# Is my cat depressed?



## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

I think my cat, Brutus, is depressed. He's never been one who snuggles up next to us, but he's been acting more aloof lately. Ever since we got our new kitten, he has lost interest in playing or chasing after his favorite toy. He'll play for a little bit, then stop (especially when Kit, our kitten, is around). Brutus has never shown any hostility towards Kit, in fact, he seems particularly fond of Kit. He grooms her everytime she passes by. When he's not in the mood to groom her (or play), he lets Kit headbutt him. His behavior and attitude towards Kit is wonderful.

It's Brutus' behavior towards us that makes me wonder if he thinks we favor Kit more. Brutus still gets to sleep with us. We feed him first. We greet him first--Brutus is always first--but, for whatever reason, he's changed. Instead of waking us up in the morning (like he use to) by walking towards our head from the bottom of the bed and lying down next to us, he just jumps off the bed and goes to the window in the morning. I can't tell if I'm personifying him and seeing human traits in him when in fact he hasn't changed at all. 

Sorry for the extremely long post. I just can't tell if Brutus is still trying to get use to the kitten, or if he's sick. Poor guy.


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## Zalensia (Aug 25, 2003)

If you feel he is sick the best thing to do is have a vet check up. It sounds like he doesnt like the new kitten tho. Pebbles was like this when we got a kitten, and 3 years later she is still like this, but shes been a bit of a misery her whole life. I would give brutus lots of attention and extra lurve 8) 

_Moved to behaviour_


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## JoeyM (Mar 1, 2005)

Could he be getting enough attention from the new kitten? That may not be clear, what i mean is, could he be playing around with the new kitten so that he doesn't feel he needs as much attention from his human room mates?


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## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

JoeyM said:


> Could he be getting enough attention from the new kitten? That may not be clear, what i mean is, could he be playing around with the new kitten so that he doesn't feel he needs as much attention from his human room mates?


hard to say since we're at work during the day. when we come home, Brutus is usually perched on top of his cat tree, sleeping. he does greet us, well at least me, when i come home. he has this "where were you?" meow. then he leaves and lays down somewhere else. 

they might be playing together when we're gone, but there's no way for us to know. i just wish he wasn't so sad.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Cats do change with time. Maybe it's just that Brutus is getting older and isn't as interested in playtime.


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## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

timskitties said:


> Cats do change with time. Maybe it's just that Brutus is getting older and isn't as interested in playtime.


Maybe. But Brutus is only 1 and a half years old. I read somewhere that it usually takes a cat a few weeks to fully adjust to a new cat in the house. I think we were lucky that Brutus didn't try to kill Kit when they were introduced to each other. And, well, we're lucky Brutus hasn't tried to kill Kit at all. I guess we have to face some challenges--now Brutus is trying to figure out how this whole situation is going to play out. I'll give it a few weeks. I'll play with him even more (or attempt to) and give him even MORE attention. I hope he gets back to his old self.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Actually it could take from several weeks to several months. And Brutus may not behave exactly as you remember him behaving before the new cat comes home. Adding a cat always changes the social structure in the house and the resulting interactions. This happens with people; it happens with animals. You had a good relationship with him before the new cat came home. When things sort themselves out, you'll still have a new relationship. Chances are it will be DIFFERENT, but it'll still be good. Just have patience and understanding!! :wink:

But of course, that's assuming there's no health issue. If you feel something isn't right, that's always the first thing to check.


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## Petrafan4life79 (Sep 24, 2004)

Like JoeyM was saying, Brutus could be getting play time out of Kit and satisfying his need for attention. If I were you, I'd take a day, like Sat. if you have weekends off, and just lounge around all day. Watch the two interact and see how he is then. If they play a lot, he may not need as much attention from you. Another thing you can do, too, is get a toy that you can interact with the two of them. Maybe a wand or Da Bird, etc. That way they're interacting with each other, yet you're spending time with them. 

Is Brutus continuing to eat, use the pan and drink plenty of water? Keep us posted on what's happening.


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## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

Petrafan4life79 said:


> Is Brutus continuing to eat, use the pan and drink plenty of water? Keep us posted on what's happening.


Thanks for all the help, everyone! Brutus is still eating. In fact, he eats his food and Kit's food (when she's not looking). Sometimes we have to hide Kit's food or else Brutus will eat it. Brutus seems to be doing fine healthwise. We just took him in to the vet last week for tapeworms. That seems to have been resolved (we'll see b/c we just found a flea in our home--see other thread). 

Oh Brutus.


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

When I got a new kitten my cat did the same thing. It was like he suddenly became an adult! It made me kind of sad as he had been such a goofy, bouncy tigger. But as Tim said, the relationship has changed but it's still great. He does do most of his play with his brother now and refuses to make a fool of himself infront of him (ie: stops playing with me if the kitten walks in). It's actually quite funny. It sounds to me like your guys are getting on fine. And over time everything will fall into place. Congratulations!


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## reeeeka (Jun 27, 2005)

That's sad  

When we brought a kitten home to be Satans playmate Satan didn't like it very much, infact he tried killing it. We did everything wrong though, we let the baby play with Satan's toys and lay in his little bed and everything. After 2 days of trying to keep Satan away from the kitten we had to get rid of the baby. It was sad but Satan is a feral cat and we are his humans, he doesn't belong to us it's the other way around in his eyes.

Atleast you big boy likes the baby...maybe he's just calming down? Or realizing he has to share you with the new baby and backing off? I dunno, maybe you could take him to the vet for a visit and see what they say?

I hope everything gets better, keep us posted.


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## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

thanks for the concern everyone. Reeka, Nanook, reading your posts reminds me so much of our situation (minus Brutus trying to kill Kit). We have a possible theory to why Brutus has not been his usual self. The first, I've already mentioned, is that he's not sure how to "be" now that Kit is here. The other is that we just found some flea poop on his neck. We administered Advantage a week ago, but I think his collar soaked it all up. After consulting the vet and Advantage, they said administering a new dose should do no harm. So, that's what we did. This _might_ have some effect. Maybe Brutus can't stand fleas...or maybe he can't stand Kit. Only time will tell. 

I'll keep you all posted.

p.s.
here are pictures of them


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## N Rogers (Jul 4, 2005)

I think that cats do have the ability to be 'depressed'. I have a story that is kind of oposite to the issue of an old cat getting used to a new one.

We had two cats for many years and they absolutly HATED each other. They faught almost everyday. But, when the oldest one died, the other became very depressed. For a good few months after the death, the live one would look around for his 'brother' at feeding time and just generally looked and acted depressed. In the end he went back to his normal and loveable self.

So, it might be that Brutus is depressed (although i am no expert of course) but if he is, he will probably go back to how he used to be soon.


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## hillacinth (Dec 18, 2004)

Hi--I'm resurrecting this old thread to see if there are any updates on the current dynamics between these cats. 

I'm interested, because I was having the same problem with my cat and new kitten at the time the thread originally came up: my one-year-old cat had started acting like a cranky senior citizen who wouldn't play anymore once the kitten entered the environment. It made me feel really bad.

But now, 3-4 months later, he's finally beginning to play again and act happy! He and the kitten are definitely friends at this point, despite their occasional differences, and they play together a lot.

I'm just wondering if this has also been the experience of the other people who wrote in on this thread---I would have been a lot less worried if I'd really believed the situation would probably get better over a few months' time.

Thanks!


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## cal4ever0407 (May 17, 2005)

Brutus, for the most part, got over his depressed state. But, he and Kit never got to playing together. They would wrestle, and then Brutus would walk away. Brutus would also leave the room when we would play with Kit. I'm not really sure why. He just doesn't play in front of the kittens.

To give Kit someone to play with, we adopted a new kitten recently. Kit doesn't bug Brutus anymore and Brutus is happy to sleep all day. Th addition of our new kitten, Fry, has really changed things for the better. Kit now has someone to play with, Brutus has a new kitten to groom.


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