Stuipd animals...

[woodbloke]

We had two cats, mother and daughter and had to have the mum put to sleep at the beginning of July. The other cat though seems to pining for her mum and hasn't eaten anything since the other one went (or at least not that we've seen) and has lost a lot of weight. Is this a normal occurence...anyone shed any light please? - Rob

 

[Calpol]

I couldn't tell you if it's a normal occurence or not, but maybe try some of that Whiskas milk, should bulk her up a bit if she'll try it... I think cats are pretty independant though, I've never heard of this happening before :?

How old is the cat?

 

[tekno.mage]

When I had cats, we did have one that was most upset when her sister had to be put down, but her pining only lasted about a week and she was off her food and spent a lot of time prowling around apparently looking for her sister. She didn't lose a lot of weight though and was back to normal eating-wise fairly quickly. Have you tried tempting her with favourite food treats?

If your cat has lost a lot of weight, I'd think a trip to the vet would be in order to check there is nothing medically wrong.

tekno.mage

 

[matt]

We've had this before. Try some different food - fresh fish etc.

 

[woodbloke]

We've tried wet food and her normal Iams and she hasn't eaten any of it...my daughter is just about to try her on some sardines (used to like tuna fish as well) - Rob

 

[Jenx]

Yes its common... dogs will do the same, if they lose a long-term life-companion. It can give rise to what I guess you can call psychological disorders that will manifest in physical symptoms... my mate had two cockers and one had to be destroyed, - - the other went from being a very amiable, 'normal' dog to being a nervous wreck that couldn't be left on its own, or it would sh*t and spew all over the house, it wouldn't eat for days and days at a time, much of its hair fell out... all diagnosed by the vet as a mental / nervous / pyschological disorder.

Cats can, and do , exhibit very similar behaviours.

The vet advised my mate to try and alter the animal's normal routine as much as possible, to help alleviate the symptoms. Change in diet can definately form part of this change.

You could try 'reversing' its in/out time... if it was habitually put out at night, and in during the day.. swap this over... its a lot to do with changing its stimuli and for want of a better way of saying it.. " challenging its perceptions of what it considers to be the norm", if that makes sense.


Hope the puss comes OK...
all the best,

Aj.

 

[newt]

Rob, I think I would be inclined to get an opinion from the Vet.

 

[Steve Jones]

Rob, like Newt said I would seek advice from a vet, I know they can inject an appetite stimulant as one if our cats had it done to try and coax her to eat recently

Regards

Steve

 

[Night Train]

When I was a kid we had two cats. One died and, because they shared a bowl, the other would only eat half the bowl of food no matter what amount was in it. She would always leave half for her missing friend.

Give her lots of love and attention to reassure her that she is ok. Try coaxing her with some tasty morsels as she calms down.
She is probably worried that whatever fate happened to her mum will also happen to her. Let her know that she is still the kitten by doing the things her mum would have done with her like purring and giving her short dragging strokes to her head the way her mum would have cleaned her. Be close to her, letting or encouraging her to sit close and snuggled is the cat equivalent of having a hug. She will find it reassuring.

 

[woodbloke]

We took her to the vet's as advised. She'd lost over half her body weight and the vet said that in all likelihood it was a tumor, so I took the decision which no owner ever wants to do ...daughter choked as well as this is the second one in as many months - Rob

 

[newt]

Rob that is tough I know how it feels.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Very sad - they were two lovely cats

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Rob_H]

Very sorry. Our cat is part of the family, not just a pet, so know how you feel. I've been there before and it's horrible.

 

[Harbo]

Rob - sorry to hear about this, it's not a nice thing to have to go through..

We had a lovely Lab. bitch for 13.5 years which had grown up with our kids - hardest thing to have her put down when she became terminally ill. Not had a pet since - could not stand the heart ache again?

Rod