the new Mommy/Daddy when the adult kids sent her off to hospice; he'd just spend his time on her old stuff or looking for her, and then he just didn't wake up one day soon after she had died herself.

Just my observation.

Haele

[Festivito]

2. Probably wants to find his lost brother.

The one that goes out a lot knows the area. Knows how to return. Has taken the time to learn how to return from many areas so that when scared into a distance, he or she can recognize other areas in order to return.

My Molly follows me down the street and then trots in front on the way back, making sure I will know the way home.

Her son Ben is not so smart. He gets caught in garages he cannot resist entering. Was gone for a week. Ended up emaciated. He's fine again. Nine lives ya' know.

Ben does not go out much any more.

It's too cold out this week for either of them. They could exit. They don't.

Food and petting seem enough for them. But, I do think your cat wants to help the other one.

Good luck.

[Voice for Peace]

5. +

makes sense

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Since you have made a few changes,

it is hard to determine whether it is the loss of his brother or the loss of his freedom.

I have seen both a definite missing of the companion cat and no change with a loss. Cats are individuals, and I have had some that were very close, and others that seemed to want to be only cats and relished it when that situation arose.

You cannot change the situation, since the missing cat will continue to be missing or return, and you have no control (although I assume that you have tried to find him with posters or ads or canvassing the neighborhood or calling shelters and vet offices). All you can do is make the transition to an indoor cat for the former roamer as easy as possible and give him lots of love.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. One of my Facebook friends rescues a lot of strays

and he says that once one of his cats was taken to the vet and put to sleep, and his "best friend" spent every day for the next few weeks sitting on the front step, waiting for her buddy to come home.

Because of this, the next time he lost a cat, he brought its body home for the other cats to see. They sniffed around and seemed to understand somehow that it would never wake up, and once they knew that, they seemed otherwise untroubled.

[Aerows]

6. I've fed a few strays

One of which moved in and is now a certified house cat. She went missing for a day when one of the cats that came by always never showed up again (and it was clear that cat was old and sick). Cats are intelligent and social. She doesn't go missing without reason.

When I was in High School, my Uncle Harry lived with us. He was very, very ill. Our Maine Coon cat used to sit with him. Uncle Harry pretended he didn't like it, but the cat was with him constantly while he lived with us. He liked to read, and Maine Coons are famous for being lap sitters. When Uncle Harry died, our cat *mourned* him. He sat in Uncle Harry's chair exclusively for 2 months as though waiting for his lap to come back.

EDIT: And I hope the two of them are in a chair reading together, with a big old cat in Uncle Harry's lap.