I realise the most likely answer here is that I’m projecting human emotions onto my pet, but I ask anyway
I ignored my cat just before, in circumstances where I would normally show her affection and talk to her. It just wasn’t possible at the time
This seemed to really distress her, and she ran off, came back, yowled, ran off, came back… for about 10 minutes.
When she finally came near enough for me to cuddle her, I noticed that her eyes seemed watery and damp, and she had what looked like a teardrop hanging off her nose. After I started petting her and talking to her, she began purring, brightened up, and her eyes lost the watery look.
Is it possible that she was crying? Do cats shed tears over emotional distress? Is it more likely that I either imagined it, or saw a physical reaction to some sort of irritant and presumed an emotional cause where there was none? Are there other cat owners here who have observed something similar?
Well, I’ve never been certain myself, but several years ago when my first cat died I was lying on the bed and crying my eyes out. For the first time that I could remember, my other cat came and sat on my chest (as opposed to walking around on me and trying to get petted). OK, cats can definitely sense stress and emotional pain, most people don’t doubt that, so the fact that she was helping me through that time wasn’t so odd. But what was odd was that when I finally stopped crying and looked at her, there were tears in her eyes. To this day I don’t know if it was my imagination, just something irritating her eyes, or if she genuinely understood what had happened (she was close with the other cat) and was sad.
My dog cries, but not the way humans cry. My friend’s hamster died and she came over to my house. She started bawling and my dog just sat in her lap. Then, I noticed my dog’s eyes starting to water. I know this is about cats, but that’s the closest thing I can offer. I really do think animals can cry. Or maybe that’s just me.
I’ve heard crocodiles cry but it’s always insincere.
Maybe it’s just a that when they blink a lot of water comes out from an earlier dunking, sort of a delayed reaction that viewers aren’t expecting.
In the sense that they can extrude moisture through tear ducts in their eyes, yes, they can cry but I don’t think they do in the anthropomorphic sense.
One of my parents’ cats would cry when he got into trouble. If they scolded him for unruly behavior he would start wimpering and tears would flow from his eyes. He wouldn’t stop until they forgave him. He would follow them around until they petted him and reassured him of their undying love. I thought I was hallucinating the first time I saw this occur but I bore witness to this event several times.
I think so. I’ve known a few cats who, when I talked to them and pet them, would well up around their noses. I never saw them shedding tears through their eyes as we do, but I think they were probably generating a little extra fluid there that was being wicked away to the nose.
A couple of these cats belonged to the neighbors, who didn’t give them much individual attention (they had many cats). Often when I’d come home, one or both would see me and come trotting over for some attention, and I was almost always able & willing to oblige. Usually they would well up too, and even drip a little fluid on me from their noses. Mind you, this was year-round (but less frequently during the winter), so the usual environmental suspects (pollens, BBQ smoke, kitty and human diseases) varied. It couldn’t have always been due to a feline cold or allergies (unless they were both virulently allergic to me, which I suppose was possible). I’m quite sure their emotions were the chief, and perhaps only, cause…
I’ve noticed a pattern, and I strongly suggest that:
If you really feel that your post is so distasteful that you need to preemptively post the “rolleyes” smiley, you think twice about posting it in IMHO.
If you don’t like cats, stay out of threads about them.
I once accidentally kicked my big, loveable Maine Coon “Poohbah” down a flight of stairs, and he just looked back at me with the most profoundly hurt look in his eyes. I immediately went down to apologize to him (he wouldn’t let me at first), and was surprised to see that he actually was crying.
One of my cats used to fairly frequently get fleas, and when she bit the fleas off herself, she would barf them up. This was occasionally preceded by a moaning, sobbing noise, but I never noticed any tears.
She’s not allowed outside any more, so she hasn’t had fleas in a while.
I’ve never seen a cat cry like a person does, but they can sense when their owner is crying and will try to comfort the owner. I’ve had this happen to me personally.
My parents still do. Our Hoover has been a smiler since we first got him, at 10 weeks of age. Once he discovered that he could charm biscuits off ladies with a flash of his pearly whites, he started doing it all the time. Originally it was just when he was really happy but now it’s whenever someone is eating a tasty something. Mum’s old dog used to do it too but only when she thought she was in trouble and was trying to suck up to Mum.
I believe that cats, dogs, and to some degree other animals we keep as pets can feel, more than just physical discomfort or physical pleasure, but also emotional things. More intelligent pets (like ferrets, cats, dogs etc.) have a wider, deeper range than less intelligent (like goldfish) ones. In a way, this also makes sense, because it gives more drive to survive and thrive.
My mother had little cat who adored her, and always was frantic when she’d go to the store. They had to board it at the vet’s for an out of town trip which lasted over a week, and the kitty died. She was only four years old, and in great health, she simply pined away. We are convinced she died of greif, and that is the only explanation the vet could offer as well. (I’ll add, this vet was a very good one, he truly cared about his patients and was always keeping up to date on procedures. He autopsied her to see if he’d missed a health condition, but could find nothing. This is the same vet who made a house call to put some poor puppies to sleep free of charge when some horrible children fatally injured them.)
