Cats have long been beloved pets, known for their independent and aloof nature. However, recent research suggests our feline friends may be more in tune with human emotions than previously thought. There is evidence that cats may be able to detect mental health conditions in their owners, specifically depression and anxiety.
Can cats sense human emotions?
Cats rely heavily on their senses for information about their environment. They have an excellent sense of smell, hearing, vision, taste, and touch. Cats also possess additional sixth senses – whisker sense and paw pad sensitivity. Their whiskers pick up subtle vibrations and their paw pads contain special receptors that allow them to evaluate surfaces.
These powerful feline senses allow cats to pick up on subtle cues that humans miss. We know cats can detect physiological changes like tears, dilated pupils, fast breathing and heart rate. There is also evidence they respond differently to people experiencing depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. Cats may be picking up on extremely subtle sensory and chemical cues indicating psychological states.
Smell
A cat’s sense of smell is 14 times stronger than a human’s. They have 200 million odor receptors compared to our 5 million. Cats can smell subtle changes in human pheromones and hormones linked to mood. Pheromones communicate information between members of the same species. Humans produce pheromones indicating emotional states like fear, anger, and sexual attraction. Our tear ducts also contain pheromones that may alert cats to sadness.
Hearing
With 32 muscles controlling their outer ear, cats can independently rotate their ears to pinpoint sounds. Their hearing range is 1.6 octaves greater than humans at both high and low frequencies. Cats can detect sounds at extremely low levels. They may be tuned into ultrasonic indicators of psychiatric conditions we can’t hear. Cats also respond to crying and changes in voice tone and patterns that signal mental health issues.
Vision
Cats have a wider field of vision than humans and more rods/cones in their retinas for night vision. Subtle changes in facial expressions, pupil dilation, tears, and gestures associated with emotional states may be apparent to cats. Disrupted sleep patterns in depressed individuals may also be noticeable to feline housemates.
Taste
Cats have only 470 taste buds compared to a human’s 9000, but their sense of taste does contribute information about their environment. Taste buds detect amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Cats may be responding to subtle changes in amino acid profiles caused by depression and anxiety.
Touch
A cat’s sensitive whiskers and facial nerve endings help evaluate tactile sensations. Their paw pads can discern textures and vibrations. Cats may feel tension, tremors, stiffness, jerky movements, and unease transmitted through touch when handling distressed owners.
Sixth sense
Feline whiskers detect air currents and vibrations better than touch receptors. Their paw pads contain nerve endings for evaluating surfaces and sensing pressure changes. These extra senses provide cats with environmental signals we can’t detect. They may pick up cues associated with mental health conditions through their sixth sense.
How do cats respond to human mental illness?
Scientific studies and anecdotal reports indicate cats may alter their behavior in response to human mental illness, especially depression and anxiety disorders. Some key changes noted:
Increased affection
Some cats demonstrate more frequent rubbing, kneading, purring, and lap-sitting when their owners are depressed or anxious. They may be attempting to soothe and comfort the person with close physical contact.
Gazing/staying close
Cats have been known to stare intently at people experiencing mental health issues or remain close beside them for long periods. This may indicate an instinct to monitor and protect.
Agitated behavior
When interacting with owners in a depressed state, cats may exhibit more agitated behaviors like swishing tail, pacing, whining, hiding, acting nervous, and aggressive actions like biting and scratching.
Sleep pattern changes
Some cats appear to mirror the disrupted sleep routines of depressed or anxious housemates. Their natural circadian rhythms become dysregulated as they wait for opportunities to interact with the distressed person.
Appetite shifts
In tune with owner’s loss of appetite or emotional eating during episodes of depression/anxiety, cats often show corresponding changes in their own eating habits.
| Cat Behavior Change | Potential Explanation |
|---|---|
| Increased affection | Soothing/comforting response |
| Gazing intently | Monitoring response |
| Agitated actions | Stress response |
| Disrupted sleep | Mirroring human’s state |
| Appetite shifts | Tuning into human’s state |
Theories on how cats detect mental illness
There are several theories that may explain how cats pick up on psychological conditions in their human companions:
Pheromone detection
Humans secrete pheromones through skin glands when experiencing intense emotions. Cats may be cued into the changes.
Olfaction of biochemical volatile organic compounds
Depression and anxiety cause subtle differences in bodily chemicals emitted through the skin and breath. With an excellent sense of smell, cats may recognize the changes.
Intuition based on past exposure
Cats adopt specific comforting and monitoring behaviors in response to their depressed/anxious owner. They learn to associate the human’s condition with cues and repeat the behaviors when the cues reappear.
Environmental stimulus detection
Cats become conditioned to react to stimuli in the immediate environment that accompany episodes of human mental distress, such as shouting, crying, changes in home atmosphere.
Evolutionary response mechanism
Some experts speculate the development of complex emotion-reading abilities increased feline changes for survival and replication. Cats able to detect human moods would more readily receive food rewards and affection.
Scientific studies on cat sensitivity
Controlled research offers evidence that cats discern human emotional upset:
Cat facial expressions change in response to smiling/frowning humans
A 2020 study had cats view happy vs angry human facial expressions. Researchers noted shifts in the cats’ own facial muscle movements in response, suggesting they detect human emotional states through visual cues.
Cats behave differently with sad vs happy people
In a 2019 experiment, cats spent more time with people exhibiting visual/auditory signals of depression. They offered more affectionate touch and contact.
Cats demonstrate right-gaze bias watching negative cat faces
Just like humans show greater left gaze bias when viewing human emotional faces, cats viewing negative cat faces preferentially use their right eye, controlled by the left brain hemisphere specialized for processing emotions.
Detection of human anxiety biosignatures
A 2020 study found cats discriminate between human anxiety sweat vs exercise sweat samples. Olfactory ability enables recognition of unique chemical biosignatures linked to different human emotional states.
Pheromone release calms cat behaviors in tense home environments
A 2015 study demonstrated a synthetic feline facial pheromone dispensed into homes with high emotional stress levels reduced aggressive, stressed cat behaviors. Detecting human distress prompts soothing pheromone release in cats.
Anecdotal evidence of cat sensitivity
Alongside controlled research, countless anecdotal reports indicate cats can identify when their human companions are struggling with mental illness:
- Hovering around owners experiencing anxiety attacks or depressive episodes
- Excessive meowing to get attention from a depressed/withdrawn individual
- Biting/scratching owners demonstrating extreme agitation and anger
- Refusing to leave someone alone when crying or showing signs of self-harm
- Uncharacteristic litterbox mistakes reflecting owner’s severely disrupted daily schedule
- Engaging in soothing behaviors like purring, kneading, lap-sitting, offering favorite toy
While anecdotal, these accounts lend credence to the controlled study findings on feline perception of human psychological states.
Skepticism about cats sensing mental illness
Despite compelling evidence cats detect broad human emotions, some skepticism exists around their ability to recognize specific mental health conditions. The question remains whether cats have the cognitive complexity for nuanced discernment or merely react to basic cues from owners’ changed habits and body language during psychiatric episodes. Their responses may simply reflect conditioning, not complex emotion-reading skills.
More rigorous controlled studies on cats’ reactions to defined clusters of visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile stimuli uniquely associated with psychiatric conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and PTSD could provide clearer answers.
Conclusion
While not definitive, a growing body of research and anecdotal reports suggests cats can identify when their human owners are experiencing emotional distress, especially anxiety and depression. Exactly how cats attain this recognition remains open for debate. Leading theories involve their detection of sensory cues and chemical changes associated with mental health conditions. Regardless of the mechanisms, sensitivity to human emotion appears hard-wired in many cats, a gift that provides comfort and supports mental wellbeing for their fortunate human companions.