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Just as with
euthanasia, you need to decide how to deal with
his body. If you cannot bury your cat, many vets
will allow you to leave his body at the vet
surgery where the body can be dealt with by the
vet or be collected by a pet cemetery or pet
crematorium if you make appropriate arrangements.
The following sections may help you decide what to
do.
Sadly, a number of
cats go missing never to return. This is very
upsetting because you do not know what has
happened to him and you have no physical body to
serve as a focal point for grief and other
emotions. There is always that faint hope that he
will turn up safe and well one day. As time goes
on and it becomes apparent that this won't happen,
you need some way to 'let go'. You may find it
helpful to hold some form of memorial service or
wake to commemorate a missing cat. Without a body
to bury or cremate, some find it helpful to bury
their cat's favourite toys or blanket to serve in
place of a grave, or to have a small memorial
plaque made either for his 'grave' or for indoors
next to a photograph.
Because there is no
sense of resolution, the natural grieving process
is delayed. It is hard to use common sense to
decide how much time passes before a missing cat
is 'presumed dead'. Having a memorial service or
burying his 'personal effects' may allow you to
let go and to feel all the emotions associated
with pet death. It is unfair to yourself to hold
out hope indefinitely. When a cat goes missing and
there is no way of being absolutely certain what
has happened, it is natural to grieve for longer
and harder to come to terms with the fact that you
may never see him again. This is why it is helpful
to have something, such as a memorial service,
symbolic grave, plaque or photograph, to serve as
a focus for your feelings.
Will My Other Cats Mourn?
Should I Show Them the Body?
It is impossible to
say exactly what emotions cats feel, but if you
have any other cats they will certainly be aware
that someone is missing from their lives. It is
unlikely that they mourn in the human sense of the
word, but there will be some behavioral changes
as they adjust to the gap in their lives. If they
were sociable, the surviving cats may search, cry
out or even pine. They need individual attention
and reassurance. If they were unsociable or
indifferent to each other, the survivors might
simply rearrange themselves into a new hierarchy,
dividing up their former companion's territory
between them. Sometimes the surviving cat(s)
blossom if they were previously bottom of the
pecking order.
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