Missed his brother?

anna mae

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A friend has 2 male cats she got as kittens 3 years ago. They've never been separated, were indoor only but she lost that battle last year. A few weeks ago one didn't come home and was missing for 4 days, 3 nites. During that time, the one that was home was very lethargic, wouldn't eat, drink, or go out. When the missing one came home, he went to his brother and started washing him and he was back to normal within half an hour. Her question is, is it possible that her cat knew his brother was missing and went into mourning?
 

sicycat

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What a bittersweet little story. Yes I think that cats do mourn they're fellow cats when they are not around. Good thing he came back!
 
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anna mae

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More than you know. She said she was force feeding him water with an eye dropper every 2 hours because he wouldn't drink on his own.
 

hissy

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Has she taken him to a vet since he got home? I would strongly suggest if she hasn't that she should.
 

cla517

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Absolutely! When I had to take my Simon to the vet, Max would search for him in the house and stand by the door and cry waiting for him to come home. I'm sure the kitty missed his brother terribly!
 

aussie_dog

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Willow would never admit it, but she missed Buffy when Buffy got spayed a few weeks ago. She didn't roam the house searching for her, but she acted different. She was more alert and knew something was up. At first, she roamed the house when we came back home without Buffy, but she eventually realized that it meant that Buffy was no longer jumping on her, encouraging her to play. So she slept, lmao!

When Willow went missing for a whole 3 days, Buffy searched for her. She ran to the door more often, and acted different. Willow is pretty much her "mommy". When Willow finally returned home, Buffy sniffed her from head to toe, not even the slightest bit interested in seeing what Willow was eating (every time Willow eats, Buffy drops whatever she's doing to go see). Then she followed Buffy around the house for the rest of the night.
 
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anna mae

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She was feeding water to the one who was home. The one that was out on an adventure came home as if he had just been out for ten minutes.

When she was out looking for the missing cat, she thought the cat at home would have heard her and come out to "help". When he didn't, and where he was so lethargic, she was afraid he knew something. But, the outside one came home and the inside one perked up as soon as it sank in that his brother was really, really home.

It's such a contrast to my two guys who are a year apart and not biological brothers. When my little terror, Pal, had an overnite stay at the vets after one of his adventures(hopefully those days are over as I have him back to being an indoor cat),Buddy, the alpha cat, couldn't have been happier.They get along fine but Pal can be pretty demanding, oh, I should just face it, he's a brat(but a cute brat!)and I think Buddy was reveling in the break.
 

amberthe bobcat

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Yes, absolutely, cats will miss each other. I used to feed 2 feral female cats at a park a few years ago, they were sisters. One day, another woman who also fed them, got a trap, so we could capture them and take them to the vet to be spayed. We took one at a time. When the first one was gone, the other one did not eat and just sat on the stone wall of the picnic shelter, where they would eat, watching the woods to see if her sister would come out. When she finally returned, they were so happy to see each other. They both ran to the food and ate like crazy.
 
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