John my heart goes out to for your loss
All of you have special needs right now.  Give them extra attention they are
going to need it and so are you.  You will find out that they will be your
crutch as much as you will be theirs.
John anytime you need to talk,express any emotion we are here for you and
them.

Purrs, Hugs and Prayers

I wrote this for loss of a pet but it works for all loss

Always remember We will be there even if you can't see us.
We are always Watching and Waiting. That cool puff of air you
feel across your cheek, that fleeting touch, the feeling you have
that I was walking across your bed, that moment you swear you can
hear us, that flicker of movement out of the corner of your eye.
Is just our way of saying I love you and I am with you always even
in the darkest time We Will Always Be There. Till our paws touch again
always know we love you and cherished our special time together

Matthew

< tears in his eyes for your loss>

John, I am so sorry you lost your lifemate. I cannot imagine how
hard this is.

I think if you just give your kitties lots of physical affection, playtime,
attention like this, it might help all of you. I am so sorry for your loss.

I am so sorry for your loss.   Lots of love and attention helps.
Explain to them what happened - I know it sounds corny, but when my Mom
died, it helped her kitties.  

-L.

"Rise up slowly, Angel.  It's hard to let you go..."
Sincere condolences .  As for the fur kids, lots of attention and cuddles.
MLB

PS.  You can read the whole poem "Rise up slowly Angel" just by typing it
in.   Best wishes to all.

I'm so very sorry for your loss. You do whatever you need to do to
deal with your grief and let others help you with everything else.
Worrying about the cats is very healthy. I don't have any
suggestions other than give them lots of love and they will return
it many fold, and please take care of yourself.

My condolences to you. The best thing you can do is give them lots of
attention and talk to them. I'm sure they will also provide you with some
comfort, too. My parents recently adopted two greyhounds whose owner died in
January. The woman who owned them apparently lived alone and had four
greyhounds when she died. The dogs are just now feeling at home, and they
have been through a lot more drastic change than your cats have. My parents
actually adopted the greyhounds at different times. They adopted the first
one about two weeks after the owner died. They decided to adopt the second
one a month later when they found out that the remaining greyhound from the
household -- 10 years old -- was still at the kennel.

It will take awhile.

My heart goes out to you and your creatures.

The two are lucky to have one another, and they are both lucky to have
you.

It might be helpful to reach out to your church, an animal league or
similar animal group to seek a voluntary or for-pay pet sitter to stop
by during the daytime to play with the cats, especially if you return
to work. Even if someone comes for a short time on a regular basis, it
will give the cats something to look forward to and will help them
transfer their attention to anticipating the visits.

This does not imply that you are incapable of loving them, but they are
already familiar with you. The idea is to introduce some novelty with a
stranger--this will capture their focus for a time and introduce new
comforts.

When you feel it's appropriate, you can wean them off of the sitter
visits by spacing the visits from every day to every other, then every
three, and so forth.

My deepest sympathy for your loss.

Please understand my current state of mind as I submit this question.

John,
My deepest condolences for your loss.  What a difficult time you must be
going through right now, and you still take the time to think about your cats
too; they are very lucky to have you.   You could put a shirt of your wife's
that she recently wore where your cats sleep so that they can still smell her
scent.  When people have to leave their pets at a clinic or shelter,
sometimes the owners will leave an article of their clothing with the pet to
help soothe them.  I hope your cats will be a source of comfort for you in
this time of sorrow.  
Take care.

NanCe

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss.

I can't add much to the other good advice, except to say that they may
settle down and then get worse in a month or more. Because they never
know exactly what happened, they will be depressed and looking for her,
and then eventually, it will hit them that this is permanent.

I had this happen with Kira after Maynard died. I actually brought in
Maynard so that everybody could sniff him and know he was dead. But
even so, about a month later. Kira just suddenly got depressed. I had
to really give her a lot of extra loving to help her through it.

Just be aware that they will grieve at different rates, and be on the
lookout for lack of appetite and other signs of depression.

I also find that the cats are great in helping me with my own grief, so
a lot of what I do in helping myself also helps them since I am
directing my attention to them.

Bach Flower Essences. There are 38 of them in total and they were designed
by a medical doctor who left his practise to study plants and their effect
on emotions and health.  They come in little brown bottles and they are
available at any health food store.  For pets who grieve the loss of
another pet, Honeysuckle is used. For pets who grieve the loss of a human
companion  who died , both Honeysuckle and   Star of Bethlehem are used.
Alternate , when giving them. First one, then the other.  They are
non-toxic. Pick one essence and add 10 drops along with water in a small
water bowl as the  water source.  It can also be given as needed, the
drops-  approximately five drops- either on the tongue or on a tiny amount
of moist food. It can be given every 5 minutes, to start  in acute
situations , then tapering off  to every ten minutes, every half hour, or
every several   hours.  Whatever works best.     People can take them too
and they help   for those who mourn the  death of  a companion or pet.