How to Help Your Cat Deal With Grief
If the person will not be coming home, as in the case of a deceased person or one in a (final) nursing home, be especially loving. A scratch, a stroke, a cuddle - all these can be your allies. Try to find those spots that the cat really needs to have touched and touch them. Talk about the lost person and how much you loved them. Your new cat will understand your emotion, if not your words. Share your grief with the cat. You will find a ready friend.
Soon, the cat will begin to eat again. It will half-heartedly play with you. You will recognize the change. The cat - and you, have learned to live with the loss and the hole in your hearts. You can begin now to forge ahead in a life together, sharing the memories of that special departed person.
What about those temporary separations, like a child going off to college or getting married? They leave the family pet at home and the cat feels the loss and grieves. What do you do then? If it's possible, have the person come and visit so that the cat realizes that the person isn't gone forever. If the child has gone off to college, they will be home soon enough, and the cat may just need to hear their voice once in a while. Offer the telephone to your cat's ear so it can hear the beloved voice. The first time you do this, your cat may be startled, but after that, it will be puzzled. It can recognize the voice but the smell is different. Let the cat smell the phone and realize that the voice is coming through the phone but that the person is not there. The cat will be comforted by this - it know's what a telephone is for by watching you.
In the case of divorce it will be more difficult for all concerned. The cat misses the other person in the family, that person isn't dead, the remaining person won't talk and is usually very angry. The cat has no one to understand what it feels. Try to be patient with the cat. Try to have some empathy.
For more information on cats dealing with grief you can go check out this site Cat Grief.
