How emotionally sensitive are domestic cats?

I have just come out of a major depressive episode which lasted 6 months. On the worst days my little girl would curl up beside me on the sofa and not leave my side for hours on end. She would also lick my hands and try to hold my hands between her wee paws. I have 4 cats and the others didn’t care, but somehow Coco knew and tried to make it better…and she did.

Of course cats are emotional, very much so. OUr cat Mariel is very attached to Jeff. When he gets ready to go out somewhere, she gets very upset and starts crying and bothering him. When he comes home she runs to the door and greets him like a dog. She runs and jumps on him and meows and is so happy hes back. She loves him so much she cocks her head when he talks to her and she talks back to him.

I believe that cats are very emotionally sensitive and that they have feelings of rejection just like we do.
Scientists like experimenting on cats brains because they are so very similar to humans brains, so in that case they must feel similar emotions.
They talk a different language to us that’s all, but you can learn to talk to your cat and know what he replies.
Cats plan ahead ! Our Jozef in particular will gaze at the place he intends to go to next, he’s a very open personality. Walter is more impetuous and unpredictable but we can always tell when he’s in the mood for a bit of fun, like coming to the window and when someone gets up to let him in, running away ! He gets a certain look in his eyes and we know he will do that lol
Cats are family and deserve to be treated with consideration like the rest of the family are.
Talk to them, tell them why you are doing something like shutting them out of a certain room. They DO understand much more than a lot of people think they do.
To make amends you need to get down on the floor close to them and 9 times out of 10 they will come and give you a butt and forgive you for whatever you’ve done to upset them.
Of course cats never forget so they never forgive anyone physically abusing them.

I’m quite convinced that cats are highly sensitive to our moods and intentions, they also get offended and don’t forgive easily. So Michael you may have some grovelling to do with Charlie to convinvce him that you weren’t rejecting him. As for Timmy, perhaps it’s better not to know what fate befell him.

I have commented previously in these fora on this very question. I am in no doubt whatever that domestic cats empathise and sympathise with humans and can anticipate their vicissitudes, especially their griefs, their joys, and their emotional tenor.

I am extremely closely bonded with the cats who kindly share their lives and home with me. I have anecdotes too very numerous for telling in this space which entail the empathy of these cats. Suffice it for now, one small example: my cats sense my moods and emotional tenor. Many a time I will find my cats coming to my side, often from another room, when I awake in the middle of a night feeling sad, unsettled, or overtly depressed. I do not think that they are clued by any restless activity from me, no tossing and turning and that sort of thing. They seem to tune in to my emotions, and I cherish this in them. They are, so to speak, my most kindly nurses, and I endeavour to reciprocate in my turn.

I am convinced that one of my cats (sadly, no longer with us) could sense how I was feeling. If I was feeling low, he would sit much closer to me and spend more time near me.