Anybody ever heard of a cat and oppossum being friends? I've had a possum living around the place for years eating cat food and compost. Everytime I've seen him the cat was also around. Anyway this guy finally died and my cat has been going nuts!!! Crying constantly. Can't get enough attention. Could this cat be mourning or have I seen to many Disney movies? I'd think this was real funny if my kitty wasn't so pathetic. Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), February 05, 2000

Answers

Kirk, I don't think that you have necessarily seen too many Disney movies. Animals DO form attachments for other animals. I've had several cats that genuinely mourned the loss of another of the pets. In this case, the cat may not have had any other cats around, so took up with the possum. It might help you and the cat both to get another cat. That would give your current cat a new friend, and would give you more peace. I would suggest getting a kitten that is about half grown. Large enough to pal around, and young enough to not try to take over. A quiet puppy might also work. Good luck.

-- A.C. Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), February 05, 2000.

Not too much Disney. I once had a puppy that lived with a grown New Zealand rabbit that had the run of the yard. They shared the dog house and when the puppy died, the rabbit wouldn't go into the house for days.

I had 2 horses that had been together 14 years when one died. Just about the time I would stop crying over him, I would hear the other horse calling him and off I'd go again. This lasted for 6 weeks.

I have a coming 3-year-old Great Pyrenees female with my sheep and goats. When I have to take one of the animals away for euthanasia or butchering, she goes ballistic and doesn't "speak" to me until the next day. If they are just going to the vet, she still registers some disapproval of me but she isn't nearly so vocal about it. When our old Pyrs, who accepted her at 5 months, died, she was just lost and looked for them for days. Not fun for me either. No, not Disney. You are just empathetic and realize there is something in those little hearts and minds.

-- Marilyn Dickerson (rainbow@ktis.net), February 05, 2000.

This kind of reminds me of how crabby I got at my vet when he told me to make sure the kittens didn't nurse on their mom after she got fixed. She was SOOOO engorged and miserable, and the babies missed her so. I totally ignored the vet - if it were me, and I had gone thru major surgery and left my nursing babies at home, I would want to nurse them first thing when I got home. And so did she. Those babies didn't wean till they were "gangly teenager" cats! I honestly cannot understand folks who believe animals do not have feelings, or no sense of logic. My pastor's wife kept making fun of us for talking about a deer that was OBVIOUSLY trying to hide from a hunter. She just couldn't bring herself to believe that an ANIMAL can actually THINK. Wierd!

-- Becky Michelsen (beckymom@kjsl.com), February 08, 2000.

I was told that chickens were one of the dumbest animals there is , then we got chickens and watched one raised by us [ the other chickens were bonded to each other when she came]climb a vertical wire wall to be out with us humans she liked to hang out with. She used her wings for balance as she climbed up. I think people like to belive thay have no deep feelings because it is easyer to eat them if you can covince your self that they dont have feelings

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), February 08, 2000.

I agree totally! Two years ago we had to have one of our horses put down, and put all the others into stalls so the vet could drive in and not have them milling around in the way. After she had been picked up, I later let the others out, and one other mare that had been with her since day one, went to the exact spot where the mare died, and let out the most mournful, long, whinny, unlike any other sound I had ever heard her make. I know she knew what had happened, and was grieving. I'm sure animals are a lot smarter than we humans give them credit for, we just hate to admit it. I would go for the idea of getting another cat, too, Kirk. Probably the best solution. When our mother siamese barn cat disappeard this summer, leaving a litter of 4 just weaned kittens, which we were in the process of giving away, her remaining male kitten from the previous litter took over and "mothered" the last kitten after the others found homes. He didn't attempt to nurse her, but guarded her, called her to the food bowl, snuggled her, and generally took care of her. Before that, the mother wouldn't let him near the babies. He just seemed to know she wouldn't be back. He was right, we found her dead in a ditch along the road a couple days after she disappeared. Good luck. Jan

-- Jan Bullock (Janice12@aol.com), February 11, 2000.

We had a wonderful 7 year old male Malemute that had Blastomycosis. He was in terrible shape and untreatable. Not having the 100+ dollars to have the vet put him down, we decided we had to 'do it ourselves'. It was awful for us, but quick for our old friend. We buried him in a deep grave overlooking the lake and covered it with sod. Three months later, our new dog, also a Malemute, took me for a walk that ended near our old friend's gravesite. The new dog walked over to the spot, sat down on it, lifted her head and howled! Say what you will, but I think she knew what had happened there. I have also followed my cat through the woods to the gravesite where she also seems to grieve (and she didn't like the old dog at all!) by lying down on the spot and watching the view.

-- ginger morgan (vermort@spacestar.net), June 16, 2000.

Our old dog once tried to "mother" a litter of distemper-suffering kittens, but unfortunately he smothered them instead. You never saw a sadder dog, even though we all knew he was trying to keep them warm and didn't punish him or anything. It's just as well, as they probably weren't going to make it anyway. Poor things.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 07, 2000.