Cats are considered mysterious, independent, and aloof when communicating with their guardians. This is so because cats are good at hiding their emotions and are generally not as expressive or vocal as other pets. It’s not that cats don’t communicate with their humans, but they have their nonverbal communication.
Many scientists believe cats are much more intricate when understanding their behavior and how they communicate their feelings or emotions with their human friends. Similarly, if asked, “do cats apologize?” most people will answer the question simply as “no,” but as mentioned earlier, things are not as simple as we think.
Cats apologize but not in the way we expect; instead, they have their way of saying sorry. Let’s try to understand this exciting aspect of our mysterious feline friends.
Understanding Cats Behavior (Do Cats Feel Guilt Or Do Cats Apologize?)
Cats don’t have any concept of right and wrong, so there is no question of being ashamed or feeling guilty. In addition, guilt is a complex feeling we can’t expect from cats. Furthermore, many things (like scratching the furniture, bed sheet, or sofa covers) are bad acts for us but natural and perfectly normal for a cat.
You may be confused why we have mentioned above that cats apologize if they don’t feel remorse and don’t have any sense of right or wrong.
Though cats do not feel regret like humans do, they develop a strong emotional bond with their human friends and care for them; instinctively, cats try to keep their humans happy. Cats can detect mood changes by tone, behavior, and facial expressions.
When they do something bad, a change in your facial expression and tone will make them know that this act has upset you (though they may not understand why it is wrong).
So every time they feel that their humans are upset or angry, they do certain things to restore their human’s mood or make him happy. You can take it as a feline version of an apology.
How Cats Apologize To Their Humans?
If your cat does something wrong and you shout at him (or express your anger by facial expressions), the first reaction of your cat will be to run and hide. Sometimes cats may sit at a high perch or shelf or some distance and start staring at you.
Many guardians misinterpret this as cat disobedience or defiance, as if the cat is saying I don’t care what happened. However, according to feline behaviorists, this is not the case. It is more likely that your feline companion is attempting to assess the situation and trying to judge whether he is safe or not.
Once the situation cools down, you’ll notice “apologizing” behavior. Though every cat has a different personality, most felines will do some acts to show their affection and love to improve your mood and cheer you up. Cat behaviorists interpret such acts as a catty way to apologize or say sorry.
We have no option but to agree with the opinion of experts because our feline friends are complicated when it comes to communicating or expressing their emotions. Some gestures that most cats usually exhibit to apologize are
- Approaching you after some time
- Head butting and rubbing against you
- Purring
- Blinking eyes slowly
- Licking you
- Meowing
Conclusion
Feeling guilt or remorse is a complex behavior that is not found in cats. However, cats develop a strong emotional attachment to their guardians. They can sense the changes in their human behavior, tone, and facial expression when they do something wrong. Since they love their humans, they try to reset their status or make them happy by showing love and affection. According to experts, such feline behavior can be interpreted as an apology act.
