Do Cats Love Their Owners. The Facts May Amaze You.

Every pet owner likes to think that our pets love us as much as we love them, but is that really true and do cats love their owners? It has been a fact that dogs love their owners, like the dog who sits by his masters grave, even though his owner passed several years earlier, but can the same be said for cats? Let us look into this matter more deeply, and look at the available scientific research on ‘do cats love their owners’? We will also look into what cat and animal behaviorists have concluded as well.

do cats love their owners

Important differences between cats and dogs

Firstly there is a big difference between the way cats look at us, and the way dogs look at us, and although we know a lot about canines, we don’t know that much about cats and their behavior. A dog is part of a pack, while the cat is mostly a solitary animal, it can be just at home on its own as it can with several other cats. A dog has to rely on the rest of the pack to hunt for food, and they have to have a bond between them to work together, especially when hunting. Alternatively, a pet dog has to rely on its owner to feed him, whereas a cat will instinctively hunt on its own if the need arises, and a cat will wash and groom himself, while a dog needs his owner to do that.

So do cats love their owners? Important Research conclusions.

These points are quite relevant to finding out whether or not your cat loves you, because looking at the behavior in animals and researching, leads us to conclusions that may not have been realized before. Having said that, recent research performed on cats, and observation performed by cat behaviorists seems to indicate that cats do not actually love us like dogs do. Moreover, cats do not actually need us to survive was the point being made, yet there must be a type of bond between cat, and owner due to the fact that even cats that can wander off choose to stay.

One research performed by the University of Lincoln concluded that cats are much more independent than dogs, because they do not show any signs of separation anxiety when their owners leave the house, or room. Additionally, they seem to feel quite comfortable when left on their own for a while, making them excellent pets for those who have to work, whereas a dog may whine, or pine for his master until he comes home. Usually, one would expect if a pet is attached to their owner, they would show some signs of distress when the owner is not around, this wasn’t the case with cats.

do cats love their owners

Owners conclusions in comparison

Many owners can come to this same conclusion for themselves under certain circumstances, like when a cat is afraid, rather than run to its owner, he may hide under a bed, or on top of a cabinet. Having said that, many owners do create a bond between their cat and themselves, over time it is inevitable that a bond is created, which could be concluded as a type of love or affection. Although the research shows that cats do not need us, our cats, if given the opportunity, they would choose to stay, rather than run off.

During the course of observation, and research by different entities, it has also been noticed with cats behavior that what cats do with humans, they also do with their mothers or other cats. For instance, cats purr while rubbing up against your legs, a tail in the air or licking, is everything that cats do to one another, however, they do not do this to a cat that is inferior to them, so maybe they see us as another cat or someone that is superior to them. You may have experienced your cat kneading you with its paws, this is what they do as a kitten to stimulate milk from the mother cat.

do cats love their owners

Do cats have feelings for us different to love?

Science is based on facts, and the facts are that cats simply treat us like they do other cats, but there may be much more to it than that. Much more research needs to be done in order to fully understand cats, and the research done so far has just been the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Moreover, we do know cats, like all animals, have feelings, because when they get hurt they cry out in pain, when they are sick it shows in the way they act, so just maybe they have other feelings too, like love. Also if your cat greets you at the front door with loud purrs when you come home from work, did they miss you? or are they just saying hi? Are these signs your cat loves you?

The research performed was done using 20 different cats, and their owners as well as strangers, in a different environment than what they were used to, and monitored how the cats reacted when their owner left the room. This was done to find out if the cat showed any signs of distress or anxiety once the owner was gone. However, the cats were more vocal when the owner left the room, and although this was of no concern in the conclusion, maybe cats have a different way of showing they are missing you.

do cats love their owners

To sum up and your response………….

Finally, just because research shows that there is no evidence that cats can love us as we do them, it doesn’t necessarily prove that they cannot love us. We as humans may still kiss our parents when we visit them, or hug friends we haven’t seen in a while, just as we kissed, and hugged our family as children, is this an inbred instinct, or habit? Or are we showing our love? It is ultimately an individuals choice whether you believe your cat is returning your love or not, and many owners will not hesitate when asked if they think their cat loves them, so what do you think? Do cats love us or not? Please leave your opinion in the Leave a Reply section below.