Cats show signs of grief when fellow pets die, even if it is a dog: Study

If a new study is to be believed, cats show signs of grief after a fellow pet in the household dies, even if it is a dog. The study published in Nature Journal was based on a surveyof hundreds of people who own a cat and at least one other pet that died recently.

The pet owners were asked a set of questions about the behaviour of their cats after a fellow pet died. The researchers found that the signs of grief in the cats were not significantly different even if the fellow pet that died was a dog.

How the cats behaved after death of a fellow pet

The felines showed signs of confusion or fearfulness after the death of a cat or dog in the household, ScienceAlert said in a report on the study.

They often went into hiding or were seen sniffing out the dead pet's favourite spots, it said.

"Our results are consistent with the idea that cats may experience the loss of companion animals in ways similar to what dogs experience despite having evolved from a less social ancestor," wrote the authors of the study, psychologists Brittany Greene and Jennifer Vonk of Oakland University.

"Cats did not respond significantly differently to the loss of a companion dog or another cat," wrote the researchers Greene and Vonk.

They concluded that it could be a sign of missing a lost friend or "an interspecific 'preferred associate'."

A similar study in 2016 found that for six months into the death of a fellow pet, cats and dogs showed signs of sadness, like eating less or increasing their vocalisations.

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How the study was done

The study was done through an online survey of 412 owners of cats in whose households a dog or cat had died recently.

They said the cats that were alive showed changes in behaviour, like more frequent vocalisations. They also were seen searching for the fellow pet that had died or sniffing for it.

The cats also showed less interest in eating, playing or sleeping.

The show of 'grief' appeared to be more in cases where the cats had spent more time with the diseased fellow pet.

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But there is a catch

The researchers put a caveat that there is a likelihood that the owners may be projecting their own emotions onto their living pets when answering the questionnaires.

Those pet owners who were themselves grief-stricken by the loss of their pettended to report more that their cats were showing signs of sadness.

In other words, some of the survey answers could be biased as they may be seeing their own grief in the pets.

At the same time, it has to be noted that pet owners generally know how their cats and dogs are behaving, and could make out minute changes in the same over time.

(With inputs from agencies)