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Originally Posted by CaramonLS
Well Text, I'd like your opinion about my Cat who I talked about on the first page. I swear he was exhibiting a state of depression because his sister went missing, and for an extended period of time. As well as his apparently sadness when I moved out of the house.
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His world and his circumstances were dramatically altered by the absence of one of his packmates. Is it depression? Or is he merely exhibitting behaviour that
looks to us as emotive? I project emotions onto my pets regularly, but just because I interpret their behaviour anthropopathically does not mean they necessarily are expressing "feelings". While I do believe there is something like emotions that (some) animals of the lower orders experience, I would expect that these bahaviours are more accurately described as states of either "satisfaction" or "dissatisfaction". But because it makes me feel better to know that my pets have feelings for me, it is much more fulfilling to label their responses to their circumstances with human emotions.
Regardless of how your cat appears in certain situations, I do not believe that you or anyone can prove that animals are capable of emotional responses; at least not to the same degree as human beings.