Empathy Cat

Since the first month we brought Cotton home, we've nicknamed him "Empathy Cat." He's always had an uncanny sense of who needs a cat and when. My DH lives with depression and Cotton always know when he's having a rough day, and will crawl into his lap and purr until DH feels better (even if this process takes several hours). I you ever need to cry, he'll sit on you and purr, and not seem to notice if he gets a bit damp, and if you ever wake up from a bad dream, he crawls up next to you and purrs until you go back to sleep. We've often said that he'd be a great therapy cat if he wasn't such a homebody.

Well, today Cotton had to go into the vet to have his T4 levels checked and his prescription refilled. Our vet also works with the local Humane Society and today was apparently Humane Society day, so other than a few patients first thing in the morning the rest of the day was shelter animals and everyone seemed to be getting ready for a long day. From the moment he came out of the crate, Cotton was everyone's best friend. (Weird, because he's usually a big coward at the vets) He kept headbutting the vet's hand until he got petted, rolled over and gave them his belly and hammed up leaning into the vet tech's arms when they drew blood. Within 5 minutes he had everyone smiling or laughing, and when I got him back I got a slow blink and a big trilling purr.

I guess Empathy Cat struck again this morning.

Kasey the tortie is an empathy cat, at least with people; she's a "nurse cat".

We passed the 2nd anniversary of Kasey’s second chance, May 21, 2010.

Kasey sowed the seeds of her rescue years ago.

I am prone to migraines. We had a problem at the company facility in 2001 where Kasey lived and a bunch of us were there dealing with it, she wasn’t very old then.

The stress level was high and I had a migraine come on. I must have looked bad because my boss insisted I go up in the storage room and crash, which I did.

I woke up, feeling better and the first thing I heard was a loud purr, Kasey was my “nurse cat”. She had sat there with me and was there when I woke up.

That set a bond with us but we had 4 cats at home at the time and her lot wasn’t bad there at the plant, back then. So I would bring treats for here n my work related trips.

The years went by and people came and went at the facility. Her “protectors” transferred to other sites and the new ones were not as benevolent. At best, most ignored her, others went out of their way to abuse her. Through it all, she maintained a friendly attitude and did not get mean or skittish.

She deserved better.

I was up there on a plant shutdown in April 2008 and I saw enough; next time I was up there in May, I took a cat carrier.

Needless to say, I have a friend for life now. She is very expressive and is calm when I am around, she becomes active about the time I come home from the office and usually waits for me.

I just wish I had taken her out there a year or so earlier before some jerk (I better not write the real word I prefer to use) injured her leg.

At least she has a good life, now.

I'm not sure cats actually have empathy.. they'll play with a bird or mouse until it dies of fright - and I'm not referring to cats that hunt to eat their prey. I think that only really comes to play in animals with more highly developed brains - apes, dolphins, and such.

I do, however, believe that cats are very observant and smart animals who can pick up subtle body language that even people do not see. They have to be this sharp. Plus, when kept as pets they have a bonding with people that's special - dogs, birds, horses, and several other animals have this, too.

With all of my cats, whenever one of us is sitting quietly for a while or laying down, we end up with a cat on us... if really unlucky I get all of them ala cat blanket. I'm not sick, they're not sensing anything, they're just taking advantage of me and their natural inclination to "clump". One evening I dozed off, laying on my side, on the couch watching tv. I awoke confused as to why I couldn't move - Tanna was on my shoulder, Tomas on my hip, Blaan and Blasa on my feet/legs, and Siri in front of me. Sherman choose to sleep on a nearby table..
My BIL has had the same thing happen to him if he dozes on the couch. He'll find Sho on his feet and Tomas or Sherman trying to crowd in next to him.

Though, illness and pregnancy does cause a change in scent that many animals can detect.

Maude would know if you needed a cat. Before Paul's ex-fiancee(who happened to live across the street from my parents they have been neighbors for over 25 years) kicked him out trying to force him to marry her(didn't work, we got together) she got mad that we were spending too much time together(we were just friends, we had very exact and strict boundaries, until they broke up.) Well she got both of us upset. I wanted an explanation since Paul hadn't said anything beyond that he wasn't allowed to talk to me. I called his cell, she answered and I hung up. She called back and we sat on my front porch and talked and I just couldn't help it I was in tears in a bad way(I was fine until she called back) and she told me Paul was in the same way, Paul and I both suffer from depression, I'm actually bi-polar, so all we had was each other to talk about depression and have someone know exactly what you are talking about, no explanations needed. Both of us were already having issues with our depression being worse so we weren't in the best state of mind to begin with.

I went over and while Paul and I sat there Maude(who hated people and would rather hiss and scratch my eyes out than have anything to do with me) jumped up in my lap and started rubbing against me trying to make me feel better. Like I said Maude would rather hiss and scratch your eyes out than let you give her attention unless it was on her exact terms. So she knew and I do believe animals feel empathy. Maude also became a lap cat after Molly(Paul's dog) died, she knew Paul needed it. This was not how Maude was, she changed how she acted when she knew we were feeling bad so I know she felt empathy.

Taryn

I don't know if it's empathy or not, but it is lovely. Sleeping on you is bonding and you are warm!

I did have something happen recently which I think was a reaction to a bad thing happening to me .... on the phone, upset, sitting at the dining table. I keep a small box up there for Tex. Now this cat does NOT like to be held and often doesn't want to be petted. He does his own thing. I hear purring - loud purring - and I think it must be one of the other cats since Tex really doesn't purr. But it WAS him... I was petting him while on the phone and he began to purr -loudly. I think he was trying to calm me down.

Sounds like you have one incredibly sweet, special kitty there!

Imhotep is my "empathy cat". He always knows exactly when I need him and can read my moods so well it freaks me out sometimes.

Originally Posted by AddieBee

I don't know if it's empathy or not, but it is lovely. Sleeping on you is bonding and you are warm!

I did have something happen recently which I think was a reaction to a bad thing happening to me .... on the phone, upset, sitting at the dining table. I keep a small box up there for Tex. Now this cat does NOT like to be held and often doesn't want to be petted. He does his own thing. I hear purring - loud purring - and I think it must be one of the other cats since Tex really doesn't purr. But it WAS him... I was petting him while on the phone and he began to purr -loudly. I think he was trying to calm me down.

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Very warm with that many kitties.

I'm sure he noticed you body language and changes in your voice. Maybe scent changes a bit, too? Not having a cat's sense of smell, I can't prove that.

This is one reason why I think ferals/semi ferals being tamed are so skittish of us. They have to learn to read our body language. Some cats pick it up quicker than others, they tame down faster. Others still have problems even after years and will misunderstand some movements and voice tones.
This is also a problem I think my cat Sho has. He can read us well enough, but misunderstands the other cats body language when all they want to do it snuggle or play. I think Siri was an only cat, too, and never learned a lot of the proper social body language between cats... She and Sho have problems. She's pretty good at human body language, though.

I know cats read body language. I went outside to cut off some mats on Runt's coat(Mitzi said to use a comb to comb them out but when I was trying to undo them with my fingers he wasn't having it.) He was under a carrier and did not want anything to do with me, wouldn't let me touch him and went back under the carrier when he did come out(large dog carrier, it has been taken apart but they like to go under it to keep cool.) Runt loves all attention so he know something was up. In frustration I put the scissors on top the the carrier(I guess too loudly) and he ran out. I grabbed him and just lightly scruffed him and cut off the 3 mats, which he let me do with no struggling, I doubt it would be that easy with Attitude or Nuts, Runt is a total sweetheart. I was then petting him and he curled up in my lap and let me love on him, like usual. None of the other cats would have anything to do with me(they ran) until I snipped the mats off Runt's coat then they all wanted attention. So I know they read my body language even though I wasn't even aware my body language was different(I was trying to act calm cool and normal so he wouldn't freak.)

I'm sure there are smells with it as well, animals really can smell fear. Pregnant women also smell different, Spaz(spayed female) couldn't get enough of me when I was pregnant. My SIL said her neutered male(who was mean as hell, but not to them) wanted absolutely nothing to do with her while she was pregnant. We don't notice any different smells but animals do, they can also smell blood. When we got Spaz I was having my time of the month, the next day I was on my stomach on the floor and Spaz decided to find out what she smelled. Walked straight up in between my legs and shoved her nose in, guess she wanted to know why she smelled blood.

Taryn