Cats are often seen as aloof and independent. Yet, new research indicates they may grieve the loss of another household companion animal, even if that pet is a dog.

The study, conducted by Oakland University in the US, observed significant behavioral changes in cats after the death of another pet in the same household. Owners reported that their cats exhibited signs of distress, such as difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, and increased vocalizations. Some cats became more clingy with their caregivers, while others lost interest in their favorite activities.

Mourning felines

These findings challenge the stereotypical belief that cats are antisocial animals. According to the study, house cats displayed behaviors typically associated with grief, such as seeking attention from humans and other pets, hiding, and appearing to search for their lost companions.

Mourning is not a uniquely human behavior. It has been observed in many animals, including elephants, dolphins, and chimpanzees. Often, these animals engage in behaviors like guarding the body of a deceased companion. Recent research also indicates that dogs mourn the death of a fellow household dog. However, this new study suggests that cats also experience grief.

The study involved surveys from caregivers of over 450 cats who had recently lost a pet companion. About two-thirds of these deceased pets were other cats, while the remainder were dogs. The data showed that cats were more affected by the loss of a companion the longer they had lived together. Interestingly, witnessing the death of the companion or the number of pets in the household did not influence the grieving behavior.

The Oakland University psychologists noted that cats are typically viewed as independent but can form social bonds and hierarchies, especially in the wild.

However, it’s not certain whether the surviving cats are truly bereaved or their caregivers are simply projecting their grief onto their surviving pets. The researchers found that caregivers who reported greater personal grief also noticed more significant behavioral changes in their cats, so this alternative explanation carries weight.

Pets and their deceased owners

What about humans who have passed? Do cats grieve over their deceased owners? Online discussions such as those on Reddit are loaded with various anecdotes attesting to this behavior.

“Yes. They grieve. They look for the person they miss everywhere, they get angry when that person comes back later because they were left behind and then they cling more to them. If there is no one coming back, they grieve. They search places where the dead should be. They watch their graves if they see you dig them. They can have personality changes after someone important to them dies that come with the hurt of that death. They grieve,” wrote Reddit user PoetryDevil13.

“Yes. When my son was 5, we adopted a stray that was about a year old. He named her Secret & she was his best friend for 12 years. He was killed in 1999 & it took months for her to stop running to the front door when she heard someone coming up the steps. She finally accepted that he was gone & transferred her love to me. I had her for another six years before she had a stroke when she was 19,” wrote Francie1966.

How cats truly react to losing their owners is challenging to answer and remains an open question beyond personal anecdotes. However, interviews with first responders suggest pets may try to eat their dead owners — though not all of them engage in this behavior.

One woman who worked for the SPCA and was often called out to rescue pets when an owner died said, “The dogs guarded their owner’s body even if they are normally gentle dogs. They often were quite aggressive when guarding the body, but they didn’t eat it. I believe many dogs will starve to death before eating their owner. On the other hand the ME [medical examiner] on several cases told me that they observed evidence that the person’s pet cats had been biting or eating the body.”

One paramedic said for Psychology Today, “We are normally called out when there is hope that the individual is still alive, so we usually encounter recently deceased people. In my experience, it looks like cats will start chewing on the body as soon as it starts to cool. For dogs, it seems to depend on circumstances, but generally, dogs seem to regard the corpse as if it is still their owner and it looks like they will not readily eat them—but of course, I don’t know what happens if the body has been there for a long time and the dog is starving.”

A retired police officer said “In my 20 years on the force, I encountered several cases where a person had died indoors and only their pets were around. Recollecting these, it seems that if the person was newly deceased, their dogs would leave them alone, hover near them, or even try to protect them.”

Yet the officer added: “Once the body had started to putrefy, all bets were off. I remember a couple of cases where the dog ate part of the decomposing body. I believe that that was because, once decay set in, the scent clues that identify the body as their owner were gone. On the other hand, I seem to recall that at least in half of the cases where the body was discovered within 48 hours, there was evidence that pet cats had been nibbling on the corpse.”

A 2015 study by French researchers at the University of Lille, found that in 24 percent of the cases when the body was discovered within a day, there was some evidence that dogs had consumed at least some part of the deceased. A possible explanation for such behavior is that a pet will first try to assist an unconscious owner by licking or nudging. If these efforts fail and the animal becomes increasingly frantic, it may start biting out of panic. If the biting causes the animal to taste blood, it could trigger an instinct to continue eating.

While the new study provides compelling evidence for feline grief, the jury is still out. Further research is needed to fully understand the emotional depth of cat-to-cat and cat-to-dog relationships.

The findings appeared in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.