Originally Posted by Jamiestitcher62
Need to know what to do. My 16 yr. old Smokey died in April, Schmoo my 9 yr. old female is not taking it well. She is becoming withdrawn and is just not behaving like she used to. For example, she is sleeping under the bed or on the floor instead of on my bed, she wanders around and her tail is twitching most of the time. I find her sitting in the middle of a room just staring off into space. She doesn't do that. She doesn't appear to be happy at all. She's eating, using the litter box and everything that part is ok. She is spending a lot more time outside than she used to.
I was thinking about getting her a new buddy, cause I think she misses having another kitty around, should I do that or should I wait and see what happens with her first, because I don't want to cause more stress bringing a rescue adult female into the picture.
Plus do you know anything about Feliway, it's supposed to be a cat pheromone and my vet recommended it for when I get a new cat apparently you plug them into the wall in the room where the cats are the most. It supposedly keeps them calm? Has anyone tried it and should I try it right now before getting a kitty to see if it snaps her out of her funk first?
Thanks guys, I hope I can get some answers, because I miss my Schmoo and she's just a completely different kitty now and I'm really sad. It's like I lost 2 kitties instead of just 1.
Sorry for your loss of Smokey. It sounds like Schmoo is grieving the loss of Smokey too. Last year we had three cats. The eldest, Motley, had to be put down as he had stomach cancer. The middle cat was grieving really bad. He would actually walk thru the house crying and searching for his buddy. Cats all grieve differently just as their personalities are different. The youngest at the time was grieving some but not as bad as the middle cat. We got a new kitten about 6 weeks later and he has added so much to our family and helped the other kitties from their grieving too. We had planned on a new kitty just not that soon, but it worked out great. We keep three cats because of the interactions daily. We have 2 boys and 1 girl. They get along better than having 2 girls and 1 boy. I would be leery of getting an older cat to try to blend in. It is harder on all of them. Kittens tend to be more active and spunky and playful. Making the older ones at home more playful as well.