Hey folks,
One of my cats is currently very sick with highly aggressive cancer. Rocket was away in the hospital for about a week in total days, not all were consecutive though. I just got her back home since being in the hospital since Wed or Thursday. While she was away, her littermate and brother, Cosmos had a very noticeable behavior change. He has always been very cuddly and wanting of attention, but while she was gone Cosmos was very restless. He would meow very loudly all morning, he'd get up and meow loudly at 1am, and would sometimes start meowing loudly around 7am. Instead of napping from noon to 4 or 5pm, he would be up wandering around and meowing, only to finally take a brief nap in the afternoon and then wake up and meow again. Since bringing Rocket back home this morning, Cosmos has returned to his normal self, so clearly that was his response to his sisters absence. Sadly, Rocket only has a few days left as she's going to be euthanized at home. I wanted to do that so she would be comfortable and free of fear in her own home, and so Cosmos would be included and would be able to see what's going on. I'm hoping that will be less traumatic for him than Rocket simply leaving the apartment suddenly and never coming back.
I wanted to ask you all if, given his reaction to his sister being in the hospital, it would be inadvisable to spend 4.5-5 days away visiting family for the holidays. I bought my flight tickets a month or so ago, obviously not expecting to be in this awful situation. My mother has already expressed concern about the idea of Cosmos being left at home by himself (he'd have a sitter come by to feed him) so soon after the quickly approaching loss of his sister. I am also concerned about leaving him alone and don't want him to be unwell. This is my first time having two cats so I haven't encountered feline grief before. Would it be best for me to cancel my trip and stay with Cosmos? I don't know when the at home euthanasia will be at the moment since I haven't heard back from them yet, but I am expecting it to be within a few days.
One of my cats is currently very sick with highly aggressive cancer. Rocket was away in the hospital for about a week in total days, not all were consecutive though. I just got her back home since being in the hospital since Wed or Thursday. While she was away, her littermate and brother, Cosmos had a very noticeable behavior change. He has always been very cuddly and wanting of attention, but while she was gone Cosmos was very restless. He would meow very loudly all morning, he'd get up and meow loudly at 1am, and would sometimes start meowing loudly around 7am. Instead of napping from noon to 4 or 5pm, he would be up wandering around and meowing, only to finally take a brief nap in the afternoon and then wake up and meow again. Since bringing Rocket back home this morning, Cosmos has returned to his normal self, so clearly that was his response to his sisters absence. Sadly, Rocket only has a few days left as she's going to be euthanized at home. I wanted to do that so she would be comfortable and free of fear in her own home, and so Cosmos would be included and would be able to see what's going on. I'm hoping that will be less traumatic for him than Rocket simply leaving the apartment suddenly and never coming back.
I wanted to ask you all if, given his reaction to his sister being in the hospital, it would be inadvisable to spend 4.5-5 days away visiting family for the holidays. I bought my flight tickets a month or so ago, obviously not expecting to be in this awful situation. My mother has already expressed concern about the idea of Cosmos being left at home by himself (he'd have a sitter come by to feed him) so soon after the quickly approaching loss of his sister. I am also concerned about leaving him alone and don't want him to be unwell. This is my first time having two cats so I haven't encountered feline grief before. Would it be best for me to cancel my trip and stay with Cosmos? I don't know when the at home euthanasia will be at the moment since I haven't heard back from them yet, but I am expecting it to be within a few days.
