

Cat Grieving?
UPDATE: she ate a few bites of breakfast, but definitely still had low appetite this morning. The vet did some blood work (I learned my lesson and got pet insurance.. so a little extra lab work is good for me) and it unfortunately does seem to be trending towards something that might be FIP. Rising alb/glob ratio, while not necessarily an out of range number, is elevated.. so we opted to send an FIP panel to see if it happens to be positive and we caught it in a very early stage. Regardless, we plan to continue to monitor her for worsening symptoms. She got an antinausea shot and some topical mirataz to try to encourage appetite so she doesn’t send herself into liver issues, regardless of the cause being depression or FIP. She did eat a promising amount of lunch, drank some water, and is behaving a little more like herself this afternoon. Fingers crossed she continues to eat at least a little! I’ll let you know what the FIP test says.
My 11 month old baby, Pogo, passed from FIP last weekend. My remaining 1.5 year old kitty, Bean Sprout, has been acting completely normal this last week.
Today, I replaced one of the 2 litter boxes in the house with an automatic litter box. She seemed to take to it pretty well and used it a few times today. She ate breakfast this morning and a snack of dry food for lunch and was excited, as she usually is, to eat.
Tonight, she refused dinner, which she has never done in her entire time with me. She refused wet food, dry food, and all of her favorite treats. She didn’t even get in our faces as we ate our dinner, which she typically does.
She came over and laid beside me on the cushion next to me and began purring loudly. I picked her up and held her, which she usually doesn’t really let me do, and purred loudly while I pet her.
I began thinking about it.. did I trigger her into a depression by removing one of the 2 litter boxes? I have a stuffed animal that looks like Pogo that is wearing his collar. I offered it to her and she laid her head on it and let me pet her like this until she fell asleep.
I feel awful. Did I make her sad? I’m having some PTSD because inappetance was the first sign of Pogo’s FIP and though we took him in as quickly as we could, he was already in liver lipidosis, so her refusing food is making me extremely nervous..
I’ve booked an appointment for the morning, but is this normal grieving cat behavior? Did I make her realize her brother is gone on accident? What can I do to make this better?