It may seem ridiculous to some people to discuss the emotion of embarrassment in relation to the domestic cat but I think it is worthwhile writing a short note about it as it is an emotion and cats feel emotions. It is just a question of whether cats feel the rather complicated emotion of embarrassment.
The truth is: I don’t know for sure, but my experience strongly tells me that they don’t. If they don’t it will be because they are more natural than the human animal. If they make a mistake, they see that as normal. Personally, I don’t think they see mistakes such as mistiming a jump as anything different from jumping perfectly.
If a cat makes a mistake in, for example, jumping up to a perch on a cat tree and falls off, I believe the cat relates to that in exactly the same way as making a successful jump because they are both cat activities and the cat does not relate to his activities in terms of success and failure as measured against societal standards. Only people do that. We are far too concerned with the concepts of success and failure and whatever they mean; usually how much money you have made.
Cats are capable of feeling emotions but perhaps the emotion of embarrassment depends on what we feel is a standard of performance expected of us and cats don’t have that expectation of performance from others and therefore don’t need to become embarrassed. (Michael)
Humans are highly concerned with how other humans perceive us, what they think of us. Cats don’t have these hang ups and insecurities. Cats can feel insecure but if they do it is about safety not what another cat thinks of him/her.
Bruce Fogle DVM, the celebrity UK veterinarian/author, writes that when some cats make a mistake they sit down and wash themselves. It has been said that this is a cat’s way of showing embarrassment. If it is, it is a very strange way of showing it.
Mr Fogle makes the point that when a cat grooms herself after a mishap is just a way of signalling that everything is normal. The signal is intended to tell potential predators of the cat that nothing has changed and the cat is neither weaker nor more vulnerable. If they do groom themselves, it is probably because they need it after falling!
Humans
The American Scientist website explains why people can become embarrassed and it supports what I have said above. They say that the root to embarrassment “is the anticipation of a negative evaluation by others”. We don’t want to undermine our social image and allow others to have negative impressions about us.
This then is about standards, social standards as created in human society. And how we measure up against those standards and how we look to other people.
Domestic cats simply don’t get anywhere near this. This kind of concern about one’s social image is entirely a human construction. As I mention above, cats are far more natural and don’t measure themselves against standards and therefore they are unconcerned about how other cats think of them.
It makes you wonder whether domestic cat in any way measure others and I think they do when it comes to procreation. I remember years ago writing about the topic of female cats being attracted to male cats and how they choose a mate.
Female cats will mate with some male cats but not others. They seem to be deciding that a certain male cat will produce more healthy offspring. How do they decide?
According to Dr. Bradshaw a cat behaviourist who wrote Cat Sense females measure a male’s health in terms of whether they can produce healthy offspring through the pungency of their urine. The smell of male urine can indicate whether he is a good hunter and therefore good at obtaining food for his family. Dominant male cats have been observed caring for kittens within their own colonies. They may share food. Dr. Bradshaw’s theory appears to carry some weight.
Note: this article was first published here almost 8 years ago. I have added a section, added to the title and republished it as at today’s date. That’s why the comments are dated as they are.
Socially intelligent and emotionally sensitive pigs are relentlessly abused at factory farms
Embarrassment?
Like, R. Not a chance, since we have all seen everything there is to know about each other physically.
Don’t tell anyone…
But I’m more curious than they are.
I inspect the litter box. They never inspect the commode.
I check their bums for tapeworms. They never inspect my bum.
They don’t shy away when they spay the curtains. They don’t care if I’ve dribbled in my drawers.
No such thing as being embarrassed here.
lol Dee you do make me laugh.
It’s true though that cats don’t care about our bums or anything, they see us at our worst in our own home and if we love them they love us unconditionally too.
We would do well to take a lesson from cats in that our outward appearance doesn’t really matter at all, it’s how kind and compassionate a person is that counts, it’s how good they are inside!
I love everything about cats, including their honesty and straightforwardness. What you see is what you get and if a cat wants to stick his leg in the air and wash his bum in company, he does just that lol without any embarrassment.
What upsets me is how they hide pain from those who love them, but this is so deeply engrained from their wild days, I can understand they do it to protect themselves.
Our cats know to show us they are unwell will result in a trip to the vets so they’d rather suffer as long as they can, yet once they have admitted they need to go, they accept it.
There is so much we don’t know about cats and I LOVE their air of mystery and no one will EVER find out all there is to know about them.
Wait-I’m sure I have misspelled something in the text_%#&(?
Are you embarrassed? Meow….
-Somewhat,well Yes*
Meow Meow
SoDear Michael,in the end you were intentionally un-in-barr-a__ed? LOL-Just funning a bit & swishing my cat Tales_Eva
😉 I don’t tend to get embarrassed these days compared to when I was young. That is because I don’t care! Same as a cat. Meow.
OK whats Chagrin, Clever People? We all make mistakes Michael. I guess they prob dont. I’m not sure as haven’t seen it. They prob just really get on with it.
I am embarrassed that I spelt “embarrassment” incorrectly in the title (but not in the text) 😉
Embarrassment? More like chagrin.
To the end of his days my boy was fastidious – he always used his litter box. But one morning, a few weeks before he left me, I was in the next room when I heard a sound. He’d just been using his box and caught his leg when he tried to jump out. He lost his footing and fell to the floor. I rushed into the kitchen and saw him lying on his side, momentarily stunned. I lifted him up and held him all morning, trying to comfort him.
How could anyone bear to let their cat fall repeatedly in its old age? Once is enough.
Was he embarrassed? It wasn’t that. But he had a helpless old man’s look of shame as he lay there, as if he remembered when he was young.
I could ill afford it, but would pay $10,000 if I could have back my boy and girl for one day.
Nice story, tender story, Sylvia Ann. Personally I don’t believe cats feel chagrin either. They just get on with it. Perhaps you projected your chagrin onto him. I think people tend to do that with their kids and our cats are our kids a lot of the time.
I happen to believe animals, especially cats, dogs, and horse are completely capable of feeling the same basic emotions as we do. Too many accounts to list!
I agree, Cass, that they do feel a lot of the emotions and are capable of feeling emotions but perhaps the emotion of embarrassment depends on what we feel is a standard of performance expected of us and cats don’t have that expectation of performance from others and therefore don’t need to become embarrassed.
Well, one of my friends had a Persian that was TOTALLY embarrassed every time she had to have his fur clipped – of course it was a “lion” cut… he hid anytime visitors came!
Well-I can’t speak for other cats, but if one of my four main coons is standing on her hind legs for me or any other cute trick and my husband walks in the room-they stop being cute and act as if they have been caught with mommy tricks and baby talk-Yes I am over 50-so I am quite capable of engaging in the art* However-they have no qualms about displays of the backside variety at all ! lol
I guess I am guessing about whether cats feel embarrassment or not. There is still a lot for us to learn about cats and animals. I just think that cats are more pragmatic than us. The silly things that bother us don’t bother cats. There is a lot of human emotional baggage surrounding and burdening humankind; cats don’t have those hangups.