So many of those people treat their cat like a lamp though. Of course your cat is a “loner sociopath” - if you barely interact with it and never give it attention or enrichment it’s going to fuck off and do its own thing without you.
“They [cats] engaged less in sleeping, eating and playing but more in seeking attention from humans and other pets, hiding, spending time alone and appearing to look for their lost companions,”
My old cat and dog used to fight constantly. One day we had to put down our dog and the cat howled for days cause his sparring partner was suddenly gone. Whether the cat was lonely or legitimately grieving, I couldn’t say, but the experience certainly was eye-opening.
Same for dogs. When my cat was killed, his dog-sister was in despairing grief for weeks. I’d hear her howling throughout the day, she stopped eating, and barely did anything all day. For the next few months, whenever she would hear/see a cat on tv or smell anything that belonged to the cat, she would get lively and attentive, as if her missing sibling was coming back. It was terrible to witness.
I had a cat named Gizmo. My wife adopted a cat named Tiny Dinosaur. When Gizmo died, T.D. wasn’t too upset about it. Then I got a new cat named Elmira. When T.D. died, Elmira was pretty sad. She cried and sulked. Then my wife got a new cat named Fluffy. When Elmira died, Fluffy didn’t care.
Hmm maybe my wife just raises cold indifferent cats.
I just had to split the cats in my divorce. Mine has been yowling in empty rooms and he’s clearly showing signs of depression (not eating as much, sleeping more, etc). My ex’s has apparently been searching the new house for days and gets sad when he can’t find me or my cat. They definitely have a sense of loss and vary in how they cope with it
I don’t know how bitter the divorce has been, but is there any way the cats could move from house to house together? Or would you risk losing them both entirely.
It’s very amicable but we’re also moving a fair distance away from each other. One of them also hates the carrier and screams like a dying banshee, pees all over himself, it’s ugly
I adopted two kittens together. One got sick and died under 2yo (similar to cancer). I had to hurry up and get another one sooner than I otherwise would have because the remaining kitty was massively codependent after he’d died. It was clear that she knew (he’d been increasingly sick over a few weeks, so it’s not like just one day he was gone; she saw it happening). You could tell she was pretty upset and we sorta cried together for a week. Luckily, the next kitten that I brought home was a perfect fit, even if I was still heartbroken.