Do Animals Have Feelings?

I think we have come a long way in realizing how sensitive our companion animals really are. They feel pain and loss, love and happiness just like we do. They just can’t express these feelings in words like we can.

My epiphany on this subject, if you will, happened many years ago. We had only been married a few years, just moved into our house and decided we needed a pet. We decided on a cat and found the cutest little guy at Noah’s Ark in the Harlem & Irving Plaza; an orange and white kitty with ears the size of New Jersey!! He was going to be a big boy! We named him Rebel. No, not after the old movie or the old song by The Crystals. His name came from the University of Nevada Running Rebels basketball team! It was my husband’s favorite college team at the time.

Rebbie did grow into a big, beautiful cat. When he reached that special age, we took him to the vet to be neutered, or fixed, as they called it back in the day. Wish I could have explained it to him; that we would be coming back and it would only be a few days til he came home. 

The days passed until we were to pick him up from the vet. I went to bring him home. As I waited in the room for Dr. Weber to bring Rebel in by me, I heard this pathetic crying and mewing.  I said to myself, “Oh that poor little cat; he sure feels bad.” Well, the next thing I know, the door opens and here comes Dr. Weber with Rebel in his arms. Rebbie was the poor, pathetic, mewing little creature I had heard!  

When he first walked in the room with him, Rebel was still crying softly but then he noticed me! As soon as he recognized me the change that came over him was unbelievable! I have never in my life seen an animal light up like he did when he saw me! His eyes were like saucers, his ears stood straight up, he couldn’t believe I was there to bring him home!!!! He was so excited! The pathetic mewing gave way to loud, joyful meows. I think he was telling me how happy he was to see me and asking what took me so long to come back? He must have thought I had just left him there.

All the way home in the car, he meowed and meowed and squawked and squawked. I think by this time he was done telling me about what happened to him and now, was yelling at me for leaving him there! 

When I got him home he would not stay in a room alone. He had fallen asleep on our bed but when I got up to leave the room, he jumped up, wide awake and following me to be sure he kept me in his sight. He wasn’t going to be left alone again!

For the rest of that night into the next day he had to either be right next to one of us, in someone’s arms or on a lap. He was just SO happy to be home. 

In that short span of days, Rebel showed me how an animal can suffer from feeling lonely and sorrowful to feeling absolute happiness and joy! He showed me how they do feel emotions and they do have feelings. 

I know, some people will think I am wacky to say an animal can feel emotions and have "true feelings," but who's to say they can’t?  

Listen to this quote from Darwin: “If we feel jealousy, then dogs and wolves and elephants and chimpanzees feel jealousy. Animal emotions are not necessarily identical to ours but there’s no reason to think they should be. Their hearts and stomachs and brains also differ from ours, but this doesn’t stop us from saying they have hearts, stomachs and brains. There’s dog joy and chimpanzee joy and pig joy, and dog grief, chimpanzee grief and pig grief.”

Look at your dog when you come home—the sparkling eyes, the wiggly butt and wagging tail. If that isn’t the emotions of joy and happiness, then I don’t know what is.