Senior cat health issues. Wont let other cat near..

[sumcon9]

My family currently has two cats. 1 cat is a senior cat who has several health issues. Life expectation is not long.

The cat with health issues used to be friends with the other cat but now will only hiss at her. I have read about after a cat passes to wait for the other cat to grieve but what about before? Our cat doesnt get to play around or have any companionship now.

Or are we just reading to much into it and she
probably doesnt actually care and could even like it better when the time comes to be alone for once?

 

[KatherineE]

We lost a senior cat (Henry) in 2018. In the last two years of his life, he largely ignore his younger playmate (Izzy) and she learned to keep to herself. Henry didn’t hiss at her as yours is, but the end result was the same. We didn’t see a huge reaction from Izzy when Henry finally passed. We have had cats who seemed to mourn the passing of a playmate, but every cat is different in this regard. Henry lost his older playmate in 2014 and cried for weeks.

I’d note that Izzy was quite hostile to the kitten we adopted after Henry’s passing. No amount of time or effort helped. We finally gave up and created a separate habitat for Izzy within our house. She seems content to be an only cat within that space.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Every cat IS different, so you will just need to play it by ear. Many cats prefer to be the only cat in the household. Others like buddies to hang with. If you feel your cat wants a new friend after the older one is gone, you might try fostering to make sure they can get along before adopting.