Sometimes my cats will get startled by something like the doorbell, then immediately start grooming themselves as if to say, I wasn't scared, I just really needed to clean this foot right now. And that made me think, were they embarrassed by getting startled and are trying to cover it up with their grooming session? Do cats get embarrassed?
Vet explains pets says that research has proven that cats feel a wide range of emotions, including fear and joy. However, it's less clear whether cats can feel embarrassement, which is a more complex emotion. SeniorCatWellness.com explains that there are 2 factors that come into play in order to feel embarrassment. The first is a sense of self and the second is an understanding that others can have different feelings about you. Not only do you need an understanding that people may be judging you, you have to care what they might think. It's not clear that cats have a sense of self and even less clear to me that they actually care what someone might think of them.
It's possible that cats do have a sense of shame, but it is also possible that we are anthropomorphizing their behavior and thinking that the cat is embarrassed for doing something silly, because we would be embarrassed if we did something similar.
Cats.com gives an example of a cat who falls and then looks around as if to see if anyone saw that. It's possible that instead of an embarrassed cat, your cat is just looking around to make sure that the sound of their fall didn't attract any predators. So, it's an instinct toward self-preservation, not embarrassement that makes your cat look around in this case.
Another example might be a cat who knocks something over and then tries to hide. In this instance, cats.com says that your cat might just be remembering a similar instance when they got yelled at and are trying to avoid that, or they might be picking up on your emotions and reacting to that instead of actually feeling ashamed.
What about when you laugh at your cat? Do cats know when you laugh at them? In this instance, cats.com says it's more likely that your cat is not looking at you with embarrassment, but may be more curious as to what that sound is that you are making or is confused by your reaction and not displaying signs of shame.
What about my original example where my cats get startled, then start grooming? In this case, it is likely that the cat did become alert because of the sound, looked around to make sure they were still safe, and then started grooming, not because they feeling cat shame, but because well, cats groom themselves.
Whether cats feel embarrassment or not might still be up for debate. It's possible that cats have the capacity to get emabarrassed. or we may just be projecting our own feelings onto reactions that we see our cats make. As I've often mentioned in ths blog, cats are individuals, and it may well be that some cats are more sensitive to things like embarrassment than others.
What do you think? Does it seem like your cat gets embarrassed?
Cover photo by Mohammad Emami on Unsplash
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