I hope this is the right section to ask, but feel free to move if not...
Some might have seen my recent post that I had to let my 17 year old girl go last week. I have 2 surviving boys. One is 4.5 and doesn't seem to notice as much. The one I'm concerned with is my almost 16 year old boy who was with her for about 13 years. They slept next to each other and cleaned each other so they had a close relationship.
I'm still terribly sad about it, but know I will work through eventually but it's killing me seeing my older boy fall into depression now. He still eats and drinks OK so far. Mostly sleeps a whole lot. Then he does go into the 2 bedrooms she was frequenting lately to look around and lay in the middle of the floor. He did witness her getting sick and slowing down so I'm sure he probably knows what happened.
From what I've read I know I've got to keep the routine going, try not to be too upset in front of him and try to add more play time to 'distract' him. The two boys aren't super close (maybe due to age). One stays upstairs and one stays downstairs so that is kind of annoying that they don't confide in one another.
So, leading up to my question is..... I live alone and will be going back to work tomorrow, 8-5. As if the whole losing a cat situation isn't hurtful enough, it's really eating at me that I have to go back to work and leave the other two alone for 11 hours. However, I have no choice.... need to earn a living for us! Are there any tips when you have to leave a grieving/depressed cat home alone? At almost 16, he isn't much into the toys any more even though there are a lot lying around. Wondering if I should keep a TV or radio on? I just wanted to see if anyone has been in this situation and found something that was helpful? On the good side, I do have 2 cameras set up where he normally sleeps so I can keep an eye on him from the office.
I hope my boy can be resilient and eventually come around but I've read that could take a month to 3+ months. I'm just scared that he will decline from a broken heart and won't bounce back He has been battling IBD for 3 years so getting him to eat is already a chore.
Some might have seen my recent post that I had to let my 17 year old girl go last week. I have 2 surviving boys. One is 4.5 and doesn't seem to notice as much. The one I'm concerned with is my almost 16 year old boy who was with her for about 13 years. They slept next to each other and cleaned each other so they had a close relationship.
I'm still terribly sad about it, but know I will work through eventually but it's killing me seeing my older boy fall into depression now. He still eats and drinks OK so far. Mostly sleeps a whole lot. Then he does go into the 2 bedrooms she was frequenting lately to look around and lay in the middle of the floor. He did witness her getting sick and slowing down so I'm sure he probably knows what happened.
From what I've read I know I've got to keep the routine going, try not to be too upset in front of him and try to add more play time to 'distract' him. The two boys aren't super close (maybe due to age). One stays upstairs and one stays downstairs so that is kind of annoying that they don't confide in one another.
So, leading up to my question is..... I live alone and will be going back to work tomorrow, 8-5. As if the whole losing a cat situation isn't hurtful enough, it's really eating at me that I have to go back to work and leave the other two alone for 11 hours. However, I have no choice.... need to earn a living for us! Are there any tips when you have to leave a grieving/depressed cat home alone? At almost 16, he isn't much into the toys any more even though there are a lot lying around. Wondering if I should keep a TV or radio on? I just wanted to see if anyone has been in this situation and found something that was helpful? On the good side, I do have 2 cameras set up where he normally sleeps so I can keep an eye on him from the office.
I hope my boy can be resilient and eventually come around but I've read that could take a month to 3+ months. I'm just scared that he will decline from a broken heart and won't bounce back He has been battling IBD for 3 years so getting him to eat is already a chore.