No Cat, But Missy Still Goes Crazy Upstairs...

[MissyBC]

So, ever since Muse our cat passed away on January 19th of this year at the tender age of 7 & 1/2 years... Missy (2 & 1/2) has been allowed the run of the house off and on. Every time I let her upstairs she goes crazy!! ...running, whining, barking, charging etc... hoping to find the cat.

She does eventually get bored of it and comes downstairs... but it's always been an "over threshold" zone for her...

Any ideas on how I could teach her NOT to go crazy??

HELP!!

Muse <3 We miss her sooo much!!

"Where did the cat go??"​

Sorry for the oversize of pics!! I really didn't realize they were soooo big!

 

[648117]

So sorry about your cat.

You could just not let Missy upstairs.
We have an 18 year old cat that lives upstairs and a gate at the bottom of the stairs to stop the dogs going up there (the old cat has always been very shy and has some issues and as she's gotten older she stopped wanting to go out). The dogs go nuts whenever they see the old cat but are fine with the other cats.
When the cat passes (which will likely be sometime this year) we will keep the gate and continue to not let the dogs upstairs. All the bedrooms are upstairs and we don't want dogs in bedrooms and I worry that if they did have access to stairs they might slip and fall down them. Also I don't think it's good for their joints to go up and down stairs.

 

[Caiti]

Wylie had a similar problem himself, only with our basement and instead of a cat, a guinea pig. He got over it himself, but one thing I did do, that I would like to think helped, was that whenever he was calm I would click and treat, and really reward him.

 

[MissyBC]

Wylie had a similar problem himself, only with our basement and instead of a cat, a guinea pig. He got over it himself, but one thing I did do, that I would like to think helped, was that whenever he was calm I would click and treat, and really reward him.

Last night I let Missy upstairs and when she was at the top of the stairs watching me (a.k.a. "I'm bored!" I believe) I started throwing treats up the stairs and waited for her to get them off the stairs... that way I could get her downstairs without her craziness!!

 

[MissyBC]

She still goes crazy if she's at the top of the stairs watching us and waiting for the cat and my mom, dad, or I walk up the stairs... *bark, bark, whine, bark, bark, bark* etc. at those moments she's probably thinking... "uh oh! they're coming to say hi to the cat! I'd better run!!" even though the cat is gone.

 

[Amateur]

maybe it will take a little time for her to realise poor kitty has passed
it may correct itself

 

[Caiti]

I think Amateur is right, it took Wylie some time to realize that the guinea pig wasn't there, and now he doesn't even look for her.

 

[MissyBC]

Should I leave the gate open to the front hall which leads to upstairs at all times then? (unless my dad is napping of course!)