Do you think pets mourn the death of other pets?

Question

My cat died a couple days ago and the dog is really sluggish and not eating much. They feel it too don't they?

Answer 1

after i lost 2 cats within a month, my last cat started sleeping with me and became very compassionate. im sorry for ur loss. animals are my very soul

Answer 2

There would appear to be some evidence to suggest that they do miss and mourn their companions ... whether other animals or humans.

I guess this doesn't apply to gold fish ... but probably because we don't know how to detect their emotions.

Cats and dogs obviously are very aware of their surroundings and the pecking order of their pack. So when a member of that pack goes missing they know.

Just this week so a very interesting Nature program on PBS about hippos. They definitely, like elephants, pay homage to their dead. They rub up against the dead body.

Hope this helps. All the best.

Answer 3

I adopted a guinea pig (Jasper) from Humane 3 years ago, later my friend gave me another Guinea pig (Gina), so Jasper wouldn't be so alone, sadly Jasper died of tumor a year later. Gina mourned Jasper for 2 weeks without eating, I was terrified.. I spent every evening returning from work talking and keeping Gina company untill she started eating again. In the beginning, I wasn't sure she was mourning, I thought she was sick .. then later, I knew she was missing Jasper the way I did.... yes, pets do mourn.

Answer 4

pets most definately mourn the death of other pets. To help your dog, maybe you have a blanket the cat slept on? You could let the dog sleep with it. My friend's dog died and her dog nearly died of sad ness (he wouldnt eat) until my friend bought a fake, white dog stuffed toy and put the dead dogs collar on it. Now, whenever her dog is sad, she settles the toy next to it.

Try to do that, and maybe even force feed him if he won't eat. If it keeeps up, take him to the vet to see what you can do.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Most defintily, Dogs have been know to morn the death of they're owners all the way into depresion and even death. This is a well know fact. Some people say animals don't have emotions but that soo wrong and I'll give you two experiences that I've seen with my own eyes. 1) there were two ground squrrels running across the road a long time back and this car in front hit one of them. The other squrrel ran back into the road in front of me and tried to pick up and pull his friend off the road. tugging and tugging, trying to move his mate out of danger, watching me get closer and closer. I was with my girl friend at the time and I came to a complete stop. After this squrrel realized that I wasn't comming he quit watching me and was concetrating on moving his friend or mate off the road. THAT! was really sad to me and I'm a huge hunter. the second time was two malard ducks, my brother and I were ducking (in season) and I hit this female. The male duck swam over to her and while trying to keep her head out of the water, he pushed her over to the bank. the sun was setting and we were just about out of time for that day but both of us were just watching this go down, burnning up our last few shots.When he realized she wasn't waking up, he just starting swimming down stream all sad looking and that was enough that I haven't gone duck hunting ever since. (about 25 years ago) puls I learned since then that ducks stay mates for life and I found out that I couldn't mess with that arrangement hell, we cant get people to do that

Answer 6

Your dog is missing his friend. Mourning may not be the right word, but it sure looks the same, doesn't it? Sorry about your cat. It's hard to lose a furry friend!

Answer 7

yes i would say so because i have 2 dogs that are brother and sister and the brother lived ot be 16 years old and i had to put him to sleep because he had a lump in his throat and all he did was cough , i couldn't stand to have him suffer and it was the worst day of my life when i lost my best friend his name was BENJIE and FEFE the sister i still have and she looked all over the house for Benjie and she would not eat for days know she was missing her brother as much as i did, sorry for your cat and i hope your dog will get better too .

Answer 8

yes, is the short answer. i know you just wanted to find other people who thought and felt the same you do. that is good. yes, certainly they feel it -- however, there is "something i can not explain that makes a dog ( I have one) is so close to the human kingdom -- that at times I prefer to be with my dog. and certainly they don't lack the emotions and feelings they pass on to you/ to us as humans! Hope it helps. It does -- most of us who have pets.

Answer 9

i think yes, why? because if 2 pets/ animals get really close & friendly with each other and 1 of them died the other pet would become really depressed and won't do some of the things it use to do.

Answer 10

Yes they di grieve like we do. Maybe get another pet(dog or cat) so the dog will not be so lonely.

Answer 11

Yes, dogs feel the loss of another member of the pack