Does your pet love you?

If a cat doesn't love, can it respect, Thomas?

I love them - they love me - it's pretty simple for me. But Kicky - I know what you mean when you talk about that look in their eyes - My kitty - well he is a little less adoring - but he loves me. He sleeps with me and he follows me like a dog - unless the two doggies are actually following me. But my dogs - wow...I feel like a queen when they are around. They put the heads in my lap and look up at me like I am the most amazing person. Truly sweet.

All animals have emotions.

Ducks mate for life.

A long time ago, probably 20 years ago, there were these two ducks that lived by my uncles house. Every day they'd cross the road and go do whatever it is ducks do. Well, one day the female got hit and was killed. My uncle saw the body and picked it up. The male was devestated and for days kept going back to the road, to the spot where she was, circling, looking for her.

It was heart breaking.

Yes, it sure is. Actually, though, it's typical of the nature of life.

It was so particularily sad to me because there was no way to explain to him what had happened and he just kept looking for her.

They definately have emotions - one of my cats will growl at the kids and hiss at them when he gets mad. This same cat will bite the other when he is pissed.

But he will also show his love when he rubs his head against my head - then I show my emotions by smacking him cause he wakes me up doing this.

I don't think dogs are clueless to human emotion. I'll suggest both Pacco and Sallydog as examples.

"Yeah; I have been accused of stuff like that by reputable authorities,
beginning with my mother."

<smiles>

I know some dogs and cats have done that, but some have not in various situations.

Stop a second here. Long term observation of cats and dogs shows that they have some emotions...but don't equate them to human emotions. To equate their emotions to human ones is to anthropomorphise.

There is no basis for proof that their emotions compare to human emotions for depth and complexity. However, they have emotions for sure..and possess a rich emotional life. However, their brain is smaller (per body weight), simpler and their concentration span and memory are shorter. They will show what appears to be grief should their keeper/owner pass on..or one of their liter mates..or regular playmates pass on. They "love" but their abilityto show love is wrapped up in (simple) behaviors that are different than ours. They "speak" a different language that humans so to call this 'love' as we humans understand love obscures the point. Doggy or kitty love it is...but it is not human love. Call it what you want, it feels good to receive.

Yeh, I may have been mixing up my duck story. It might be Foxy who went under one of the houses (ours, I think) when the cat died. Such is memory; I'll have to ask my ex.

All very nice, but human love is a complex of mishugas with perhaps a kernal of purity at the nub, no matter our chubby brains.



(I spent part of the morning reading a travel diary of DH Lawrence. Lot of folderal in some segments, much of it about the phallic power..)

and..toss in some schmaltz and some kishkas too.

As long as I can have my lox.

I keep reading the Lawrence though, since just as I am about to toss the book across the room, he tells me about lemon gardening in 1913, including building houses around the lemon trees for winter..

sorry, tangent

Of course their brain is smaller in comparsion than ours - that is why they are stupid and are pets and why we lead them around on a lease and not the other way around.

Doesn't mean their emotions aren't as deep - just that they are stupid.

Hmmm... does brain size relate to the capacity to love?

I agree that cats show more emotion than the poopity-heads admit or acknowledge . And, furthermore, I think that cats who are as dependent on their owners as my cat or Kicky's cat are even moreso enamored. It's like my cat knows I am saving his life everyday.

My little guy falls asleep on my chest. This may be a way to keep warm on fridged nights as he doesn't do so in warmer temps. But he falls asleep watching my face, slowly blinking, until one of us falls asleep. That isn't about food, it's not about warmth (he watches me even when he is NOT sleeping on me).

See great minds and brains think alike.

what does DH Lawrence have to do with...this?

Lawrence - nature of human love, he was rather obsessive about his pov, as probably was Acquinas.