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Originally Posted by lubemaster
I'm not so certain they are not the same. Grieving may just be a thoughtful lonesomeness. When I grieve I have constant images and memories of the departed. Images that remind me I will never experience that person again. Loniless is is a feeling that someone in your life is missing. Someone that provided company and play.
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My thoughts exactly. Loneliness IS the root cause.
Charlie (my much-loved white/orange cat) died a few years ago while I was asleep (a rotten thing to wake up to). Apparently he had a heart condition and according to the vet, likely just keeled over and was gone - bang, just like that. No warning - not uncommon for animals with that condition. As painful as the experience was for me, the image that will always be burned into my mind was that when I found him, his companion cat (Bonnie, the fluffy gray one) was standing next to him with a clearly hurt expression. There is no doubt in my mind that she knew what had happened and she was clearly sad about it and was grieving - her action and expression was definitely saying "goodbye". It tears my heart thinking about it even today. The loss was bad enough for me (he was an awesome companion) but to see her expression was enough to almost make a grown man cry, because I couldn't do anything to make her hurt any less - and she undoubtedly had a unique bond with him.
Animals definitely are capable of emotion and perception, as well as communication and higher-level thought. I have absolutely no doubt of this and have witnessed it first-hand on more than one occasion. It probably depends somewhat on the species (higher mammals = most likely, amphibians, reptiles, etc. not very likely due to primitive brain anatomy), but I have no doubt that these things are felt and experienced by higher mammals like dogs, cats, chimps/primates, probably even whales and dolphins...