(TheIndependentStar.com) – Even though cats are often seen as aloof, independent and hard to please, recent research showed that they might also grieve if another pet in the same household dies.
According to pet owners, some cats have been observed struggling to sleep, losing their appetite, or making yowling noises after a pet’s death. Others became more needy around their caregivers or lost interest in their favorite activities.
The researchers said these findings challenge the idea that cats are antisocial and suggest that the experience of loss might be universal across species.
Authors from Oakland University in their study published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science wrote, “They [cats] engaged less in sleeping, eating and playing but more in seeking attention from humans and other pets, hiding, spending time alone and appearing to look for their lost companions.”
In addition, mourning is well-documented in the animal world, with animals like elephants, dolphins, and chimpanzees showing complex behaviors such as guarding the body of a deceased companion.
A recent study by Italian researchers also showed that dogs change their behavior when another dog in the household dies.
However, Oakland University’s research highlighted that it was less obvious that a cat would show signs of grief.
“Whereas dogs, descended from pack animals, might reasonably respond more strongly to the death of a conspecific, cats under human care have adapted to live among conspecifics and their capacity to respond to the loss of a companion warrants further study,” the researchers added.
In the study, caregivers of more than 450 cats who had recently lost another pet (either a cat or a dog) were asked about their surviving cat’s behavior. About two-thirds of the deceased pets were cats, and the rest were dogs.
“Unlike dogs, we tend to think that cats are aloof and not social,” Professor Jennifer Vonk, a comparative/cognitive psychologist at Oakland University and co-author of the study, stated.
The study also suggested that cats were more affected by the loss the longer they lived with their fellow pet, but witnessing the death or the number of pets in the home did not seem to influence their grief.
While these results support the idea that cats grieve, there is also the possibility that owners might be projecting their own feelings of loss onto their surviving pets.
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