Empathetic pets

[Guinevere]

Has anyone else had any experience with pets sensing feelings.  Our older cat always seems to know when someone is upset, and seems to seek them out for cuddles!

Also, our younger cat had to be put down last year and I was understandably very upset and did not want to go out in the garden as she had always been there and it was really empty without her. Our neighbours young cat (who had never visited before) kept turning up and sitting at the patio door till I went out and played with him. He really cheered me up and made me go out in the garden again. He gradually came less and less as I came to terms with my cat not being around anymore, although he still comes to visit.

Has anyone else had experience of this, or am I just being daft?

[francea]

Nope, your not crazy at all, my cat Tilly would actually scratch and yowl at my bedroom door if i was inside crying until i opened it for her.  Amittedly sometimes she'd then be totally uninterested and just wander around my room (she wasnt the smartest of cats) but normally she'd come and purr in my face till i was better. 

[LordyGeordie]

i don't think you're being crazy, cats do seem to know when you're upset but i'm not sure whether it's to do with any kind of sixth sense.

remember they have a much higher developed sense of smell and our bodies gives out different chemcial smells depending on our mood. i think cats pretty soon work out that they are more likely to get cuddled/ attention if they smell you in an upset state than if you were, for instance, angry. i'm not sure whether they do it to cheer you up particulalry. although, who knows, it is likely that cats get upset in the wild and presumably give ut similar smells as we do and their fellow cats in the pride may comfort them.

As for your neighbour's cat turning up in your garden after your other cat had died. this is more likely to do with the fact that there is no longer another 'rival' cat in the garden marking its territory and so your neighbour's cat knows it can come into the garden safely.

[delilahcat]

No Guinevere, you're certainly not daft. I had a wonderful cat who always knew if I or my partner was feeling ill, and he would come and sit on our knee (or lie on our head if we were in bed!) and make us feel better. Sadly he's no longer with us but our lovely cats Samson, Delilah and Claudius brighten every day!

So sorry to hear of your loss but glad you had a little charmer to help make you feel better.

[woofgang]

my dog definitely behaves differently when one of us is unwell. She changes from a thug in a fur coat to a gentle quiet animal. I am sorry for your loss Guinevere, one of the things that God got wrong was not having dogs and cats live as long as humans

[eupraxia]

Its as hard to lose a beloved pet as it is to lose a family member and I feel for you.

I do bellieve cats and dogs know when we are down.Any one who says they don't have souls never had a pet. Both my lovley old cats and hopefully my great old mutt when it his time will be in heaven waiting for me.

It brings tears to my eyes just at the thought of life without him.

[dmsjps]

I agree with everyone else here and I don't think you're daft either Guinevere. I have two beautiful cats (brother and sister) and when the sister went missing for 3 or 4 days, her brother used to sit on the gatepost at the entrance to the field she always went in behind our house as though he was waiting for her. He would sit there for hours at a time for those few days. He never did it before she disappeared and after she turned up, he never did it again.

 

The brother also knows when I am poorly. He doesn't often come for a long cuddle; he prefers 5 minutes or so at a time, but when I have been ill, he has stayed with me for hours.

[bubbles1]

I had my cat for 21 years she was lovely when she became ill a cat used to come and sit on our garden fence everyday he came for about 3 weeks until she died I was devasted. I buried her in the garden and it was as if he let me grieve for a couple of weeks he then came everyday until I became so attached I let him move in he has been with me for 3yrs and helped me feel so much. It is as if he is my old cat in a different colour same temperment and everything. So strange