Do cats mourn the loss of fellow companions? This study decodes the feline behaviour | Knowledge News

Yes, cats can come across as aloof creatures with an air of indifference. But that is because contrary to dogs, cats love their own space and set some boundaries with the humans.

A new study has shed some light on the behaviour of cats. (Photo credit: Unsplash)

New Delhi: Unlike popular perception, cats are emotional and sensitive animals. They feel joy and grief, pain and ecstasy and are not shy to express their emotions. Yes, cats can come across as creatures with an air of indifference. But that is because contrary to dogs, cats love their own space and set some boundaries with the humans.

Cats are not as expressive as dogs and they do take their time to warm up to their caregivers. But the animal with a seemingly aloof demeanour, beyond the fierce hisses and slaps, is very caring and emotional. Like other animals, they too have truckloads of feelings. This notion has been further established by a former study which claims that cats mourn the loss of a companion, something which any person with two or more cats or other animals at home can corroborate.

Do cats mourn the loss of companions?

Yes, they do. A new study has shed some light on the behaviour of cats. According to the research study published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, cats do mourn when another household pet dies.

A research group from Oakland University surveyed 412 pet owners who had lost a dog or cat but still had at least one cat in the home and came to the conclusion that cats showed common signs of grieving when another pet in the house passed away. The cats meowed more often than usual and showed a decreased appetite. Also, the duration of their sleep was more or less than their normal amount of sleep. Cats grieved even if a dog, which was in the same household, died.

According to psychologists Jennifer Vonk and Brittany Greene from Oakland University, the study reinforces the idea that cats may experience the loss of companion animals like what dogs go through when they lose someone. The study further elaborated that the cat will grieve depending on the degree of its positive relationship with the deceased animal. The deeper the bond, the more will the cat express a decrease in sleep, appetite and playfulness than the normal standard. The longer the cat has lived with the deceased animal, the more the cat will seek attention from the caregiver.

Also, the study states that cats are likely to emulate the pet parent’s grief for the deceased pet depending on their bond with the caregivers. If the caregivers are attached to the deceased pet, the cats are likely to project their grief through behaviour change. This study, above all, throws the notion that cats as solitary creatures who do not have or express emotions out of the window. It shows what cat owners have known all along: The felines have a lot of feelings and they express them. They just do it in a way that does not conform with the expectations of people who expect them to behave in the same way as dogs.

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