Do pets sense more?

Whispered

My mother was telling me over the weekend about her mothers dog who died recently, she was a CKC and a real baby, but was sick for a while. On the night she died, she got up, walked to my gran and licked her hand, then my grandad, did the same then walked back to her bed, lay down and died. She knew she was about to go and seemed to be completly at ease with the situation, said her goodbyes and drifted off.

This brought up a story from my dad, where a few months ago, an old man in the community died of a heart attack. On the night he died, his dog sat under the bedroom window howling, crying and trying to get in. This dog was an outdoor dog, and never had done that before. At the time the dog started, the man felt perfectly fine.

A friend of mine has a few dogs, very well trained and socialised pets. The last time one of them saw her father he sat in front of him, stared at him, looked over his head, let a bark ad got up an walked away. Very strange behaviour from a dog who knew the man very well and who I have never seen bark at anything in all of his 5 years.

Have you ever experienced something from an animal you would not have expected, that would make you wonder just how much they know or how deeply they think. Their acceptance of life and death would put most people to shame. Can pets sense death in a way we can't, or are those stories just coincidence?

lrushe

Just before my GSD Daisy died my parents were in the middle of buying their new house in the country, it had been a stressful, drawn out time for them but eventually they got the keys and we able to move in. When they were settled in they brought Daisy down so he could give it the once over which she did, the next morning, on a lovely sunny August morning she lay down under a tree and passed away. We firmly believe that she gave the new house the once over and saw how happy and content my parents now were and she was happy to leave them. She was an amazing dog

barbiegirl

On the day of my dad's removal from the house, our old dog Lenny came out into the front garden to watch the coffin being loaded into the hearse. He just stood quietly as if saying his goodbyes. He then passed 3 months to the day after da and we like to think they're both in heaven together.
Our dog Sindy has only twice when out for walks barked at people, once a boy of about 10 who was standing at the entrance to a forest walk, Sindy just went into her on guard bark out of nowhere, and once last week at an old lady, who was really nice and came up and rubbed her down to calm her down, it's like she sees something we can't see and she doesn't like it.

seamus

Dogs and animals in general would act much more impulsively than we would so where a visual or auditory cue alerts them to something wrong, we either don't recognise that cue or we subconsciously supress it in favour of acting without instinctual impulse.

Remember that many animals have senses of smell and hearing several times more sensitive than ours, so subtle things which we miss may as well be flashing red sirens to them.

I do think that we tend to downplay the understanding that animals have in relation to death in particular. We tend to think that they're unaware of it, when nothing could be further from the truth and dogs and cats have been shown to mourn for/miss dead humans and animals alike.

The only thing I can remember was when our first dog had been having small seizures towards the end of her life. She would freeze for a while, she'd be very distressed and would then snap out of it. It seemed to come from nowhere. One day we were sitting in the kitchen and she was out in the field at the back sniffing around and chasing rats like she had done for years.
Next thing, she came flying into the kitchen and crashed into the wall with an almighty bang. Recognising that a seizure was coming on, she had come sprinting back to the house, fighting the seizure, before collapsing just as she got in the door and crashing headfirst into the wall.

Eibhin

Apparently animals have great healing powers too.

Back in 2000 I broke my heel bone and was in plaster for 6 weeks.
Very soon after I came home and was lying on the couch with the foot up, one of my cats, who never ever likes to be picked up or on your lap, and I mean never- jumped up and plonked herself right on the plaster of paris. She stayed there for a very long time as if trying to heal it!

morganafay

Eibhin wrote: »

Apparently animals have great healing powers too.

Back in 2000 I broke my heel bone and was in plaster for 6 weeks.
Very soon after I came home and was lying on the couch with the foot up, one of my cats, who never ever likes to be picked up or on your lap, and I mean never- jumped up and plonked herself right on the plaster of paris. She stayed there for a very long time as if trying to heal it!

I had a really sore throat one time (not as serious as a broken bone!) and I was lying in bed on my back, and one of my cats lay across my throat all night, which is a very strange place for a cat to sleep! But it was really warm like a scarf and in the morning my throat was better! It was really strange, but I had handreared that cat so maybe we had a connection.

morganafay

seamus wrote: »

I do think that we tend to downplay the understanding that animals have in relation to death in particular. We tend to think that they're unaware of it, when nothing could be further from the truth and dogs and cats have been shown to mourn for/miss dead humans and animals alike.
/QUOTE]

They definitely do. One of my dogs was very close to one of the cats, and when the dog died, the cat never saw her body or anything. But a few days after, she ran into the house (she was an outdoor cat, but ran past me, and had never done that before) and ran all around the house looking for the dog (the dog was indoor/outdoor). She could obviously smell the dog because she went into the utility room where the dog spent some of the day, into my room where the dog slept and then went and sat in the dog's basket in the sitting room, just quietly sitting there, looking sad, not purring or grooming herself as she normally would.

And I had two cats that were sisters, and one got killed by a car. When my dad was burying her, the other cat sat nearby watching him, just sitting there (whereas normally she'd be going up looking for attention).

And when one of my guinea pigs was dying, the other one just sat cuddled up next to her as she obviously knew she was dying. Then when she died, she seemed to really mourn her.

And I have one really cranky cat, who normally just scratches everyone (but is sweet sometimes and I love her anyway!) and when one of my kittens died I was sitting outside and really sad, and she came and sat on my lap, quietly. The way I was saying with all of them, how they just sit quietly like they know something happened . . . or maybe she just picked up on my mood. Which is still good that they can sense that, as a lot of people wouldn't even notice.

And one of my neighbour's cats stopped eating for a few days after his friend died.


My dogs would definitely mourn each other. You can't even take one for a walk or to the vets, without the others sitting out in the rain looking sad til their friend comes back.

Graces7

I took the two puppies we had fostered by car to meet their new owners.

We had arranged to meet at a garage and as I was early, I sat with the puppies in a blanket on my lap.

There were people passing the while and they took no heed.

But as soon as the new owners approached the car, the puppies went wild. At the window, tails wagging... They saw them before I did. It reassured that these were the right people.

I have had a cat pine to death after the death of his sibling and life-long companion.

Our two dogs never "jelled". when collie went missing in a storm, wee dog was fine. But one night she started yipping; not her usual vocal range at all. I called to the collie, and she arrived back minutes later. She had arrived at the back hedge but had she not heard wee dog?

egan2020

When I was pregnant our cat would always sleep beside my bump at night. And when my daughter was born, the cat was usually found sleeping at the end of the cot. She was a really friendly cat but would hiss at anyone (apart from me) who tried to take the child out of the cot.

dancingqueen

My cousin has a budgie, Bobby, he is 13 years old.

When her husbands father died, a few years ago, Bobby sat on his shoulder for 4-5 hours - it was the oddest thing. He's not hand tame and he never liked him. Very sweet.

An elderly lady up the road from me when I was a kid had a small mix breed dog called Patch. They did everything together.
Patch would sit in his basket when the Angelus was on and wait there for her until she came home, when she went out to the shops and mass. The word mass would still him for the few hours! When she died, neighbours adopted him, but he died only a couple of months after her. So sad.