Do cats have feelings?
Cats get a bad rap. They’re stereotyped as cold, indifferent, spiteful — even downright evil. Many people talk about cats as if they’re soulless monsters, incapable of forming any kind of emotional attachment to their human guardians. This is massively unfair. Cats form attachments and experience affection just like other pets do; they simply express their feelings differently. Once you learn to understand them, you will see that cats really are tremendously loving animals. You’ll also be better able to express your affection in return.
Do cats have feelings? Yes. Cats experience a range of emotional states, ranging from fear and anger to contentment and love. Cats feel fear, joy and all sorts of other emotions, which they demonstrate in various ways. They also have a feeling for specific individuals: fellow cats, other animals and human beings. Cats readily form emotional attachments and can be intensely loyal.
You’ve arrived on this page because there are things you want to know about your cat’s emotional range. You may be wondering whether cats have the same kind of inner life as other animals — whether they can become attached to you like dogs, or whether their emotions are limited to “cupboard love”. You may have questions about your cat and her emotional range…
- Do cats have empathy?
- Do cats have feelings for their owners?
- Do cats have emotional attachment?
- Do cats have thoughts?
- Can cats sense danger?
You may be wondering about cat emotions and body language — how you can discern what your cat is feeling right now… Luckily, we have answers. Read on to learn more about the fascinating world of cat psychology.
Do cats have feelings?
It’s easy for a cat lover to take umbrage at this question. As a long-time cat owner, my immediate reaction is “Yes, of course, they do!” The problem is that cats don’t display their emotions in the ways most people are used to. They also respond very differently to stimuli than dogs do. Because they react in ways people don’t expect or can’t pick up on, cats have a reputation for being cold, unloving or vicious. Cats also labor under the stereotype of being completely aloof and solitary.
In actual fact, cats are not solitary creatures at all. Although cats can be very independent, they’re still social animals who readily form bonds and who need companionship. When they live in the wild, or away from the direct care of humans, feral cats form loose colonies. These may have a large number of members and are generally matriarchal, with females of breeding age dividing the nursing and kitten-rearing among them. Hunting and scavenging are communal, with cats bringing food back to their colony mates when they’ve eaten enough themselves. While certainly territorial and fond of personal space, they’re a long way from the cold-blooded parasites depicted in popular myth. Feral cats can be observed associating freely with their fellow cats and engaging in a number of social behaviors.
To a domestic cat, then, the household takes the place of the colony. For a house cat, their human carers and other pets are all colony mates. They may have preferences for certain people and find others harder to get on with. They’ll want to feel safe in their little areas of territory within the home but will also want social contact and a sense of connection. Your cat may not jump up at you wagging her tail but she may make it very clear how much she cares. Cats will express their affection in various ways, from the obvious (rubbing against your legs or jumping into your lap) to the less obvious (slinking into the room behind you and taking up residence on a high shelf to observe your activities). Once you learn to identify feline messages of affection and regard, you’ll find yourself basking in a love you never knew existed.
Read Also: How Do I Stop My Cat From Scratching the Door at Night?
Cats also pick up on your emotions much more readily than you might realize. As well as raised voices or more obvious displays of emotion, cats can also detect more subtle signs such as smiling versus frowning. The way they’ll respond will vary between cats, from effusive displays of concern when an owner is crying to more tentative gestures.
As for a cat’s own feelings: a cat’s emotional life seems to be as rich and complex as you could possibly imagine. Cats become scared, lonely, angry or bored. They become anxious in new settings and happy in familiar ones. They celebrate when someone they care about returns home and grieve when they lose a loved one. They can pick up distress in others and offer support, as well as demonstrating annoyance when things aren’t going the way they want. All in all, there are few emotions a cat could not be said to have.
Do cats have empathy?
The common feline stereotype holds that cats are completely indifferent to the emotions of others, ignoring the feelings of other pets or their human caregivers. In fact, cats are highly sensitive to emotions. When you imagine life as a member of a cat colony, this makes perfect sense. Clearly, an intelligent creature that lives and co-operates with its fellows and relies on them for survival must be able to divine their feelings somehow. Without this insight, cats could not avoid unnecessary conflict, collaborate on hunting and scavenging missions or maintain useful bonds and alliances. It follows that cats must possess some form of empathy in the sense of being able to read facial and physical cues.
Aside from being able to work out what kind of mood another individual is in, do cats experience an emotional response of their own? A key component of empathy as most people would define it is to share another’s feelings. Research suggests that cats experience this form of empathy, too. A study from Michigan’s Oakland University in the US showed that cats were social and positive towards their owners when those owners were smiling. When the owners frowned and adopted a disapproving expression, the cats became more reticent and showed fewer positive behaviours (rubbing up against their owners’ legs, jumping onto their laps, nuzzling them and so forth). Interestingly, the same thing did not happen when the cats where introduced to strangers who smiled or frowned in the same way. From this, we can deduce that the cats had learned to identify their owners’ expressions and respond accordingly, which they could not do with strangers. It’s evident from this study that cats can read emotions and that they experience an emotional response of their own. In my personal experience, some cats are tremendously empathic.
Do cats have feelings for their owners?
Feline empathy and emotional support can be a powerful thing. I’ve known some very special individuals who could always tell when I was in a bad mood and would do everything they could to support me. Some of my cats would simply nuzzle up against me purring, while one in particular would fetch a toy so we could play together. It was clear that these cats were especially concerned about me and wanted me to be happy; they acted similarly to other members of the household but I seldom saw them do the same thing for visitors or guests. One of the cats we had in my childhood home would only come to comfort me and nobody else.
I could tell innumerable stories about feline attachment and empathy but a few sticks in my mind. A friend’s cat — a charming mixed-breed kitty with a lot of Siamese smarts — would detect sadness or anxiety in one family member and go to fetch someone to help. He would do this by meowing loudly until you stood up, then running backward and forwards until you walked in the direction he wanted you to go. One night when I was visiting and he deemed that I had been working too late, the same cat came and shooed me up to bed.