How sure are we really that animals have all our emotions?

Majority pet owners would shout “Certainly; my cat can feel angry, happy, neglected, bored, even jealous and guilty.” However, shouldn’t there be more skepticism surrounding this?

Because of emotional bonds, and seeing pets as parts of the family, we easily attribute the full range of emotions to them. There is difficulty in even assessing if a human is experiencing happiness or sadness; we observe body language and facial expressions or the person just voices their feeling. How much more difficult is it not with animals. E.g. the cat lies on its back and shows us its belly. We think it wants to be scratched, but actually it’s showing trust in us, and dislikes us taking advantage of it by scratching its belly.

The only emotion we can all be sure of having in common is fear (the primary emotion). It is instinctive and requires no conscious thought.

 

Anthropomorphism is pervasive.

 

I always have thunk that owners of pets(like me) believe that they are angries or another mood when really they are not feeling nothing, but we are in the need of think that, we deny to believe that the animal we take care all days, sharing our lives with them it is only almost a wild animal which the only thing he look forward from us is food in order to survive, it is sad, but mostly is what I think

 

People are different
Animals are different
Do we know what autistic kids feel?
Maybe they do not have the sane range of emotions
Maybe some people have a greater than normal range of emotions

Imo, there is something going on inside there
Likely more with some animals, less with others

I am not proud to tell this story

When i was a kid, i abused a dog on my uncles farm
I went home and did not see that dog for many many years
When i returned for a visit i tried to pet the dog
I was sorry
The dog clearly remembered me
He was not afraid
But he was most certainly still very angry at me

Many other experiences like that

 

Wouldn't disliking having it's belly scratched also be an emotion, so how do you know the cat dislikes it? One minute you're saying it has no more feelings than a plant. The next you're giving it feelings of pride and personal dignity many PEOPLE don't have. ( I like having my belly rubbed, by any woman sufficiently pretty)

I've always been told that rubbing a cat's belly imitates how the mother bathes her kittens. Most everything a cat find's pleasurable comes from their kittenhood, and that extends to all animals. Retention of childhood characteristics is one of the major things that make an animal domesticated as opposed to being wild, according to the latest theories

Why do cats purr?

 

Odd that you should mention autism. One of the world's only Ph.Ds who is autistic is also a leading authority on animal handling, Temple Grandin's theories seem to be that animal's feelings are very similar to an autistic person's, and the practical usefulness these theories have in handling animals is the best proof that could be offered of their validity.

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Any living being of any intelligence can take on the emotions and mannerisms of what or whom ever it lives with on a daily basis.

 

I have seen some YouTube videos whereby a returning soldier has come home and the dog jumps up and down and is crying and the dog cannot stop showing his affection to the owner. When I watch such videos, this shows me that dogs are indeed emotional.

 

I don't assume animals have the same emotions as humans. For example, the idea that they love us the way we love them is something I don't believe. They grow attached to us, often very deeply attached, but the concept of love as we know it is not what they are feeling, imo.

 

I'm pretty sure there are animals with a wider range of emotions than some humans

 

Dogs - a seriously weird noise from one end, and the unspeakable from the other. Talking of the 'unspeakable', I often wonder if irresponsible owners get as infuriated when they step in dog-mess as the rest of us, or whether they simply treat it as karma.

 

If someone thinks animals do not have emotions, something is wrong with that person. Their hearts are closed.

 

Love is not some sort of strange supernatural thing we cannot explain. It's a purely biological process that exists out of necessity, in order to ensure our evolutionary survival. 'A very deep attachment' is actually an excellent way to describe it, both in animals and humans.

 

As a child growing up, My family had a mixed breed terrier, a very good natured dog, my sister had a rag doll on a small rocking chair in her room, one day, as the dog was watching, she started talking to the doll as if it was a child, hugging it etc, the dog growled and ran off, We left home for a meeting, when We got back, the dog had torn the doll to shreds.

1. Dogs have a well developed brain.

2. Dogs feel a wide rang of emotions much as we humans do.

3. Dogs have emotional needs.

4. Dogs like treats and will do stuff for treats much like us humans and beer.

5. Dogs have fun and like things and do stuff not indicated or dialed into their hard wired behavior.

 

They have the same basic neural structure, so if we have emotions, other mammals most certainly do, if to a more basic extent (happiness, anger, sadness, and fear, at least). Birds, reptiles, and fish are a bit more ambiguous, and invertebrates either don't have emotions, or their emotions are completely alien to us.

 

Dogs experience emotions. No question. But here's an interesting fact: dogs think about what happened when they rest. Take a dog out for exercise, play, or training and when he returns to his bed or other favorite spot to rest, he thinks about what happened. This has been so adequately demonstrated through testing and structured observation that trainers and behaviorists commonly abide by a rule that says "end the session on a good note" and then return the dog to its resting spot, where they think good thoughts about the session as they review it mentally, and then they respond more quickly and more effectively the next time.

 

We had a big fluffy grey cat called Fred some years ago and loved him to bits, then he vanished.
We made all the usual enquiries to find him but drew a blank.
Then a few months later somebody told us he'd moved in with a family a mile away and was living happily with them, so we left him to it.
Huh you try to be nice to animals (sniffle)..

 

QUOTE="Dropship, post: 1067379762, member: 73861"]We had a big fluffy grey cat called Fred some years ago and loved him to bits, then he vanished.
We made all the usual enquiries to find him but drew a blank.
Then a few months later somebody told us he'd moved in with a family a mile away and was living happily with them, so we left him to it.
Huh you try to be nice to animals (sniffle)..[/QUOTE]

The most highly developed instinct in all cats is the maternal. It is global and of equal strength in both sexes giving them a need both to care for and be taken care of, the kitten and the mother are both the same in their view

So your cat sees itself as your mother and wants to take care of you. Cats will sometimes abandon owners that they see as no longer needing them, just as a mother weans her kittens. Your cat didn't love you any less but saw you as no longer needing its help, whereas the other family did

Or it found the food better.

 

Science seems to think so, at least around what a 3 year old human experiences.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201303/which-emotions-do-dogs-actually-experience

I know for a fact they can understand words. If I tell my dog to go get his ball, or his rope, or his chew he'll go roaming around the house and bring back the item I asked for, with no prompting or assistance.

He's at about 60 words or so that I know for sure he understands completely, and I make sure to keep my intonation flat so not to give any clues.

 

No doubt about it.

People don't like to admit that we aren't that far removed from many of the other beasts of the earth. It is religious brainwashing - WE are made in GOD'S image and THEY aren't! Neener neener neener. But the DNA tells us otherwise.

Consider for example that prairie dogs have an extensive language and even use adjectives... correctly!

 

I love elephants, they mourn their dead and I believe they're the only animal known to adopt other elephant calves

 

I do too, and it's why I feel so desperate for what happens to them for their tusks. I wish I'd never seen the news report showing one which had been mutilated because I can't get it out of my mind when I think of how the poor gentle creature must have suffered, during and after the atrocity until it thankfully died.

 

Yes it's awful, also rhinos, they are predicted to be extinct in 10 years... poachers are also killing vultures who give away their location when they poach, so they poison a carcass a week in advance and literally kill 1000 vultures with one carcass... now some vulture species also on the brink of extinction.

 

My cat expresses love by licking you. He expresses fear by hiding or climbing a tree. He expresses hunger by meowing for food. He is picky about the food he likes. He drinks when he is thirsty. He knows where the litter box is and uses it 4 times a day. When he is tired he sleeps. When he sleeps he twitches in his dreams. When he was a kitten he would dream about nursing and his lips and mouth would make sucking motions. As he got older he dreamt about running and his paws would twitch in his sleep. When he started catching mice and birds he would dream about catching things with his claws, and his claws would twitch. When he is lonely he cuddles next to me.

My cat obviously has a consciousness and emotions. Same as humans do.