O/T: Can Animals Sense Another's Death?

[Kricket]

Do you think animals that have lived togetherfor 10 years (or more) know when another one dies? Mysweetheart, Chloe, my first dog died a month ago. Our twocats, Dusty and Pastel haven't been themselves. As a matterof fact, Pastel was the saddest. Chloe and Pastel were goodbuddies. Pastel never let anyone besides me or Chloe nearher.

We buried Chloe in her favorite spot in the backyard and I planted abeautiful garden, and before Chloe passed we got her paw prints andlaid them in stepping stones. It's a lovely spot in ouryard. I buried her 5 feet or more deep. Here is myquestion, can Pastel sense that Chloe is buried there? Shenever laid there, now that is where I always find her.Another thing, Pastel hasn't come home for four days. She hasmissed 8 or 9 meals and I am worried. She never misses meals,except the day after Chloe died, she didn't come home to eat for aday.

Did she know Chloe is buried there? Has anyone had a cat notcome home for days, then eventually show up like nothinghappened? I am SO hoping this happens. It is sodepressing to go to the pound everyday to look through their DOA files

Thanks for reading this. I know at times I am rather wordy

Hugs!! Krick

 

Kricket , hon yesthey can actuallyknow those things , Animalshave a preception ushumans can only dream of having, I dont want tosound cruel hon but pleaseprepare yourself that Pastelhas gone to be with Chloe, sometimes animals do that, they pine away , give up all hope oflife and quietly pass away , Ido hope this isnt the case.Please keep us posted as to findingher Hon so sorry .

 

[CorkysMom]

I've heard of that too Gypsy....thats a sad story...I hope it all turns out ok Kricket, let us know!

 

[Jenniblu]

My Pollie disappeared for a little over a weekand when she returned home she had a severe ear infection and could notstand or really walk. The vet told me that ear infectionswere rare in cats, but that when they did happen, it affects theirbalance and motor skills badly, so she most likely got the infectionand wandered around dizzy and feeling drunk before she could climb thesteps to the porch. I hope your cat is okay. Maybesit some food out for her? She may be coming home at night.

Your cat may be able to smell the dog buried (doubt it cause you buriedher deep)or she may just like the fact that there is somebare earth for her to lay on - cats love to lay in flower beds andgardens for this reason. As long as she isn't trying to digthe dog up you shouldn't worry about it.

Oh, and I don't care what the experts say - animals can grieve and feelloss or someone close. Just give the remaining pet some extraloving and treats and they will turn around. My last doggrieved for weeks after 'his' kitten was killed and barely ate and justlaid next to the kittens bed and toys all day.

HTH

 

[Cheetos mom]

Kricket.

I am sorry to here about Pastel missin'.

I, too believe that animals can grieve. I know of several animal pairsthat passed within days of each other for no real reason. I know ourLab wouldn't eat willingly when my father was out of town. I'd have tolay by his dish and threaten him with me eating it! He mourned thetemporary loss.

I hope Pastel comes home. And yes, I have had several cats leave forextended periods of time and return safely. Perhaps, a neighbour isfeeding her?

We once had all five of our cats go missing simultaneously. I receiveda phone call asking me if I was "Tiger's owner" (he was the only onethat still had a collar and id). I told her I was and would pick him upimmediately. She replied by saying, "Good, now I have only four more togo..." When I asked what she meant by this, she explained she had fourother strays......well, I need not tell more...

The cats musta felt the stress in the house and all unanimously decided that this was a good woman.

I hope she comes home - I really do. Please keep us posted.

 

[naturestee]

Yes, animals do grieve. When I was inhigh school, one of my cats "informed" me of the death of a friend'srabbit I had been caring for. He acted strange and kepttrying to lead me to her cage. He hardly ate for a couple ofdays. Strangest thing is, he was terrified of her!

I also had a cat go missing for a whole month when I was akid. We had given up on her when she showed up at our doorone morning, skinny and flea-ridden but otherwise in perfecthealth. We never knew where she had gone.

I hope that all works out well!

 

[Zee]

Yeah they do gieve, and some animals do have away of letting us know. From my experiences, I think that most animalsif not all, have a sixth sense.

I tell you a story about my sister and the dog.

One of our family dogs (who sadly passed last year) was a very cute miniture Yorkshire Terrier.

She died at the grand old age of 7. My sister for about 2-3months constantly complained of having headaches.

My sister and my mum went to Ireland to take my Gran to see family, and my sister, still had the headaches.

Pepsi (the dog) was staying with my other sister here. One evening, thedog woke my sister up, she had fallen over. She sister sensed thatsomething ws not quite right, and decided to take Pepsi to the vets thenext day. She had not told my sister.

At the Vets the next day, Pepsi was worse, and they managed to do ascan. It turned out that she had a brain hermorage, and was slowlyleaking over the last 2-3 months. She died while at the Vets.

My sister (that is in Ireland), turned to my mother at the precisepoint when Pepsi had died, and said that her headache had gone.

When they got home, we told them what had happened, and vise versa. Wecame to the conclusion that the headaches my sis was getting, wasPepsi's way of telling her that she wasn't well.

I hope your cat comes home, she just needs her time to grieve.Sometimes, as someone has already said, they miss their companions thatmuch, that they do find a quiet area and go themselves.

I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[onnie]

These story's are so sad and breaks your heartjust thinking about it'i belive animals have a sixth sence and can pickup on a lot of things'i also think we have a sixth sence as well i onlyhave to look at my animals and know if they are unwell or want something'most of the time it could be body language but it does make youwonder. Very sorry to hear of all your losses by the way really doessound like their grieving as well but you probably know that just byasking and hope everything turns out ok:angel:

 

[Snuggys Mom]

I found this on one of the HRSlinks. It's for rabbits, but would probably apply to otheranimals. It still makes me cry when I read it:



Should one of the bonded pair die, be sure to let the survivor sit withthe body for awhile. Some rabbits need longer than others, but a halfhour to an hour should be sufficient for most. This allows the survivorto know that death took his/her friend, and they haven't just beenabandoned.
Different rabbits will do different things as they say goodbye to theirfriend. Some clean their pal one last time, some just stretch out nextto their pal and rest for a time, some dance circles around their pal'sbody (they must know something about death that we humans haven'tlearned yet!). Whatever your rabbit does, you will be able to tell whenthey are done saying goodbye.

After the death of one member of a pair, give the survivor a few weeks before introducing a new friend.



Kricket, I'm sorry for your loss and I hope Pastel comes home soon.

Laura

 

[LuvaBun]

Kricket, I am sorry to hear that Pastel ismissing, but don't give up hope. I will be keeping everything crossedfor her safe return -Jan

 

[dajeti2]

I beleive animals do in fact grieve.Apollo was out of sorts for a good while after Athena passed. He wouldgo lay in front of her cage for hours. He would look for her throughoutthe house. When he couldn't find her, he'd lay in front of hercage.

We took Apollo to my mother-in-laws house, where we buried her.Apollo ran right to the spot and laid there. After we came home he laidin front of the entertainment center where she used to lay. He barelyate that day. He was mourning her all over again. I decided He can't gothere anymore. It's hard for us but it was harder on Apollo.

I hope and pray that Pastel will return home safe and sound.What a beautiful name. I will be praying for you and your furbabies.

Tina

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Kricket,

Outside cats can definitely take little short vacations foranumber of reasons. I know a lot of outside catsthat have taken off only to come home at a later time. Theymay have found a good hunting spot, found food, found love, someonedumped a garbage and they're enjoying it, someone's feedingthem.I'll say some prayers in hopes that your little onecomes home by supper time.

As to thePastel laying on the Chloe's grave, my firstinclination is that the cat likes the dirt and it's certainly possiblestill smell the dog, oris curious.I knowthat dogs sense of smell is extremely keen and they could pick up onit. Not sure if the cat's sense of smell is quite assharp.

Regardless, there's no doubt that animals respond togrief.If you've never read the book, WhenElephants Weep, I'd strongly suggest it. In one chapterof the bookthey talk about how one of the elephants in theherd they were observing. The men went in an whisked the dead body ofthe elephant away and buried it. The elephants cried and cried.

Finally,themen dug the body of the dead elephantback up and presented it to the elephants.Eachmember of the herd went up to their passed away family member and criedand stroked it with their trunks. After each elephant had a chance tosay good-bye, they buried the body again and the herd moved on.

I'm so sorry to hear about Chloe. I can hear the pain andconcern in your post. I'll be praying for peace, health, andsafe return of your cat.

urplepansy:

-Carolyn

 

[Kricket]

All of you are so wonderful to share yourtouching stories. Sometimes I think I don't ever want to ownanother pet, because the pain and hurt when a member of the familypasses, is almost unbearable. I checked the pound and thehumane society again today, to no avail.

All of your stories really made me think. Some even broughttears to my eyes. Thank you all so much for sharing.

Hugs! Krick

 

[Carolyn]

Kricket wrote:

Sometimes I think I don't ever want to own another pet,because the pain and hurt when a member of the family passes, is almostunbearable.

I completely understand that mentality. I'm not sure I'llcontinue on after my three pass over the Rainbow Bridge.Can't even think about it. It just upsets me too much.

Praying for your cat to comeback.

-Carolyn

 

[cirrustwi]

I wanted to respond to this before, but I'm also wondering if there is any word on your cat?

We had a stray that inhabited our yard and no one could catchit. Well, 2 of my cats escaped and then were afraid to comehome because of this stray. We found Cirrus sitting on myneighbor's sidewalk, he ran right over and was so happy to be carriedinto the house, he'd been gone 5 days. Twilight was gone for2 weeks. We put fliers in all our neighbors mail boxes andsomeone called really early the next morning to say they thought shewas living in their back yard, sure enough it was her. Thefamily's little girl thought she was a panther. It wasfunny. Another neighbor called just to see if we'd found herand if not said they would help us look because their son was so upsetat the thought of a missing cat (I'd never even met thesepeople). Twilight disappeared again for a while, it turnedout our neighbors didn't know she was ours and had her inside theirhouse. We didn't see them very often, so when we did, weasked them if they'd seen her and they let her out and she came runninghome.

I also think that animals can sense the death of other animals bothbefore it happens and after. My aunt had a dog who alwaysslept in their utility room with the cat, the night the cat died, thedog refused to sleep in there. My cat was beside himself whenthe dog he grew up with died a few years ago. He's happy now,but it took him months to be himself. I also had a rat whosecompanion died and I really think the other rat died of loneliness.

Jen

 

[Kricket]

No sight of Pastel Kitty I put upflyers this weekend. Still checking the DOA at the pound andthe cages at the Humane Society. No kitty. I am notgiving up hope. I really wish I just knew what happened.

Sidenote...there is a black & white lop at the HumaneSociety...HAD to ask about his story. They foundhim in a wash Saturday morning inside of a pillowcase.Heartbreaking! I want him SO bad! Theyare neutering him today. Sometimes, I HATE people!:X

 

[dajeti2]

Stories like that poor bunny, I really like my animals better than people most times. How cruel and heartless.

I am still praying for you and Pastel. Hopefully she will be home soon.

Tina