Past studies have suggested that cats aren't as aloof and uncaring about what's going on around them as they might seem, and now a new one lends some weight to that. Researchers out of Michigan's Oakland University say that when other pets in the household die, cats show signs of grieving, even for resident dogs, reports the Telegraph. For the study published this month in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, scientists surveyed owners of more than 450 cats who'd also had another pet recently die, asking them how the surviving cat or cats reacted afterward.
The Guardian notes that about two-thirds of the deceased pets were other cats, while the rest were dogs. Researchers found that the apparently grieving cats "engaged less in sleeping, eating, and playing," but they sought more attention than usual from their humans and other pets, as well as made more vocalizations, which the Guardian describes as "yowling." The longer the surviving cats had lived with their deceased petmates, the more intense their grief seemed to be.
Other species have been shown to mourn, including elephants, dolphins, chimps, and dogs. The findings "challenge the belief that cats are more aloof and antisocial" than their canine counterparts, per the Telegraph. What's not clear is whether the cats left behind are simply picking up on the sad vibes from their owners. "Future work is needed to determine whether these results reflect caregivers projecting their own grief onto surviving animal companions or whether cats may also experience grief following companion loss," the researchers write. (More discoveries stories.)
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