Greetings to all!
 
I am relatively new to this list, and just wanted to take a brief moment to
thank you all for (unknowingly) helping my stressed state of mind this past
week.  Monday (Sept 6) will be three weeks since my darling 'little girl'
Misha disappeared.  And while her daddy and I are having a terrible time
dealing with the loss, her 'big brother' Miko is of course taking it even
harder.  We tried taking him to both shelters and reputable pet stores to
find him another playmate, but he was completely disinterested, as all we
were able to find were males that were older (and much larger) than he is.
Miko is 15 months old, and a very small fuzzy for his age.
 
This past weekend we got a very sweet and loving 9 week old female which we
have named Mia (both in memory of our Misha, and in honor of the soccer
player *grin* ).  While she has adjusted to her new home very well, she is
completely terrified of Miko.  Miko is of course trying to establish his
dominance, he did the same when we first brought home Misha, but poor Mia
doesn't understand what's happening, so we have been keeping them totally
isolated from each other, and only attempting to let them interact under
close supervision.  While I realize that this is totally normal, and hope
that it's just a matter of time before Miko loves his new little sister, I
was just wondering if maybe we made a mistake in getting him a new playmate
so soon after his sister disappeared.  Every day when Miko gets his
playtime, he searches the entire house looking for his little girl, and
then gets all depressed when he can't find her.
 
When I say she disappeared, I mean just that.  I was working REALLY late
one night, and when I got home she was nowhere to be found.  The next
morning my boyfriend realized that he had left the front door open while he
took the trash out, but he didn't notice that she was lurking aorund the
front door like she usually did when she was let outside.  We've been
searching for weeks, calling anyone who might be able to get the message
out to the public, but to no avail.  I only hope that if something
happened, and she has in fact 'gone beyond' that my sweet playmate Homie
will great her with as much love as he lavished on me all those years ago.
 
If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can help Miko cope with his loss,
and learn to accept his new little sister, I would greatly appreciate
hearing them, either via personal email or postings here.
 
It's really hard to accept that something happened to my dear baby Misha,
and I feel as though I somehow failed them both as a mother.  Misha was a
tough little cookie, she was the only kid I've ever known that ever got
into so much trouble, but she wasn't scared of anything.  Even after her
run-in with the washing machine she recovered quickly and started attacking
sock feet with a vengence as soon as possible.
 
Thanks for letting me get these concerns off my chest.  I hope everyone has
a wonderful (and safe) Labor Day weekend!
 
Elizabeth ( & Terry)
Miko - the brave little boy
Mia - the newbie
Mouse - the 'wannabe a ferret' cat
and to Misha, we love you very much, and will never forget our darling
'little girl'
[Posted in FML issue 2794]