- Cats do have a very rich emotional life but they do not express their feelings through tears.
- They can shed tears but only for medical reasons such as eye irritations, blocked tear ducts, infections, allergies, diseases or eye injuries.
- Cats show their emotional side through their behavior: they purr when they are happy, they hiss when they are angry, and they meow when they are sad.
- If you suspect that there is something wrong with your cat’s eyes, seek professional help at once.
For us, cat owners, it is crucial to understand our cats’ emotions. We typically feel a very special connection between us and our cats and can identify their mood through their behavior and body language.
But what about their tears? It can be quite a worrying situation to see them cry which will definitely raise a lot of questions.
- Do cats cry? Are there actual tears?
- What does it mean? Why do cats cry?
- Is it emotional or something else?
- How do cats cry? And, how do we help?
If you have ever wondered about these questions, you are at the right place. In this article, you can get to know the answers about crying cats and the possible reasons for cat tears to be shed.
Do cats cry? – The emotional answer
Although you might be expecting a straightforward answer to your simple question: “do cats cry”, it is more complicated than you think and difficult to answer as it is a quite complex matter when it comes to cats. No, but yes. Let me explain.
When we think about the act of crying, the first thing that typically comes to our mind is emotions. Our eyes tend to water when something bad happens in our life. In fact, tears are a natural, visual response to a strong emotion that symbolize rejection, sadness, grief, pain or sometimes even joy.
So, we do cry because of emotional matters but what about cats? Do they have emotions like us? Can they be sad to the point that they show it through crying tears? Do cats cry?
In reality, cats do have a very rich emotional life. They can definitely experience sadness, and they can even become depressed. However, the degree of emotion that humans and other species of animals experience are not the same. It is very difficult to identify to what extent cats are sad, fearful or happy, but their emotions are real and can be positive or negative with various intensities.
On the other hand, this does not necessarily mean that they can express their feelings through crying tears. In fact, there is no evidence supporting that cats cry tears as a response to some emotional matter. They can do a heartbreaking, very sad meow, but it is not like crying. It is not like tears are shed rolling down their face.
So, the short answer is no – when it comes to emotional crying, cats do not cry. While they certainly do have feelings such as grieving, depression, being unhappy or sad, they will never shed tears to show those feelings.
All in all, cats do have emotions, but their tears are a different story.
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