Cam,
When Muse passed 2 of my civies and our 80 lb drooler went into a heavy grieving for their lost friend as well. Onyx and Amon Ra (the civies) would cry and search all her favorite haunts, and the drooler turned into a velcro dog. It is so hard to watch our other fur babies grieve and not know how to explain it to them. I just tried to give everyone a little extra love and cuddles. But at least for Amon Ra that didn't seem to help much as Muse had been his foster mommy, he stopped eating except a very small amount, would walk the house for hours calling for his lost friend and generally terrified me that I might lose another beloved furry child. Then some friends of ours called, they had a litter of kittens in a feral colony that they manage. Two of the kittens were sick, one had an eye infection and one an upper respitory infection, so they needed to seperate them from the rest so they could be treated, only problem was their special needs cat Puddy (he's blind) was not handling two active kittens in the house well, so could we please, please, please take these two in as at least fosters until they were well enough to be spayed and returned to the colony.
We agreed and brought Duvessa Storm and Elektra Skye home with us. King our drooler and self appointed kitten wrangler immediately took to the two small bundles of fur, then came Amon Ra, when the other cats would hiss or growl at the kittens, good old Ra-rum would come flying in to protect the little ones. Then I noticed that when I fed the cats, Ra would leave the older cats to eat with the kittens. He was gaining back the weight that he had lost after Muse's passing. So we called our friends and told them that their babies in our care were no longer fosters they had their furever homes. We were lucky, my husband had just returned to his job as a roofer and my unemployment had restarted, so we were in a financial place to take our new babies in. I know not everyone is in that place both financially or emotionally after a loss of a beloved pet. But I truly believe that the new babies at our house saved Ra's life, and hopefully we have done the same for Duvessa and Elektra.
As for your own fur kids, love them hon, hug them close, let them know that while you are sad and upset that Itty is gone, they are still very much loved, and in no way are you sad or upset with them. And when the time comes and you can add another addition to your home (because it sounds like you want very much too.) Then hopefully they to will love that new family member.
Again I am so sorry for your loss, but you gave Itty the greatest gifts there is, she finally knew love, and in the end you gave her soul the release it needed.
Mel & Muse (GA)
