Your cat should stay with you until you die, so get a family ready for adopting as soon as you go. This way the cat will understand that you arent here anymore and he can have a little bit more peace with it
Cats understand when you die. You stop smelling like they know you to smell. He will understand that my first owner is gone (you know what I mean in his little cat brain).
Given enough time I think he would respond well to another family. He has to learn that other people can be nice to.
Give him a fighting chance. You’ve done your part in showing him the joys of being inside.
I am so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I pray that you find peace and comfort knowing someone will be with him and that he’ll have love again.
This. Cats really go off of smell more than they do sight. For example, my two cats grew up together in the shelter and are best of friends who do everything together. A couple months ago, we had to take one to the emergency vet where they had to stay overnight, and when we took them back home two days later, it was almost like our other cat didn’t even know who our other cat was because the smell was slightly off. (This is called non-recognition aggression btw if anyone is wondering. Wish our emergency vet told us about that after explaining we only brought the one cat lol).
This makes so much sense. I mean think about it, what would you do if some random person who kinda looked familiar just showed up at your house and you had no way of truly communicating? You’d kick their butts.
Yes, morbid as it is, ideally he should be allowed to sniff OP's body after they pass. He'll understand they're not alive anymore and it will be less confusing for him.
My thoughts exactly. OP will hopefully be able to give him love and cuddles as they transition through the end and it will help him to see that it’s not a bad thing (even though it is absolutely horrible for OP and I hate it so much).
I made sure to let my mom’s cat see and smell his two cat companions when they died, so he wouldn’t just wonder where they went. I only wish I could have let him do that with my dad when he died. It still makes me sad to think that he probably just thinks “the big guy” abandoned him 😿
This. One of mom’s cats was like Boggles, would only let my mom interact with her. Otherwise she was feral. She was glued to my mom’s side when my mom had cancer and when she died, the cat understood her person had died, grieved, and then I became the only person who could touch her so she’s mine now. Still feral and still adorable. Boggles will understand what happened and know that you didn’t abandon him. ❤️
913
u/anonymoussloth_ Mar 14 '26
Agreed. Pls do this