?Grieving Cat?

Question
We have 8 cats and two dogs and are one big happy family.  We are very fortunate that all of our pets get along very well.  Unfortunately, we just had to have one of our dogs (Brandy, a golden retriever) put to sleep due to kidney failure.  While all of the pets seem to have noticed her absence, one cat in particular has been very affected by her loss.  He is a very large male cat named "DJ", who is normally a very gentle and loving, nurturing cat.  He was very close to Brandy and would often clean her and nap with her, etc.  Lately he has become very aggressive and kind of "mean" towards the other cats, which is really not like him!  Could it be that he is angry at us or them or blames us for Brandy not being with us anymore?  He is obviously very "needy" right now and wants more attention from us than usual.  He will curl up on our lap and sleep with us, etc.  He seems to be eating OK.  He does sleep with the other cats, but his aggressiveness "out of the blue" has me concerned.  He will just pounce on the others and attack them for no apparent reason, which he has NEVER done before!  Will this pass or should we be concerned and seek help for him?  I don't know what to do for him!

Answer
Kathy,

Once the "family" has changed, the dynamics of how they all get along may also change.  I would keep an eye on the relationships, and hope that things settle down.  In time you will understand the new dynamic.  Cats generally grieve only for a couple of weeks.

Personally, I do not think there is anything you can or should do about how they all relate to each other.  Usually, human intervention is almost always counter productive and makes things worse.

Best regards... Norm.