…you can see another fictionalized account of this in an X-Files Episode. In the episode: Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (Clyde Bruckman is played by Peter Boyle), Season 3 (available now, on DVD from Fox Home Video), Episode 4. … in this episode, a Pomeranian eats it’s elderly owner after she passes away. This dog must’ve been poorly fed however, because it only waited one day before digging in.
This is referring to the most recent Staff Report, «Will cats eat their owners after the latter die? (05-Jun-2001}»
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I don’t know if the link is intended to work before June 5 or not, but it does. Will cats eat their owners after the latter die?
Occasionally pets don’t wait until you’re dead.
From the original question
In my experience, cats alwayslook on the human who lives with them as a food source, either as a primary source or as a provider: the feline equivalent of “look, you can do this the easy way, or the hard way…”
Alright, sorry if this seems like im mocking what anyone already said, or if this was already addressed, but perhaps someone can dispel some of my questions.
How would a cat know? simply instictual? or could I play dead and the cat would start nibbling at me? What about cats who are abused as it is? cats that are outdoor cats? or perhaps it was just one sick kitty who ate his owner?
In any case, im making sure my cat has plenty of food for the night.
eschew obfuscation.
I am somewhat disappointed that no one bothered to comment on my shameless plug for the X-Files DVD ;o) But irregardless, to comment on the above comment, “How do they know?” (assuming that the question is, how do they know if you are really dead) Well, while not being an expert of any kind on animals or biology, I would assume, that a cat’s sense of smell, while probably inferior to that of a dog, is still greatly more sensitive than our own. And I would further presume that that fact alone would enable to tell if you were breathing. Of course, animals in general are not terribly bright, so if you were in a drug induced coma, your breath would be slow and shallow, and thereby fooling the animal that you were in fact dead and instead of playing opposum. And further more, once any creature is dead, they begin to decompose, another indicator that most animals would pick up on far quicker than the average human. (not to mention the lack of heat, ect.) After that, I would assume it’s mostly instinct and well… hunger. As for why cat’s are less loyal than dogs… well, that jest goes without saying don’t it? My opinion, keep 'em outdoors and let them eat the mice.
I think one of my cats will eat me alive, if I don’t move fast enough. And every morning she licks my wife’s nose. My Wafe says it’s love, but I think the cat’s just checking to see if she’s done yet.
I wonder if cows find it icky thet we eat them as soon as they are dead? With cats, that makes me wonder just who owns who. Maybe we’re just cattle of sorts and don’t realize it yet 
As for how cats know? I don’t know, but I do have an interesting tidbit. When my Dad was dying, his favorite cat slept in the bed with him nearly nonstop for three days. About 20 minutes before he died, the cat got up, got in a chair across the room and stared at him until he passed on. I thought his mopey behavior afterward was a kitty form of mourning, but maybe he’s disappointed at missing a delicacy. You never know…
I consulted She Who Possesseth The Noble Kitty Tail, and after a simple rewording of the OP question was performed at her request (see Dictionary entry for “owner”) she deigned to reassure me that she would definitely wait until AFTER I was dead before eating my body, unless of course I’d recently handled cheddar cheese or albacore in which case all bets are off.
Ok, it’s a dog instead of a cat, but how in the name of Nick Lowe can we let this subject go by without a mention of “Marie Provost” (actually Prevost)?:
http://www.jauko.nl/tot/tab/l/lowe_nic/marie_pr.htm
She died on January 23rd, the same date as Charles Kingsley, an English clergyman whose most famous quotation appears to be “Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog its day.”
As to why cats dig in sooner. . . I’m told that dogs can be fed a vegetarian diet, but that cats cannot. If they require more animal protein to function, perhaps that’s why their hunger overcomes sentimentality faster.
[sub]My cat is forcing me to type this apologist claptrap. She threatens to withold purring for a week, and to severely limit petting privileges.[/sub]
Grossest thing I ever read about that actually happened: A woman left her newborn daughter and her dog that had not been fed in 4 days alone in her apartment. Enough said. She was convicted of negligent manslaughter.
A slightly more than apocraphyl story about this:
When at university, a friend’s father was visiting after having just returned from a training session with the FBI (the friend’s father was with the RCMP). Part of the course had to do with determining time of death on the basis of “animal interference with human remains”. What he related to us was, all things being equal, you could assume that the corpse had been dead at least 72 hours if a pet dog (belonging to the deceased) had “interfered” with the body, but that if a cat was present NO INFERENCE AS TO TIME OF DEATH could be made. Kitty would chow down as soon as it got hungry.
What we took from this was that dogs were silly, sentimental slobber factories, and that cats, once again, proved they were more intelligent.
I predict that typo will become very popular on the SDMB. 
What can I say. I live in Alberta, we don’t have a department of Education, we have a department of Learning. Obviously, they didn’t learn me 2 good.
oh, the shame
Not ashamed! I meant you have uncovered hidden meaning in the word by your accidental typo. You should be pleasantly surprised (as I was). 
Of course, we still haven’t addressed the real question here, yet. Namely:
Will cats eat their owners after the former die?
The usual wake-up call around my house involves 3 cats chewing on my feet. I don’t think they’d wait for me to die; comatose would be close enough.