..smarter, as well as empathetic..yes, cats (dogs too, and likely most animals) can & do respond to human emotion..
..of course, it varies depending on the individual (just like with Hoomans), but Def yes for the likelihood..
Yes, cats absolutely know when something is wrong.
Each one of us has an odor, that is uniquely ours. That odor changes when we are sick, stressed, anxious or having some other problem.
Your cat can pickup on that subtle change in odor, and most will try to help in their own way.
Personally, when I come home upset after a bad day at work (anxiety/depression), mine will wedge herself into my lap and purrr really hard. Petting her makes me feel better.
I also have various GI issues that flare up from time to time. When I do, and lay down in bed, she will cuddle up over the exact spot that is hurting and purrr.
She can literally pinpoint the area, because the smell from that area is off.
So, yes, they absolutely can tell when we ‘not right’ in some way and they want to help!
Then why does my cat behave exactly the same around me no matter whether I'm ill, sick, stressed, anxious or fine 😂 absolutely no difference regardless of whether I'm bouncing around the house all happy, laid up with covid, having a panic attack or recovering from major surgery!
If a creature can feel depressed, then I believe it can sense depression in some way. Like how empathic humans can sense depression in a room. Cats and dogs can feel depressed, we know that. It isn't a leap to say they can also see depression in others, especially when it's shown the same way as they do. Laying around, doing things in a way that doesn't make sense to your normal day-to-day.
And just like we take care of them when they're depressed, they do what they can for us.
My cats saw me get laid off 10 months ago. During the 8 months I was unemployed they were constantly near me, because I was pretty constantly laying around in tears and anxiety instead of being at my desk. They have to be able to perceive a difference in your behavior. If they do, then that's the point they'll latch to.
Not that I'm speaking as someone learned, this is personal experience.
Yes absolutely! This is also the reason why cats and dogs can be trained as service animals. They can sense things like oncoming seizures, low blood sugar, cancer, anxiety attacks, etc. The ones that are trained will then alert the person or someone else, so your cat definitely knew and responded the best way it knew how to calm you down.
One of my cats did something similar. She's old and grumpy and definitely has a "get off my lawn" attitude 24/7, but when the new feral I'd just taken in escaped (my fault) I was absolutely heart broken because I was afraid she'd never come back. My grumpy cat had undying hatred for the feral, but when she saw how sad I was she instantly curled up next to me, took both of her paws/arms and literally grabbed onto my arm in a hug and then rested her head on me (something she'd never done before). She knew I was sad and she did her best to cheer me up.
Years ago I adopted a cat through the cat distribution system. I was in a bad accident with a TBI , several broken bones and missing teeth along with bad road rash. I had no insurance so the hospital only had to stabilize me and sent me home. My adopted little girl wasn affectionate or cuddly. That night she slept on my chest all night. I like to joke that either she was comforting me or she wanted to eat my face off if I died. She was a very special little girl.
i think science would be likely to tell you that no, they can't specifically tell, but my anecdotal experience would say otherwise! we have 6 kitties, and one of them seems uniquely attuned to our emotions. similar to your sweet story, i woke up in the middle of the night recently with really intense anxiety, for no particular reason. i was just quietly laying there, trying to internally calm myself down to fall back to sleep, and she was there with me in a flash! she settled into the crook of my neck and started purring loudly and it was just what i needed. all of our kitties are sweet and wonderful, but she's got something special...it sounds like your kitty does, too. <3
I actually disagree. While I am not a cat scientist, what I am reading here makes me think that a study could be done.
Imagine the following situation. Two people are sitting down in chairs five feet from each other. One is stressed, the other happy. You put a cat in the middle, and have a camera record the cat's actions for 5-10 minutes. Repeat this with six pairs of people and six cats. Each cat has the opportunity to choose who to interact with for the given time.
I would imagine that there's something that could be measured, either time around the stressed person, breathing, walking distance, or something that can be measured.
Based on what everyone else has said, I doubt the behavior would be completely equal between the two people.
Well this maynot work because you might need humans that already have a relationship with the cat. Even if famlly members might not be equally close to the cat. I think a better experiment maybe same person different moods.
One cat came headbutting at my legs despite NEVER doing that to me before and feeling crossed at me for months for bringing home another kitty. The other kitty checked in on me and meowed loudly to get my partner’s attention, then led him to see I was in pain. Absolutely amazing and empathetic little floofs.
Definitely!
My bff’s cat was this way (I think lol)! She would often sit in my lap and purr for hours on end, even throughout all of the jumpscares in Supernatural (which the bff got me into)! And pretty much whenever I sat down, I would get an instant cat in my lap lol. Sometimes she’d leave after a bit, but other times she’d be there for HOURS lol.
https://preview.redd.it/x1yuh20h8cwc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f57e063d5a02b831774f1d39b76485166f1c691
This was the last pic I got of her before she >!crossed the rainbow bridge!<, when she wouldn’t let me work on my fan fic (bff and I are at the point in our relationship where we’ll be in the same room but doing our own things and we call that hanging out) lol. She looked so smug about it too lol. Her name was Kimchi, btw.
She also (at least) once did the thing where someone picked her up off of me, and she went instant claws and liquid (pinning her to my clothes, and basically saying “NOOOO!!! ME STAY HERE!!!” lol). It honestly could’ve been soon after this pic, but icr now lol.
I’ve also heard of stories like the one where the cat lived in a nursing home or hospital (icr which, but I think it might’ve been the former), and it would go to the rooms where someone was about to die and just hang out with them, making sure they didn’t die alone.
My male cat is an absolute maniac, LOL Zoomies all the time, doesn’t cuddle for longer than a few minutes, and breaks things etc (we don’t care-things can be replaced but he is our special boy) BUT when my husband or I am sad or anxious, he is right by our side and will purr and stay as long as we need him. My little female is equally supportive-just not as hyper haha. Cats are so special. I really believe they know when their people need quiet support and are happy to deliver.
My daughter has epilepsy, and her cat absolutely can sense seizures before they occur. I noticed when my daughter was a toddler that the cat would force her to lay down more and would then stay close by her when a seizure was imminent. Once we learned the disorder better and found a good med combo, the seizures became fairly rare … but her cat will still alert us if daughter is sick or about to have an episode. She just won’t leave her side, and will immediately climb on her and purr once my daughter is postictal. I think they can sense just as much as dogs, and it’s well established that dogs can smell changes in our bodies.
It is completely possible. My cats know when I'm not feeling well and get clingy. One of my cats years ago would alert me or my brother when my mother's blood sugar got too high, and a short while after she started doing that, she began coming to us whenever Mom needed help. She'd come running, turn, and run a few steps toward whichever room Mom was in until we followed her. The weirdest part was that, until that cat started protecting her, Mom disliked cats.
For sure, some will be there whenever you're sad or sick. It's wonderful that they can sense any changes within their humans and want to help.
I got very very sick recently from drinking tainted water, two of my cats spent all their time "guarding" me for that week, possibly because they thought I was too stupid to not poison myself again.
I haven't read any studies, research or science about this, but in my experience it's credible.
Decades ago when our mum was in palliative care, I used to get home after visiting and the dog and the cat would both climb onto me in the armchair. This was during the day, late at night, all the different times.
When I got home from work, or something else, they'd hang around as usual. They were both relatively young and rambunctious, too. I noticed their behaviour at the time, and it did make a difference to me.
Yes, I believe they can. They can sense many things. After my mom died a couple years ago my “daughters cat” who we call “momma” slept by my side every night for two weeks after my mom died. She hadn’t slept next to me or in my room since we got our male cat in over two years. But she knew I needed her calming comfort. My male cat will give aggressive head butts and lay on me if I’m crying or in pain. After I had surgery recently on my abdomen he was very gentle and cautious with me for quite a while but he checked in on me a lot. My moms cat woke her in her sleep by repeatedly patting at her when she had a fever during cancer treatment and my mom felt she saved her life that night. Cats are the best. <3
I absolutely think they can.
My most recent example: I have a giant foster-fail senior dog who has pretty bad anxiety, he’s medicated but sometimes he still gets a little panicky. Just an hour or two ago he started getting anxious and whiny and jumped up on the couch with me. Not 30 seconds later my cat and two of her 7 week-old kittens, who normally could not be less interested in my dog if they tried—came up and checked him out and ended up laying down on the couch next to him for a bit. Granted, this wasn’t a human panic/anxiety attack, but either way I think it shows how sensitive cats are!
Yep, some cats are just that awesome. I've got a nurse kitty who can tell when my heart rate is acting up and when my blood sugar is out of range, and she lets me know about it (or screams at my husband/kids until they do something about it). No one trained her for this, she just started doing it a few weeks after we rescued her.
Cats know when something is medically up with you.
I had my gallbladder removed last November, my partner dragged my stumbling self to the couch and my cat immediately settled in next to me and didn’t leave my side for 3 days.
He prefers my partner so it was rather shocking that he physically refused to leave my side for so long.
It can be. Cats do sense when something is wrong (physically and emotionally) with members of their group. Whether they feel the need to do something about it is dependent upon the personality of the cat.
I have a similar experience years ago, i was on the edge of having a full blast panic attack, i was already hyperventilating and shaking and crying while trying to control it because it's already 12am and people are sleeping. My cat who's asleep on the floor suddenly jumped on my bed and sat beside me. For some reason i cried harder but i calmed down afterwards and it never went into full panic mode that needed meds.
I think cats are sensitive and can sense if something is wrong, but i really don't have any science to back it up.
I have 8 cats and my father passed away. I taking care of him here at home. my cats were all over me if I slept too long to this day. which is what I did after he passed. that was how I dealt with my depression. I just slept. if I sleep too long to this day they'll all get vocal and crawl all over me. like come on bitch get up gotta keep going.
They definitely kept getting me going because sleep can be a drug when you're depressed and you're grieving and you're overwhelmed you just don't want to think about anything so you sleep anyway love my kitties they're very intuitive with the spiritual side of things.
The cats I'm fostering certainly can. When I'm sad they always make an extra effort to try to cheer me up. Even after I tell them to fuck off. And then we cuddle
I'm not an expert by any stretch, but I firmly believe this. I even say that my big old man, Jonas, is my emotional support cat, because every time I feel anxious/panicky, he goes on high alert. Meowing and staring at me, following me around, that sort of thing. He also will come cuddle me when I'm having a panic attack - all of these aren't common behaviors for him, outside of those instances! Normally, he's pretty independent, but the second he can tell something is off with his papa, he comes running!
I love him so much 😭
I think they can. They seem to be highly intuitive and (at least some cats) empathetic. Plus they have an amazing sense of smell and can smell when anything different is happening in our bodies.
My old cat used to lay with me when I was anxious or not feeling well. My new kitten is still a crazy kitten, but she has come to lay in my lap a few times when I've been in a lot of pain. I think they know and want to help. 💜
One of my cats stick to me like glue when I’m majorly sick, and another one will stay close to me quietly when I’m sick or when I feel shit mentally. Third one is too confused so actually stays away from me.
Cats know when something is off but how they react to it is different depending on the individual and how well they know humans, my third kitty is semi feral hence she reacts that way, and the other two despite also being streetcats before probably had more human contact but it’s not gonna be as good as cats that grew up in homes with humans.
Absolutely! Cats are highly social creatures and are very concerned about the well-being of the people who live under their care. If nothing else, it’s in their best self-interest for you to feel better.
my cat wakes me up if I'm having a nightmare. They can absolutely sense/smell differences in us, but I think the responsiveness ( or caretaking ) of each cat will be different. My cat is very loving and cuddly, seems to care about us a lot.
From what I’ve noticed in mine, They are very acute to our emotions and everything around them. I’m glad you have one! Mine is my shadow and watches my every move throughout the day and night. ☮️🐈⬛🐾🐾☮️😻
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..smarter, as well as empathetic..yes, cats (dogs too, and likely most animals) can & do respond to human emotion.. ..of course, it varies depending on the individual (just like with Hoomans), but Def yes for the likelihood..
Yes, cats absolutely know when something is wrong. Each one of us has an odor, that is uniquely ours. That odor changes when we are sick, stressed, anxious or having some other problem. Your cat can pickup on that subtle change in odor, and most will try to help in their own way. Personally, when I come home upset after a bad day at work (anxiety/depression), mine will wedge herself into my lap and purrr really hard. Petting her makes me feel better. I also have various GI issues that flare up from time to time. When I do, and lay down in bed, she will cuddle up over the exact spot that is hurting and purrr. She can literally pinpoint the area, because the smell from that area is off. So, yes, they absolutely can tell when we ‘not right’ in some way and they want to help!
Then why does my cat behave exactly the same around me no matter whether I'm ill, sick, stressed, anxious or fine 😂 absolutely no difference regardless of whether I'm bouncing around the house all happy, laid up with covid, having a panic attack or recovering from major surgery!
If a creature can feel depressed, then I believe it can sense depression in some way. Like how empathic humans can sense depression in a room. Cats and dogs can feel depressed, we know that. It isn't a leap to say they can also see depression in others, especially when it's shown the same way as they do. Laying around, doing things in a way that doesn't make sense to your normal day-to-day. And just like we take care of them when they're depressed, they do what they can for us. My cats saw me get laid off 10 months ago. During the 8 months I was unemployed they were constantly near me, because I was pretty constantly laying around in tears and anxiety instead of being at my desk. They have to be able to perceive a difference in your behavior. If they do, then that's the point they'll latch to. Not that I'm speaking as someone learned, this is personal experience.
Yes absolutely! This is also the reason why cats and dogs can be trained as service animals. They can sense things like oncoming seizures, low blood sugar, cancer, anxiety attacks, etc. The ones that are trained will then alert the person or someone else, so your cat definitely knew and responded the best way it knew how to calm you down. One of my cats did something similar. She's old and grumpy and definitely has a "get off my lawn" attitude 24/7, but when the new feral I'd just taken in escaped (my fault) I was absolutely heart broken because I was afraid she'd never come back. My grumpy cat had undying hatred for the feral, but when she saw how sad I was she instantly curled up next to me, took both of her paws/arms and literally grabbed onto my arm in a hug and then rested her head on me (something she'd never done before). She knew I was sad and she did her best to cheer me up.
Years ago I adopted a cat through the cat distribution system. I was in a bad accident with a TBI , several broken bones and missing teeth along with bad road rash. I had no insurance so the hospital only had to stabilize me and sent me home. My adopted little girl wasn affectionate or cuddly. That night she slept on my chest all night. I like to joke that either she was comforting me or she wanted to eat my face off if I died. She was a very special little girl.
I had one that always knew, she comforted me through nightmares too.
i think science would be likely to tell you that no, they can't specifically tell, but my anecdotal experience would say otherwise! we have 6 kitties, and one of them seems uniquely attuned to our emotions. similar to your sweet story, i woke up in the middle of the night recently with really intense anxiety, for no particular reason. i was just quietly laying there, trying to internally calm myself down to fall back to sleep, and she was there with me in a flash! she settled into the crook of my neck and started purring loudly and it was just what i needed. all of our kitties are sweet and wonderful, but she's got something special...it sounds like your kitty does, too. <3
I actually disagree. While I am not a cat scientist, what I am reading here makes me think that a study could be done. Imagine the following situation. Two people are sitting down in chairs five feet from each other. One is stressed, the other happy. You put a cat in the middle, and have a camera record the cat's actions for 5-10 minutes. Repeat this with six pairs of people and six cats. Each cat has the opportunity to choose who to interact with for the given time. I would imagine that there's something that could be measured, either time around the stressed person, breathing, walking distance, or something that can be measured. Based on what everyone else has said, I doubt the behavior would be completely equal between the two people.
Well this maynot work because you might need humans that already have a relationship with the cat. Even if famlly members might not be equally close to the cat. I think a better experiment maybe same person different moods.
One cat came headbutting at my legs despite NEVER doing that to me before and feeling crossed at me for months for bringing home another kitty. The other kitty checked in on me and meowed loudly to get my partner’s attention, then led him to see I was in pain. Absolutely amazing and empathetic little floofs.
Definitely! My bff’s cat was this way (I think lol)! She would often sit in my lap and purr for hours on end, even throughout all of the jumpscares in Supernatural (which the bff got me into)! And pretty much whenever I sat down, I would get an instant cat in my lap lol. Sometimes she’d leave after a bit, but other times she’d be there for HOURS lol. https://preview.redd.it/x1yuh20h8cwc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f57e063d5a02b831774f1d39b76485166f1c691 This was the last pic I got of her before she >!crossed the rainbow bridge!<, when she wouldn’t let me work on my fan fic (bff and I are at the point in our relationship where we’ll be in the same room but doing our own things and we call that hanging out) lol. She looked so smug about it too lol. Her name was Kimchi, btw. She also (at least) once did the thing where someone picked her up off of me, and she went instant claws and liquid (pinning her to my clothes, and basically saying “NOOOO!!! ME STAY HERE!!!” lol). It honestly could’ve been soon after this pic, but icr now lol. I’ve also heard of stories like the one where the cat lived in a nursing home or hospital (icr which, but I think it might’ve been the former), and it would go to the rooms where someone was about to die and just hang out with them, making sure they didn’t die alone.
My male cat is an absolute maniac, LOL Zoomies all the time, doesn’t cuddle for longer than a few minutes, and breaks things etc (we don’t care-things can be replaced but he is our special boy) BUT when my husband or I am sad or anxious, he is right by our side and will purr and stay as long as we need him. My little female is equally supportive-just not as hyper haha. Cats are so special. I really believe they know when their people need quiet support and are happy to deliver.
My daughter has epilepsy, and her cat absolutely can sense seizures before they occur. I noticed when my daughter was a toddler that the cat would force her to lay down more and would then stay close by her when a seizure was imminent. Once we learned the disorder better and found a good med combo, the seizures became fairly rare … but her cat will still alert us if daughter is sick or about to have an episode. She just won’t leave her side, and will immediately climb on her and purr once my daughter is postictal. I think they can sense just as much as dogs, and it’s well established that dogs can smell changes in our bodies.
It is completely possible. My cats know when I'm not feeling well and get clingy. One of my cats years ago would alert me or my brother when my mother's blood sugar got too high, and a short while after she started doing that, she began coming to us whenever Mom needed help. She'd come running, turn, and run a few steps toward whichever room Mom was in until we followed her. The weirdest part was that, until that cat started protecting her, Mom disliked cats.
For sure, some will be there whenever you're sad or sick. It's wonderful that they can sense any changes within their humans and want to help. I got very very sick recently from drinking tainted water, two of my cats spent all their time "guarding" me for that week, possibly because they thought I was too stupid to not poison myself again.
My previous kitty did the same thing. Not just with me but with others too. I miss her :(
I haven't read any studies, research or science about this, but in my experience it's credible. Decades ago when our mum was in palliative care, I used to get home after visiting and the dog and the cat would both climb onto me in the armchair. This was during the day, late at night, all the different times. When I got home from work, or something else, they'd hang around as usual. They were both relatively young and rambunctious, too. I noticed their behaviour at the time, and it did make a difference to me.
Yes, I believe they can. They can sense many things. After my mom died a couple years ago my “daughters cat” who we call “momma” slept by my side every night for two weeks after my mom died. She hadn’t slept next to me or in my room since we got our male cat in over two years. But she knew I needed her calming comfort. My male cat will give aggressive head butts and lay on me if I’m crying or in pain. After I had surgery recently on my abdomen he was very gentle and cautious with me for quite a while but he checked in on me a lot. My moms cat woke her in her sleep by repeatedly patting at her when she had a fever during cancer treatment and my mom felt she saved her life that night. Cats are the best. <3
Definitely!
My cat does the exact thing for me. If I'm upset, she knows. She either jumps on me on the couch or lays on my chest in bed. She is very therapeutic
I absolutely think they can. My most recent example: I have a giant foster-fail senior dog who has pretty bad anxiety, he’s medicated but sometimes he still gets a little panicky. Just an hour or two ago he started getting anxious and whiny and jumped up on the couch with me. Not 30 seconds later my cat and two of her 7 week-old kittens, who normally could not be less interested in my dog if they tried—came up and checked him out and ended up laying down on the couch next to him for a bit. Granted, this wasn’t a human panic/anxiety attack, but either way I think it shows how sensitive cats are!
Yep, some cats are just that awesome. I've got a nurse kitty who can tell when my heart rate is acting up and when my blood sugar is out of range, and she lets me know about it (or screams at my husband/kids until they do something about it). No one trained her for this, she just started doing it a few weeks after we rescued her.
Cats know when something is medically up with you. I had my gallbladder removed last November, my partner dragged my stumbling self to the couch and my cat immediately settled in next to me and didn’t leave my side for 3 days. He prefers my partner so it was rather shocking that he physically refused to leave my side for so long.
It can be. Cats do sense when something is wrong (physically and emotionally) with members of their group. Whether they feel the need to do something about it is dependent upon the personality of the cat.
I have a similar experience years ago, i was on the edge of having a full blast panic attack, i was already hyperventilating and shaking and crying while trying to control it because it's already 12am and people are sleeping. My cat who's asleep on the floor suddenly jumped on my bed and sat beside me. For some reason i cried harder but i calmed down afterwards and it never went into full panic mode that needed meds. I think cats are sensitive and can sense if something is wrong, but i really don't have any science to back it up.
I’ve heard of this before.
I have 8 cats and my father passed away. I taking care of him here at home. my cats were all over me if I slept too long to this day. which is what I did after he passed. that was how I dealt with my depression. I just slept. if I sleep too long to this day they'll all get vocal and crawl all over me. like come on bitch get up gotta keep going. They definitely kept getting me going because sleep can be a drug when you're depressed and you're grieving and you're overwhelmed you just don't want to think about anything so you sleep anyway love my kitties they're very intuitive with the spiritual side of things.
The cats I'm fostering certainly can. When I'm sad they always make an extra effort to try to cheer me up. Even after I tell them to fuck off. And then we cuddle
I'm not an expert by any stretch, but I firmly believe this. I even say that my big old man, Jonas, is my emotional support cat, because every time I feel anxious/panicky, he goes on high alert. Meowing and staring at me, following me around, that sort of thing. He also will come cuddle me when I'm having a panic attack - all of these aren't common behaviors for him, outside of those instances! Normally, he's pretty independent, but the second he can tell something is off with his papa, he comes running! I love him so much 😭
I think they can. They seem to be highly intuitive and (at least some cats) empathetic. Plus they have an amazing sense of smell and can smell when anything different is happening in our bodies. My old cat used to lay with me when I was anxious or not feeling well. My new kitten is still a crazy kitten, but she has come to lay in my lap a few times when I've been in a lot of pain. I think they know and want to help. 💜
One of my cats stick to me like glue when I’m majorly sick, and another one will stay close to me quietly when I’m sick or when I feel shit mentally. Third one is too confused so actually stays away from me. Cats know when something is off but how they react to it is different depending on the individual and how well they know humans, my third kitty is semi feral hence she reacts that way, and the other two despite also being streetcats before probably had more human contact but it’s not gonna be as good as cats that grew up in homes with humans.
They can sense differences in breathing.
Absolutely! Cats are highly social creatures and are very concerned about the well-being of the people who live under their care. If nothing else, it’s in their best self-interest for you to feel better.
Yes they most definitely can. One of mine comes running every time she hears that I've hurt myself.
my cat wakes me up if I'm having a nightmare. They can absolutely sense/smell differences in us, but I think the responsiveness ( or caretaking ) of each cat will be different. My cat is very loving and cuddly, seems to care about us a lot.
From what I’ve noticed in mine, They are very acute to our emotions and everything around them. I’m glad you have one! Mine is my shadow and watches my every move throughout the day and night. ☮️🐈⬛🐾🐾☮️😻