Thursday, May 3

Do animals get sad?

Posted by Metamatician on Thursday, May 03, 2007

7 comments:

Hans said...

Definitely! I've heard of dogs who lived together and when one dies the other mourns. They just aren't the same, so they must be sad, but I've also heard that dogs forget easily, so it's not really easy to tell how sad they are, how much they remember - they don't have "time" figured out from what I've read, but..... I know they get mad! Marie gets mad when I go somewhere and I'm gone too long for her taste (guess she does have time figured out)- she barks at me when I get home, like she's yelling at me! Funny, but she definitely feels the loss of her pal (me). Some dogs (cats?) pout just to let you know they didn't like you being gone. Separation anxiety is something that even people go through. Animals should come with a manual and a "Must-go to socialization and behavior classes contract", btw. People (including myself) should realize that they need to leave their dog for periods of time "regularly" - which has been my problem. It's my fault, not my dog's. I started out well when I worked, but then when I stopped I was home all the time......what to do?

May 03, 2007
Hans said...

i especially like the black and white photo of the black CATS! Sneaky........one was hard to spot.

May 03, 2007
Metamatician said...

Thanks for the comment. Yes, the definitely do. I saw a slug crying one time. He'd left a trail of tears behind him.

Jackson (but especially female cats, I think) seems to have a bit of sense of time, more like needs build up and maybe it's not so much they remember the past with any kind of clarity (like the "movie" in our heads), but just have vague feelings they don't and can't explain. Like they're just mad at you, and give you the cold shoulder. Or they are happy to see you. All depending on what has built up emotionally for them.

I like your idea that pets should come with mandatory classes for pet owners. Once you pass and have a license for that species, you don't need to re-qualify in the future, but first time pet owners definitely need lessons. And if you get a new kind of pet (a dog after having only cats), a dog-owner license would have to be gotten by taking a class. Something like this will probably happen in the future, most like in Europe way before the USA, as long as Republicans and/or evangelicals have any say in lawmaking.

May 03, 2007
Metamatician said...

Thanks, I like that one too! The second cat is like an echo of the first. Or maybe a ghost image of where the other used to be, like we're seeing two points on the timeline separately.

Or (let me say it before Heath does), THERE ARE JUST TWO BLACK CATS.

May 03, 2007
Hans said...

Forgot to mention the poor slug....maybe he's the last Cherokee slug and it took him this long to make the trek...

not funny, nor was the Trail of Tears ~ couldn't help but think of it though.

May 04, 2007
JOVIAN said...

heh. that second cat totally makes the picture, plus i'm a sucker for b&w's

May 11, 2007
Metamatician said...

I found out about a week later that our 16-year old black cat Spooka passed away on the day I posted this picture or the next day. She was with my ex-wife so I didn't know right away. We had two black cats. The other one, Nibbies, was always sort of in Spooka's shadow, being younger, and deferred to her on everything.

I will miss our poor kitty but she was starting to have kidney failure and other problems. She seemed to die in peace, from what I gathered. It's spooky (no pun intended) I got this picture (of local cats) and posted it when I did. Sometimes, you know... I'm not so scientific as I like to believe.

May 14, 2007

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