***Disclaimer***
There are three things that I must first make the reader aware of in order to understand my paper. To begin, the account in this paper was derived from a real life situation and I will focus on it to show the disparity between what humans think animals are thinking- and what perhaps they actually are. My context is a recent occurrence (totally true) in which my cat Diego has just witnessed a fight between one of my housemates and myself, and is now pondering its effects. The fight’s end result was my housemate’s vacating of the house- and when she did so Diego’s sister, Moo-Moo, accompanied her. (Diego and Moo-Moo have not been separated once since birth). This paper has two points of view; one derived strictly from the observed actions of my cat Diego Rivera Sanchez the Third and one describing what I perceive is my cat’s perception.
When this situation befell me it made me really question how much of our own human emotions and logic we attribute to our pets, and animals in general. Whether or not this attribution is correct or a delusion I will not speculate on- it is something humans may never know. However, I will relay my own experience and the resulting internal conflict from the assumption that my cat’s emotions mirrored mine.
Diego Rivera Sanchez the Third’s actions on 24/1/08- 26/1/08 as observed by me, when I was home:
When this situation befell me it made me really question how much of our own human emotions and logic we attribute to our pets, and animals in general. Whether or not this attribution is correct or a delusion I will not speculate on- it is something humans may never know. However, I will relay my own experience and the resulting internal conflict from the assumption that my cat’s emotions mirrored mine.
Diego Rivera Sanchez the Third’s actions on 24/1/08- 26/1/08 as observed by me, when I was home:
*24/1/06 (Moo-Moo has been absent for less than 12 hours)
8PM: I arrive home from work. Diego is awaiting my return at the door. She meows a lot, but not more than usual and feeding her is apt pacification.
8:30PM: I cook dinner and Diego jumps on the counter, tries to eat everything and steps on my onions like normal. During dessert, she shows an increased interest in the Cool-Whip, but takes up crying at the door while I do the dishes instead of her usual attempts to swim in my sink. This strikes me as odd, since she really appears to enjoy swimming and so I go to the door and let her out. She doesn’t really want out, and in 3 minutes I let her back in (after she cries for 2 min and 45 seconds).
9PM: I retire to my floor with tea (I live on the second floor, lofty studio thing) after the kitchen is cleaned, Diego accompanies me like usual.
10PM: After attempting to read on my couch, I fall in and out of sleep. Diego tries many times before I fall asleep to come and lie in the middle of my book and chew the corners, as this is quite normal so I think nothing of it. She seems slightly restless though and does not come to bed with me. This is not unusual- but she does go downstairs instead of sleeping in her favorite chair, which is.
11PM: I fall asleep.
*25 /1/08 (Moo-Moo has been absent 24 hours)
8:30AM: I awake to Diego licking my hair: normal. Get out of bed, put coffee on, go downstairs and Diego follows me but is crying wildly. I follow her to her kitty-closet where all her amenities and food are stored; she looks at me and cries louder and more insistently. Her food dish is full, which is odd because that is usually the only reason she will run around crying as loudly/franticly as she is now crying. I ask her what is wrong many times, but receive no answer.
10:00AM: As I get ready for work, she follows me around the room and refuses to sit still. She goes from trying to nuzzle me, to getting fed up with my unresponsiveness (I was trying to get ready…) and staring out my bay window.
11:00AM: I leave for work, but before I do I let Diego out. She bolts off into the backyard.
8:00PM: I return home from work, Diego is looking slightly upset when I enter the kitchen, and acting as if she is looking for something. As I cook dinner, she smells around the door and corners of the house, periodically looks up at me and continues to meow. I am perplexed, and wonder if it is the absence of her sister that is provoking this weird behavior.
9:00PM: As I munch on unnecessary calories in the form of chocolate, Diego continues this behavior. I think that she may want to go out again, so I try and let her out. However this is not what she wants at all, since it is pouring out, and I let her back in.
10:00PM: Due to the state of the weather, I got into the garage to smoke a cigarette and finish my laundry. Diego follows me, and at seeing me open the door to the garage (one that is not commonly opened) she bounds through it with anticipation (or so it would seem) of finding something. She begins to sniff all the corners and look somewhat frantically again. At finding nothing, she looks up at me with a desperate, questioning look (that’s the most objectively I can describe her look).
11:00PM: I retire upstairs and she follows me, but looks very upset. She keeps looking around in all the corners of the room and sniffing the door-jams, then looking back to me.
12:00AM: I feel guilty for her anxiety, take a Tylenol PM and go to sleep.
*26/1/08 (Moo-Moo has been gone for 48 hours)
9:00AM: I wake up; Diego’s behavior is very similar to the day before. Constant meowing even though she has food, going to the door and not wanting to go out and looking at me nervously.
10:00AM: I leave for work, but I don’t let Diego outside.
8:00PM: I get home and Diego seems more peaceful, she is lounging on my couch when I come upstairs. She gets up and is incredibly affectionate, she nuzzles me and continues to act very saccharine.
9:00PM: I make dinner and prepare to go out. My girlfriends come over and Diego continues to be very affectionate to all of them. One of my friends brings a boy with her; Diego is affectionate towards him as well. This is odd because Diego- like any smart woman- distrust and does not like men on the whole.
10:00PM: More people come over; Diego continues to interact with everyone and does wild laps around the house. She ascends to the counter and starts to eat cupcakes (one of her favorite people foods). She seems unperturbed and less anxious than before.
11:00PM: I leave my house; she seems inquisitive but no longer tense.
8PM: I arrive home from work. Diego is awaiting my return at the door. She meows a lot, but not more than usual and feeding her is apt pacification.
8:30PM: I cook dinner and Diego jumps on the counter, tries to eat everything and steps on my onions like normal. During dessert, she shows an increased interest in the Cool-Whip, but takes up crying at the door while I do the dishes instead of her usual attempts to swim in my sink. This strikes me as odd, since she really appears to enjoy swimming and so I go to the door and let her out. She doesn’t really want out, and in 3 minutes I let her back in (after she cries for 2 min and 45 seconds).
9PM: I retire to my floor with tea (I live on the second floor, lofty studio thing) after the kitchen is cleaned, Diego accompanies me like usual.
10PM: After attempting to read on my couch, I fall in and out of sleep. Diego tries many times before I fall asleep to come and lie in the middle of my book and chew the corners, as this is quite normal so I think nothing of it. She seems slightly restless though and does not come to bed with me. This is not unusual- but she does go downstairs instead of sleeping in her favorite chair, which is.
11PM: I fall asleep.
*25 /1/08 (Moo-Moo has been absent 24 hours)
8:30AM: I awake to Diego licking my hair: normal. Get out of bed, put coffee on, go downstairs and Diego follows me but is crying wildly. I follow her to her kitty-closet where all her amenities and food are stored; she looks at me and cries louder and more insistently. Her food dish is full, which is odd because that is usually the only reason she will run around crying as loudly/franticly as she is now crying. I ask her what is wrong many times, but receive no answer.
10:00AM: As I get ready for work, she follows me around the room and refuses to sit still. She goes from trying to nuzzle me, to getting fed up with my unresponsiveness (I was trying to get ready…) and staring out my bay window.
11:00AM: I leave for work, but before I do I let Diego out. She bolts off into the backyard.
8:00PM: I return home from work, Diego is looking slightly upset when I enter the kitchen, and acting as if she is looking for something. As I cook dinner, she smells around the door and corners of the house, periodically looks up at me and continues to meow. I am perplexed, and wonder if it is the absence of her sister that is provoking this weird behavior.
9:00PM: As I munch on unnecessary calories in the form of chocolate, Diego continues this behavior. I think that she may want to go out again, so I try and let her out. However this is not what she wants at all, since it is pouring out, and I let her back in.
10:00PM: Due to the state of the weather, I got into the garage to smoke a cigarette and finish my laundry. Diego follows me, and at seeing me open the door to the garage (one that is not commonly opened) she bounds through it with anticipation (or so it would seem) of finding something. She begins to sniff all the corners and look somewhat frantically again. At finding nothing, she looks up at me with a desperate, questioning look (that’s the most objectively I can describe her look).
11:00PM: I retire upstairs and she follows me, but looks very upset. She keeps looking around in all the corners of the room and sniffing the door-jams, then looking back to me.
12:00AM: I feel guilty for her anxiety, take a Tylenol PM and go to sleep.
*26/1/08 (Moo-Moo has been gone for 48 hours)
9:00AM: I wake up; Diego’s behavior is very similar to the day before. Constant meowing even though she has food, going to the door and not wanting to go out and looking at me nervously.
10:00AM: I leave for work, but I don’t let Diego outside.
8:00PM: I get home and Diego seems more peaceful, she is lounging on my couch when I come upstairs. She gets up and is incredibly affectionate, she nuzzles me and continues to act very saccharine.
9:00PM: I make dinner and prepare to go out. My girlfriends come over and Diego continues to be very affectionate to all of them. One of my friends brings a boy with her; Diego is affectionate towards him as well. This is odd because Diego- like any smart woman- distrust and does not like men on the whole.
10:00PM: More people come over; Diego continues to interact with everyone and does wild laps around the house. She ascends to the counter and starts to eat cupcakes (one of her favorite people foods). She seems unperturbed and less anxious than before.
11:00PM: I leave my house; she seems inquisitive but no longer tense.
_______________
The way I perceived this behavior was as a mounting anxiety and desperation within Diego, at her own inability to find her sister. Although they fight (as do their owners) both cats have never been separated from each other. Moo-Moo and Diego are about a year and a half old and they are littermates as well. I took Diego’s behavior and forlorn look as a sign of missing her sister. I perceived her actions- abnormal or not- as all revolving around her concern at the loss of her sister.
In turn, I felt guilty at the fact that it was my fault that her sister was no longer living in our house. Because of the people drama that had ensued between my housemate (who I am best friends/worst enemies with) and myself, my cat had been deprived of her only animal friend; I felt incredibly guilty. I wondered what it would be like to be a cat, grow up with a bunch of your brothers and sisters, then be taken away with only one of your siblings. On top of that, to have that sibling randomly disappear and your owner show no concern would be awful from a human perspective. Although, I cannot attribute this attitude to Diego completely- I would swear she looked at me with real concern, fear and confusion at my lack of concern. This brings up many questions for me about what we impose on animals in the way of emotions, versus what they really experience.
The third day, however, brought a change in her behavior and she seemed to stop caring about he absence of her sister; she warmed up to people more without any animal companion. Instead of sitting with me half the evening, and being somewhere else the other half, she sat with my friends and I the whole night. She even cozzied up with a man, which she never does! I took this increased displaying of her affection for humans, as a transition of social groups- but I was still surprised that it only took her 3 days to seemingly “forget” her sister. (That is, if she ever noticed her absence to begin with).
In turn, I felt guilty at the fact that it was my fault that her sister was no longer living in our house. Because of the people drama that had ensued between my housemate (who I am best friends/worst enemies with) and myself, my cat had been deprived of her only animal friend; I felt incredibly guilty. I wondered what it would be like to be a cat, grow up with a bunch of your brothers and sisters, then be taken away with only one of your siblings. On top of that, to have that sibling randomly disappear and your owner show no concern would be awful from a human perspective. Although, I cannot attribute this attitude to Diego completely- I would swear she looked at me with real concern, fear and confusion at my lack of concern. This brings up many questions for me about what we impose on animals in the way of emotions, versus what they really experience.
The third day, however, brought a change in her behavior and she seemed to stop caring about he absence of her sister; she warmed up to people more without any animal companion. Instead of sitting with me half the evening, and being somewhere else the other half, she sat with my friends and I the whole night. She even cozzied up with a man, which she never does! I took this increased displaying of her affection for humans, as a transition of social groups- but I was still surprised that it only took her 3 days to seemingly “forget” her sister. (That is, if she ever noticed her absence to begin with).
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