A question for people who have had fur-friends pass away...

[WillParkinson]

If you had other fur-friends how did they react?

I'm not trying to be rude, honestly.

Misty is getting up there in years. She's about 13 now. Baily, our youngster, has adopted her as mom. Wherever Misty goes Bailey follows.

I'm worried about how he will react when Misty "goes away" from him.

We're trying to figure out what we'll do when the inevitable happens as we've never had kids who were this close-knit.

[livetohike]

1. I also had a Misty Will

She died in Sept. 2000 and was 13.5 yrs old. Her litter mate Ranger was left alone and he lived until Valentine's Day 2003 :cry:. They were never separated since birth.

We were on a camping trip when Misty died. We let Ranger sniff her body at the vet's office. I would say Ranger grieved for a few weeks. He moped around and looked through the whole house when we returned home a week later. (Misty was buried on the vet's farm).

Here they are. Misty is the dog on the left.

[WillParkinson]

2. Beautiful pups....

Thank you for sharing.

I'm really worried about how Bailey is going to react. He came from an abusive home and ours is the first real family he's known. Misty has been very tolerant and patient with him (usually) and he loves her so much. If I put them in the bedroom she lays on Paul's pillow and Bailey lays behind her with his head on her back.

[livetohike]

5. Oh geez.....how sweet

But don't worry too much. Bailey is young and in time you will probably have another buddy for Bailey. We thought Ranger was too old to bring another dog into the family (especially a young one). Ranger was almost 16 years old when he died.....

Everything will work out okay. Just love Misty and Bailey to death while you have them both. I know you will :-).

[nini]

3. She'll grieve - just like we do.

But she'll be ok in time with lots of love from all of you. We had a dog that kept looking for the other one after we had to put her down. It broke our hearts to see her like that and we couldn't just tell her it what was going on - all we could do was give her the attention she needed at the time (which wasn't so hard to do since we were all grieving the dog) :cry:

[ThomCat]

4. Not well

When my oldest cat, Pixie, passed away I had a kitten named Millie. Millie freaked out, became skittish and hasn't been the same since. It's been 5 years and her personality changed radically when Pixie died.

She used to love other animals. Now she hides under furniture and refuses to socialize or adjust to their presence. I have had 2 other cats (Silver and Grey) for almost 5 years now They're sweet, declawed friendly mushes who were already gentle adults when I got them. I have to keep them physically separated from Millie with a closed door between them or Millie freaks out.

[Heidi]

6. _Excellent_ question. I want to know, too.

Our boy, The Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger, is five years old, and though his sister, Tabitha, and his brother, Barley, don't live with us, they live within yards of us and are Ginger's daily friends and playmates. Call Me Wesley and I consider Ginger's family, Tabith (my mother-in-law's cat) and Barley (my sister-in-law's cat) "our family" and they wander in and out of our home at will. I wonder how to best to handle everything when one of this three-kitty litter crosses the rainbow bridge.


Left to right: Ginger, Barley and Tabitha


Ginger and Tabitha, snuggling in Call Me Wesley's chair


Barley at our patio window: "Can Ginger come out to play?"

[Strong Atheist]

10. Hey! When you showed ME that photo of barley, it wasn't "can

Ginger come out to play", it had something to do with being fed. Let me find it ...

Edited:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=4566062#4566381

[Heidi]

12. When I open the door,

Barley always eats Ginger's leftover Brekkies before they go out to play. (But I'm not supposed to feed Barley, because my sister-in-law thinks he won't eat when he comes home if he eats also at our house. :blush: Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don't tell her, but I can't resist that sweet face and that fluffy little round Barley belly.)

[Strong Atheist]

15. Sounds like "Don't eat dessert, you won't eat your dinner.

My lips are sealed ...

[grace0418]

7. I had two cats, littermates, that I raised since they were 2 weeks old.

Frank and Beans were really attached to one another- partially because they were brothers and partially because they were so young when they were abandoned (imho, anyway). Beans was the runt of the litter and had problems his whole life. The vets were amazed he lived as long as he did. He was 10 yrs old when he died of kidney failure. Frankie was a wreck for a loooooooooooooong time afterwards. He would wander around the house day and night, searching for Beanie and crying. This was almost three years ago and Frankie still cries more than he used to before Beans died. Now I think he's just lonely for feline companionship. We of course spoil Frank rotten and shower him with affection (he is without a doubt the most affectionate cat I've ever met) but we still can't speak his language. I feel bad and want to get another cat, but my husband's allergies seem to be worsening with age. :(

[fizzgig]

8. they will mourn just as we do

so each one has their own reaction

in april 96 we had a kitten (he wasn't much more than six months old) pass after getting into some anitfreeze. we also had his older brother (still do). when bubba died, yossarian took to sleeping on bubba's spot on the couch and still does.

when another one of our males, marley, died on 9/11, yossarian was very quiet and just kept to himself for a bit after that, but has since returned to his loving self.

i have the same worries as you, my babies have been together for nearly six years now. there's yossarian, who will be 11 this year; sweetie, who will be nine this year and two of her babies, pearl and vega, who will be eight this year.

animals know just as we do when someone they love is gone and like people, are able to heal

:hug: to you and your babies

[SOteric]

9. They grieve. They sniff the spots the other used to perch,

sometimes wander about as though they're looking for something, seem a bit glum.

Be prepared to give a little extra attention, have some toys ready to distract them from the worst of their sadness and you'll all get through it after a time. :hug:

[mdmc]

11. one of my twin goldens recently passed

and the other one was depressed for about two weeks (wouldn't get up, go out, or eat). She started to limp, just like the dog that recently passed.

Sadder, a neighbors golden ran away and came to our house. Ginger (the living dog) freaked out, thinking it was her sister! It was truly an awful experience.

Ginger is a happy dog again.


If you are worried about your children, talk about impermanence. The smartest people seem to think if you cover your eyes, death will not find you. Talk to your kid about this.

[xchrom]

13. when peewee the 5 lb yorkie crossed over

sport, his 80 lb husky mix brother really missed him.

he would lay in all the places where peewee would lay.

mope about.

it seemed like when peewee was alive that sport wouldn't give him the time of day.
peewee would try to tell sport what to do, etc{peewee also followed sport around where ever he went} -- sport just did whatever like peewee wasn't even there.

i couldn't have been more wrong.

sport did get over it eventually.

[KamaAina]

14. Our younger kitty became more of a people kitty

Kwan Yin, shiny black and part Siamese-Burmese, had always been more interested in her orange tabby uncle Sean than in any of us humans -- and vice versa; when Kwanny reached maturity, the neutered Sean tried his darndest but ended up falling off her!

After Sean died, at only five, Kwan Yin settled for the companionship of people and soon matured into perhaps the most loving of all feline creatures ever, rivaled in fact only by her late uncle.

[lavenderdiva]

16. I believe they grieve, just like we do...

Many years ago, I had 2 parti-variety cocker spaniels who were litter mates, Sadie and Oliver. Oliver became very ill, and started to have seizures. He was just like a little old man, and very frail. He got cold easily, so I would put toddler-size sweat shirts on him, to keep him warm. He was at the vets office, suffering from pneumonia, when he passed away. I went to the office to see him, and removed his sweat shirt to bring home. Sadie was there and immediately sniffed the sweat shirt ALL over. Then she went right to the spot on my bed where Oliver would sleep each night, and lay down. She stayed there for a good long while. After that, she seemed kinda mopey for a long time, but eventually became herself again. But I believe that interlude was her way of grieving for Oliver, just like I was doing.

I now have 2 other parti-variety cocker spaniels, Libby & Emma. Emma has just been diagnosed with kidney failure (apparently common in cockers), and I am giving her subcutaneous fluids every other day, and feeding her with a syringe. I know my time with her is limited, and I am wondering how Libby is going to handle it when she learns Emma has gone to heaven. Libby is well-aware that Emma is ill, and will come over to see just what I am doing to Emma when I administer the I.V. fluids. She is concerned about her sister!

We don't have any children, so these little angels are our 'furry kids'. I can understand your concern, and send you lots of these: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

[Orsino]

17. Hard to tell.

I've got a fourteen-year-old male cat, whose mother passed away several months back. I can't say that I've seen him acting strangely, but we did note that he lost about a pound, which he has since regained.

[anarch]

18. the survivors definitely grieve

I've had to bribe the little dog with chunks of turkey to get her to start eating again. I think it's a combination of missing her feline friend, and sort of sympathetically picking up on how upset the S.O. and I have been. Our four-legged friends are very sensitive!

[politicat]

19. Hm. The one that died didn't much like the other two, though

they tolerated her. However, they still behaved differently after she died.

Simone was very talkative and demanding, while both Angel and Fuzzball were fairly laid back, easy-going and mellow. Angel was very very quiet -- super-quiet considering she's a Siamese.

It's been three years now, and Angel and Fuzzy have both become far more talkative, and Fuzzy is more affectionate now. He lets us pick him up, which he used to not like at all. Angel has become far more typically Siamese, in that she talks a lot now and usually at high volume. (Her favorite trick is to go to the coldest part of the house, sit in a draft, and complain about it at the top of her leather lungs.) They've also become a lot more protective and affectionate with me, in part taking Simone's place (Simone was my cat from my sophomore year of college; Angel and Fuzzy were my husband's cats from his college days.)

When one or the other of these two go, it's going to be very hard on the survivor - Angel has been Fuzzy's older sister since he was 6 weeks old and she was 13 months old - they're now 13 and 14.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. If the dogs have been raised together, the remaining one usually

will react to the other's death. My Am Eskie and my Sammie were exactly 8 weeks apart in age. They grew up together. When Dinks died (at home), Crissy came into the hall and I let her smell him. She was extremely depressed for about a month....very still and didn't want to eat.

Dogs can perceive illness in another dog (or even their people) and I know that Criss was aware that there was something very wrong with Dink. Unfortunately, Crissy was extremely sick at the time, having just been diagnosed with diabetes and 'atypical' Cushings'. Dinky's illness was very sudden and he died in just over two weeks (IAHA).