Do pets mourn?

[heidi van s]

I can't find any answer relating to this question when I click on the search bar. Many of the members have read my posts on my sick cat Socks who passed away on the 16th May. We have 2 other cats and the one cat is meowing and looking for attention all the time. Do they mourn when another cat in the family has died? What is a cats reaction to this situation? I don't have any experience with this problem. Maybe someone will have an answer for me!
Thanks
Heidi

[Mishkamax]

Hi, don't know if this helps, but when my tortie, Azzie passed away her brother, Boris, started this deep yowling sound, a sort of cross between cat growling and meowing. He started the minute he came into the house and carried it on till he prowled around the house for say five to ten minutes, then he went looking for food and then settled down. This went on for about two years after she died and only stopped when he died himself. I like to think he was looking for her. She had her favourite spot on the window and would never let him sit there, always a spit and a whack if he came anywhere near hand. After she died he didnt even attempt to get up there, even though I would see him eyeing up her spot. Who knows perhaps he could see her there. Anyway I like to think so.

Best Regards, Ramona

[chico2]

Heidi,I am sure they mourn,I've seen it when an animal loses it's longtime-owner and even in my own cats.
In the past 10 yrs,I've had 3 cats pass away,after each were euthanized(not at the same time) I brought them home to be buried in my backyard and I allowed my other cats to sniff him/her.
I know it's probably only in my imagination,but it's as if they knew Peppi was no longer with us,hence did not look for him in the house.
Peppi was my last cat to have to be PS,due to cancer,he has a big stone over his grave.Peppi was a white cat and my 3 yr old white cat Vinnie,often lies on Peppis stone..it's a little eerie as if he knew Peppi is there.

[LM1313]

They do mourn. Our cat Phantom looked for Ebony after she died and then started sleeping upstairs every night (where Ebony had slept), which she had never done before. Phantom has always been a nervy, paranoid cat, and without Ebony around she's afraid to go outside and runs for the porch whenever the neighbors go out in their yard.

~LM~

[CyberKitten]

Oh yes, they mosty certainly do mourn - both for their furry friends and sibs and for their people!!!! If you ever belonged to The Kindness Club, an org began by the wife a former NB Premier, there was a little book that came with it that had many stories about pets and one stands out for me. A dog who waited by his person's side after he died - refused to leave.

Pets will search for missing ones and yowl or cry or acted stressed. They grieve - and cats are especially prone to stress in times of changer so need extra attention!!

[OntarioGreys]

Yes very much so, some more so than others. Anyone that is involved in rescue and has had to take in a returned older pet gets to know all too well how animals mourn. When Callie passed away Sunny went into a deep depression the first week just laying around and moping not wanting to eat, the couple months that folloed the moping continued and he was short tempered with the other pets at home, he started coming around when I adopted another greyhound 2 1/2 months after Callies passing.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/58733

True life stories of animals in mourning

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK...yfriarsBob.htm

Bull Mourns Owner (Roedental, Germany)
A bull that pined for its owner has been led away from his grave after a vigil lasting a number of days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Ball

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1707000

[cpietra16]

My friend runs a search and rescue group. The dogs work in pairs searching for bodies after a disaster. Her best team was made up of her favorite belgium sheep dog and a mutt she found on the streets of the Dominican Rebuplic . Her Belguim was diagnosed with cancer and she decided it was so far gone that it was better to have him PTS. She decided to have him PTS at home under his favorite willow tree. While she sat there crying watching him slowly fall asleep , his partner (a mutt) laid her head on his back. When he finally passed she held on and just cried while her other dog whimpered....it lasted for about half an hour. When she looked over at her other dog she realised she had slowly passed away too. To this day the vet has found nothing wrong with her young 4 year old dog other than dying of a brocken heart. So yes they do mourn.

[JessXx]

Hi,
Yes I think animals DO mourn.
My dog- when we sold her puppies a while back (this was when I was a lot younger)- was quite sad for a while and she still goes to the garage and sits on the place that STILL has her puppies scent on it.

[heidi van s]

Thank you everyone who replied to my post. It is extremely strange because Socks was a male and Patches who is the one who is really missing him is also male. Scruffy, the female, who used to wash Sock's ears etc and really mother him, spat and hissed at Socks when we brought him home from the clinic after he had been away for about 10 days. She didn't want to know him, but Patches used to come into the room where I kept Socks, out of harms way, because of his tube etc, and sniff him and make his presence known! He is the one who is really affected by Sock's passing. Socks used to sleep on my left hand side in my arm and Patches has taken to sleeping in the exact same place now. I am giving him lots of attention and love because he is also a sensitive cat. I hope that he will get over it because it is upsetting to see .
thanks :love:
Heidi

[chico2]

Heidi,it's not strange that one male cat would mourn another,I have 3 male cats and they are really close,except when Vinnie,the youngest gets a little out of hand.
Also,Scruffy,just did not know Socks anymore,he had a different smell,coming from the vet,it's not at all unusual,since they recognize each other by smell.