Although cats may sometimes seem aloof or independent, research and clinical veterinary observations indicate that they can form strong social bonds with their owners. Formal scientific research on feline grief is limited, but one well-known 1996 study—the ASPCA Companion Animal Mourning Project—found that many cats displayed changes in appetite, vocalization, sleep, and social behavior after losing a companion animal. Similar signs when cats lose a human caregiver have been seen as well.

While we don’t fully understand the depth or nature of feline grief, evidence shows that many cats do notice and react to the loss of an important person in their lives. Below, we’ll explore what feline grief can look like and how you can support a cat who is mourning.

Do Cats Grieve for Their Owners?

Most people believe cats can grieve, and anecdotal evidence and limited research support that assumption to an extent. Cats might not be able to grasp the concept of their owner dying, but they can sense their absence. They form complex social connections despite their reputation as loners, developing attachments with certain individuals, particularly owners, that can have a significant impact when they are severed.

Separation from owners can lead to distress in some cats. When cats lose their attachment figure, the upheaval in their life has emotional and behavioral effects. What we interpret as grief may also be described as processing and adjusting to change. As complex emotional beings, we humans often attribute emotional labels to animal behavior in a process called ‘anthropomorphisation’. That isn’t to say that cats – along with many animals – are not capable of emotions, but their vastly different social structure and evolution mean that their behavior is less likely to be as heavily influenced by those emotions.

How Do Cats Grieve?

Socialization is essential to a cat’s ability to thrive. Cats are able to adapt to group living and form strong bonds with other household pets and their owners. As these figures play critical roles in the cat’s life as companions and providers, their loss can cause behavioural changes.

Signs of Cat Grief

The ASPCA’s Companion Animal Mourning Project explored the effect of losing an animal companion on cats. The study found 65% of cats showed behavioral changes indicative of grief, including:

Stress behaviors don’t arise only after an animal’s death. Separation-related behaviours, including separation anxiety can occur when an attachment figure leaves the home for a few hours.

Cats can also show signs of grief following the loss of another cat (or even dog) in the household. Common behaviors during the grief process include excessive clinginess to owners and seeking out the deceased animal’s favorite spot. Cats may respond differently when the owner dies. In the case of owner separation, it may cause changes in appetite, vocalizations, and lethargy.

Is It Actual Grief?

Although it’s easy to project human emotions onto pets to interpret their behaviors, we mustn’t forget that cats don’t think like us. We can’t always be sure of the nature of their grief-like behaviors when other pets die.

Are they clingier because they need comfort, or is there less competition for your attention? Do they visit their friend’s favorite spot out of longing, or are they claiming territory? Are they eating slower due to depression or less resource competition?

Considerations like these don’t suggest apathy or selfishness but rather highlight that we can’t assume the reasons behind all their actions. There’s still plenty to indicate they feel genuine distress when family members die. For instance, increased vocalizations and searching behaviors occur in the hopes of a reunion, showing the meaningfulness of that figure’s presence.

Cats likely don’t comprehend death or feel guilt, anguish, sorrow, and other complex emotions adult humans face with the passing of a loved one. They display separation stress in a way similar to infants, using the types of protest and detachment behaviors that occur in the coping process alongside grief.

How Long Do Cats Grieve?

Cats eventually adjust to their owner’s death. After a companion animal dies, initial behaviors like increased vocalizing and searching typically resolve within a few weeks. Most owners report that after several months, they become accustomed to the new situation and no longer show signs of grief.

5 Ways to Help a Grieving Cat

Since cats don’t have the same complex relationship with death as humans, they don’t necessarily need closure. However, many vets and owners agree that, when possible, allowing your cat to see/be in the presence of a deceased owner or companion can help them understand where they have gone, making them less likely to search for them.

If you inherit a cat whose owner passed away, your role is to help them move on to the next phase without becoming hung up on the passing. There’s no talking it out or counseling a cat through their feelings of loss. They need you to give them a sense of normalcy. The following are a few ways you can do this to help a cat cope after their owner dies.

1. Provide Attention and Play Time

One reason cats miss their owners is the loss of a play buddy. Cats need socialization and stimulation, and you can help them acclimate to their next phase of life by providing ample attention. Bonding and playing will benefit your cat mentally at the moment and help establish you as their new attachment figure.

2. Enhance Enrichment Around the Home

Cats confined to the house have fewer chances to satisfy their curiosity and exercise their minds and bodies. You can fill the house with enrichment materials to keep your cat busy and avoid the bored or agitated destructive behaviors that might occur due to separation and disruption to the routine.

Trees, scratching posts, and rotations of fun treats and toys will positively direct their energy.

3. Maintain the Routine

Like mothers to infants, owners give their cats a sense of comfort, security, and certainty. They create a routine that a cat, as a dependent, can rely on to stay at ease and make the day predictable. Cats lose that familiarity when the owner dies, causing them to grieve.

You can’t keep everything the same. The home environment will be different, and you’ll rarely be able to follow the old owner’s schedule. But try to maintain the cat’s known routine in any way possible.

Use their brand of food, set up their toys like in their old home, maintain the same feeding schedule, and take any other steps that could make the environment recognizable. Focus on day-to-day consistency to get your cat comfortable as quickly as possible.

4. Monitor Your Emotions

Domestic cats are sensitive creatures capable of understanding positive and negative emotions in humans and other cats. They take emotional cues from owners, using them as a reference to respond to objects and situations. When they see happiness, they respond positively. When they sense anger, they respond negatively.

Acknowledging this is important when you’re also feeling the loss of your pet’s owner. You are going through a grieving process that often comes flooded with raw and stressful emotions. As these manifest outwardly in your speech and actions, the cat will only become more distraught.

Containing your emotions isn’t recommended, but maintaining positivity and focusing on the new routine for your cat’s sake will accelerate their coping process.

5. Talk to Your Vet About Medication

If your cat’s separation anxiety is extreme, consult your vet. They can advise on in-home treatment options like dietary changes or pheromone diffusers and prescribe medication if needed. Drugs are not a single solution and must only come secondary to improvements to the cat’s lifestyle.

Final Thoughts

Domestic cats probably grieve for their owners but not quite in the way humans grieve lost loved ones. They understand the absence and, lacking our emotional complexity, respond to it with behavioral changes that reflect the upheaval of their social structure and comfort of company.

Their caregiver is gone, as is the familiarity and security of their routine. With owners sitting firmly in the center of their lives, cats feel like their world is crashing down and will need every bit of comfort and consideration to help them cope.

Featured Image Credit: Kginger, Shutterstock