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Philosophers have debated the topic of love between animals for centuries. Many would still say that it’s hard to define between humans, much less cats. It’s apparent to any pet owner that cats and dogs do experience feelings, and scientists have concluded that canines have the emotional maturity of a 2–2.5-year-old child.1 They know distress, fear, and even show signs of bonding or affection which we humans often refer to as love. However, do cats feel similarly, and can they fall in love with each other?
The short answer is sort of, but not in the way that we define it. To truly understand the concept, we have to go back in time to early feline evolution, the domestication of wildcats, and modern-day adaptations of the human-cat bond.
The Anthropomorphic Trap
If we want to answer this question scientifically, we must dispense with anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human characteristics to non-humans. Our pets aren’t little people. They may behave similarly and show feelings, but instincts and evolutionary hardwiring dictate how they act. We’re capable of higher and more complex emotions than our animal companions. That also applies to love.
Our pets can form strong social and emotional bonds with us. They are affectionate with us and each other. However, they can’t communicate in the same complicated ways that we can. Of course, love is a complex emotion when speaking of a bond between two individuals. When we talk about cats loving each other, it’s not in the same context as the relationships that we form with other people.
Evolution and Genetics
Both felines and canines produce the so-called love hormone oxytocin. Some research suggests that it may play a role in human-cat bonding.2 However, it doesn’t correlate in the same way it does with humans. High levels don’t necessarily mean strong relationships. But cats differ in many ways from both humans and canines. While many canines live in groups, felines are solitary for the most part.
Scientists theorize that domestic cats descended from the European Wild Cat (Felis silvestris).3 These animals are solitary and polygynous, with males mating with more than one female, and females mating with several males. Domestic cats have the same mating behavior, they are not monogamous. These findings suggest that cats can’t fall in love with each other, at least not how we may view it. Nonetheless, evolution had another card up its sleeve.
The Influences of Domestication
Scientists estimate that humans domesticated wild cats about 9,500 years ago, coinciding with the development of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent. The puzzling thing about it is that felines didn’t need us, nor did we particularly want them around our settlements. However, the reason for their domestication goes back to agriculture.
Grains were some of the first foods humans cultivated. When you plant and store these crops, you’re putting out the welcome mat for rodents and other pests. It didn’t take long before wildcats started hanging around humans because their crops attracted many of their typical prey. The relationship between felines and people became mutually beneficial.
Fast forward to ancient Egypt, and cats are now cared for and revered. Scientists theorize that the Egyptians may have selectively bred felines to make them more like the lovable pets we know today. That may have involved cultivating behaviors and emotions that were foreign to wildcats. Felines didn’t need to evolve affection for other cohorts because of their solitary lifestyle. Domestication changed that situation.
Even when people started forming communities, cats still stayed with us, presumably because of the easy pickings with rodents following us to villages and towns. That means they had to adapt to being around people and probably each other. These events have had a profound impact on the social and emotional capacity of felines.
Current Research on Feline Emotional Perceptions
Scientists have long studied the relationship between dogs and humans. Canines don’t hesitate to show their emotions, so it’s often easy to figure out what’s going on between their ears. Felines have been a different story, not made any easier by their changeable nature. Nevertheless, research has shown that cats are good at reading human emotions and tailoring their behavior accordingly. These findings suggest that felines can even comprehend emotions or at least relate probable behavioral outcomes.
Another study considered the effect of an owner’s presence on a pet’s response to stress. The researcher observed positive effects, showing a higher perceived level of comfort. This experiment demonstrated the bonding between humans and their cats. Clearly, people had a calming influence on their pets, suggesting an emotional attachment.
It doesn’t take a scientist to determine felines have different personalities, and of course, socialization and other environmental factors are strong influences. However, there’s evidence that suggests a genetic aspect.
A study conducted by the University of Helsinki found seven distinct behavioral types based on owner input of over 4,300 pets. The findings showed clear differences in cat-to-cat sociability. The Oriental and Burmese scored highest among the breeds, with the Somali and Turkish Van at the bottom of the list.
Breed behavioral variations are well-documented in the scientific literature. Therefore, this data is not surprising. Felines show a degree of being social, which can in turn, affect a cat’s ability to show affection, which some humans describe as love. Scientists know that felines perceive and communicate emotions with other animals. They use visual, olfactory, and auditory means to signal these to one another.
Social Attachments and Bonds
Cats also form social attachments with their owners. Perhaps that is the strongest evidence of cats falling in love. If these animals can form bonds with a human, it’s not a stretch to surmise that they can do the same with one of their own. Another feline would actually have the advantage because they can read the subtle hints that may escape our attention. A social bond between two cats can be evident if you observe their interactions.
Two bonded cats will do many things together, from grooming and sleeping to playing. They also show a range of emotions. Bonded felines will become angry and fight if the roughhousing goes too far. Likewise, they may begin an afternoon nap with mutual grooming before curling up together. Remember that this behavior is contrary to what wildcats will do. We can conclude that it shows a social bond that we may refer to as “love”.
Conclusion
Domestic cats are a far cry from their wild counterparts in many ways. However, the most profound is undoubtedly their sociability. That is a product of domestication and the changes that it made to the species’ behavior. Pets don’t have to staunchly defend territories to survive. Humans have flipped the switch, making affection between two felines possible.
Featured Image Credit: Sandeep Gore, Shutterstock
