Can animals have imaginary friends?

Question

As weird as this question may sound but, my kitten, lately, when it's not paid attention to, it plays with something non-existant. I don't mean it follows it's tail or anything, I mean it actually stands like a human being, using it's hands to fling back and forth something not even there, it even pretends to bite it. It also follows something non-existant around the house, I thoughts it would be a bug or a mouse, but nothing. It even meows and growls while playing as if something bit it's tail. So can animals have imaginary friends?

Excuse me for putting this in the wrong category, won't happen again!

Answer 1

Hey, actually kittens have the ability to hallucinate. That is why they will suddenly look at the wall and then dart off. Or do other weird things.

My vet told me this. As kittens age, the ability diminishes, but cats have it to an extent even in old age.

So, yes, he may actually be playing with someone/something he sees. Don't worry about it. The kitty may outgrow it or just be happy that he has a friend!

Answer 2

They are not imaginary friends - they are invisible friends. Little animals and children are usually able to observe frequencies higher than solid matter that ordinary grownups don't see: thought forms, ghosts, all kinds of energy. I have experienced this with almost all kittens and some puppies. When he was young, my dog used to wag his tail at the "dear departed ones" at the cemetary. When I was abroad he used to stare at one spot in the corner of the ceiling, pant and wag his tail. My parents figured that I must have been thinking about him then. Later, we experimented. We agreed on a time. I sat down and thought about the dog and my parents observed the dog. The result - 98% of this behaviour!

Answer 3

Lots of kittens do that, maybe they're chasing dust, maybe something else, maybe they are imagining something, it's impossible to tell, we can't ask them (it is incredibly cute though, isn't it?)
Neither I nor anyone else can really tell you what's going on in your kitten's mind, but what I can say is that from my experience, that's pretty typical behavior for kittens, and most of them stop that sort of thing and respond only to stimuli more easily observed by the rest of us as they get a bit older.

Answer 4

Maybe so. But I would recommend therapy for the little kitty soon.

Answer 5

Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But who really knows about animal psychology?

Answer 6

it could just be a "special" cat