A recent study is the latest to throw into the question the idea that cats are unfeeling masters of their domain. Based on interviews with hundreds of cat owners, scientists have found evidence that cats do routinely grieve after the loss of another pet in the home, even dogs. Humans are far from the only animals to mourn the dead.
Dolphins, elephants, and other highly social creatures have been observed displaying signs of grieving, such as orca mothers holding onto the bodies of their recently deceased children. Studies in recent years have also shown that dogs will exhibit plenty of sadness when humans or other pets pass away. But relatively little scientific attention has been paid to cats and their capacity for mourning.
Scientists from Oakland University in Michigan sought to remedy that. In their new study, published last month in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science , the team surveyed over 400 cat owners who had lost another pet in the past. The owners were asked about short- and long-term behavioral changes in their surviving cat following this loss.
Overall, the team found that cats could experience similar changes in behavior as those seen in studies examining dog grief. Cats might eat or sleep less, seek more or less attention from their humans, or even “appear to look for their lost companions,” the researchers wrote. And the longer that cats lived with their lost companion or the more positive their relationship was, the more signs of grief they seem.