loosing one of two

Hi,
this is my fist time on this site/forum.

Wednesday my cat, Piggy went missing. He was one of two brothers from the same litter..like frick and frack always together, playing, looking out for one another, etc.. Yesterday he turned up in a neighbors yard, unfortunately no longer alive. Needless to say i am devastated by this and coping poorly at best. I've never lost a pet before. My childhood cat is still alive and living with my parents. But this post is not about me. My other cat, Georgie is the one i am thinking of. He is wandering further than usual (which is normally 4 houses up or down), probably looking for Piggy and wondering where he is.

For me, it is far to soon to think about another cat but i am wondering if it is better to get Georgie a new companion sooner rather than later? If a new companion would channel his sadness to a better place? My concern is that if we wait too long, will he get too used to being the only cat and less receptive to a new one?

any thoughts or comments would be great
Jen

im sorry!

i posted this in the wrong section

Sorry I missed this for so long!

Since your question is dealing with the grief of Georgie, I'll move this to the Behaviour Forum.

Hi and Welcome to this site

I am so sorry of your lost may he RIP .

Is there any way you can keep your cat just insite ? A insite cat is much saver from all kinds of danger .Then my next Question is he neuter ? If not you may want to consiter that since unneuter male can wander off very far especialy when a female in heat .
I don't think it is to early for a new cat , but you have to know if you are ready for a new cat .

I am so sorry to hear about your kitty! I had the same thing happen to me with my first two cats, James and Jake. Jake went missing and James was meowing and looking everywhere for him. James also disappeared a week later. My advice (having hindsight now) is to keep Georgie inside and not let him out. He will be more safe indoors.
I don't know about getting another cat so soon, I will let more experienced cat owners answer that question.
Again, I am sorry to hear about Piggy. May he rest in peace

How sad I am so sorry for your loss I agree with Hedi, is there any way you can keep him inside? Play with him a lot, give him extra attention and snuggles? He will be so much safer that way.. then you can get him a playmate. I think you're supposed to wait a little while before you get another cat but I'm not too sure..

I had a similar situation recently. After many, many years together (16/17) I had to have one of my cats called Toby put to sleep. His brother Lucky really grieved...searched all over the house and kept looking around outside. He's old and doesn't go far so I didn't have your worry about him going off, but I was very worried about him all the same.

I also had the same thought you did, maybe I should get another "friend" for Lucky ? Talking it through on the forum though, I decided that it was too early. Hissy had some great advice...introducing a new cat is a stressful thing and might at a time of grief be "too much", and result in the opposite effect that you're aiming for. Just something to think about. My little guy is old and I really didn't want to add more strife...

Anyway, I'm so sorry about Piggy. It's just awful to have him die like that. Give Georgie lots of love and hugs, that's what I did with Lucky, and talked to him about Toby...sounds daft but I think it helped, me and him.

Thank you all for your input. I will take it all into consideration.

Georgie seems to be slightly better. We do actually talk to him all the time. I don't think its daft at all, cats are so perceptive...i swear Georgie can read my thoughts.

As far as keeping him inside goes...im totally torn. As i said before, for the first year or so of their lives, we lived in a 3rd floor apartment, so no opportunity to go outside. Even though we LIVE for them and play with them constantly there was a marked change in their happiness and energy level once they were allowed to go outside and when they would come home, they would practically JUMP into our arms. So at this point i feel like its safety vs. quality of life for Georgie. Thus far, we have started bringing him in much earlier in the evening and going outside more often and playing with him outside to encourage him to hang out near the house. He is neutered, so i think the reason for the wandering is definitely looking for Piggy but he seems to be in the process of accepting the loss as well. Hes a little more relaxed when he comes in and less vigilant for any little noise. I think the fact that im not on the couch sobbing all day anymore has helped him too :-( But back to going outside...I feel like hes been through alot and to take away the outdoor life that feeds his natural instincts would be cruel at this point, regardless of how worrisome i get if i dont seem him cruise by the window every 15 minutes. It would be different if he'd never been outside and didnt know what he was missing. I realize there is a definite risk involved with having an outdoor cat but i feel like the quality of his life, no matter how long is very important too. I will be spending a lot more time outside with him.

anyhoo...this whole experience has been so so hard on me, i think about Piggy and worry about Georgie all day every day.

I thank all of you for your inspiring and comforting words in the Rainbow bridge section. I am so glad that i found this site, it has really helped me through.

Thanks again,
Jennifer

p.s. will post pics soon, im a little bit a computer loser! Will update about the potential new kitten, still deliberating on that one.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Is there any way you could build Georgie an outdoor pen (if you attatch it to a window he can go safely in & out as he wishes)? This way he gets some room to explore plus fresh air, but he is safe from other possible hazards.

Jen...I am so sorry to hear of your loss Please, if you can, keep your other pal inside. I know they love going out, but they are much better inside. If you still want to let your cat out, try using a harness (no collar) and let him roam just in your back yard. There are far to many dangers to letting your cat run loose.

Update!

so its been almost 3 weeks since we lost piggy and though we are all (me, ken, and georgie) still grieving...we decided not to let too much time go by before we introduced a new kitten into the family.

Since Georgie is a boy, we thought he might be more receptive and less threatened by a female kitten (i hope im right on this one).

So far so good. There was a little hissing and a few paw swats at first by our resident cat, but nothing major. He seems to accept her presence and is fine with sharing the same space with her but as yet is not overly friendly with her. The kitten (kiki) on the other hand is totally enamored with Georgie. She follows him everywhere, licks him when he lets her, and cries for him when he goes outside. Even in the first days when he seemed a little resentful of her and was hissing up a storm, she stood quietly and defiantly in his face looking sweet and demure, as if to say 'please like me, im going to sit here until you do'. Hopefully as time goes by, they will be best buds :> *cross fingers*

As for Kiki...shes 10 weeks, all black, just in time for halloween! and as energetic and spastic as any kitten would be, lovey and cuddly too.

I miss my Pigg, and i always will. but our new kitten i think is helping all of us heal.

thanks for listening :>

It sounds like your new Kiki is just what your family needs Wishing you the best of luck with both of your kitties. Post pics if you have any. I would love to see your new baby.

Congrats!

Well that is good news . It sounds like that the 2 will go well together . Kiki sounds like a sweet girl and what a cute name for her .

so i know its been awhile, but im a bit of a nightmare on the computer...so it took me awhile to figure out how to make my pics small enough. anyhoo...heres on of me and georgie, sleeping (its my fav pic)!

and here is one of our new little Kiki

you all 3 look so cute , thanks for sharing the pics with us .

Oh I just love your kitties! So cute