Can cats cry?

This is a question I'd have never asked before Sunday. If you read my blog here, you know we adopted a cat from a cat rescue group. She was two and a half years old and had been adopted before but sent back. We got her from a pet store that puts these cats in cages for people to see.

From the moment I saw her, I wanted her and my love of her has grown immensely in the two months since we brought her home and named her Pepper. We had one glitch in that they claimed as part of the fee we paid ($85) she had all her shots, but after we got her to the farm, we saw she had not had a rabies vaccination.

I wanted to put that off as long as possible as I knew how it would seem to her whenever we took her in for it-- as though she was on her way to being dumped again. You know these cats in the rescue groups are taken to foster homes which are safe, secure places, but they are not their homes. I felt it would make her fearful if we had to take her into the veterinarian any sooner than must.

Rabies vaccinations might not be an issue for some house cats, but first of all eventually we will be letting her go outside during the day (she hasn't yet). And we happen to now and again have bats get into our house from the attic. That happened the other night, and it scared me bad as she jumped for the bat and missed before we could shoo the bat outside. There is, of course, almost no chance it had rabies, but the very idea of it made me know we had to get the shot and now.

So we found out that we could get the rabies shot from the same place we had gotten her, as they have veterinarians who come in and only charge $5 for the shot. I kind of still wanted to take her to the vet as we had never gone to such a clinic, and I had a feeling it would be more stressful for her. The cost difference though was high, and so I yielded to having it done at the store.

When we got ready to go, we tried to get her into the cat box and she ran for it. We finally got her out from under the big bed (not an easy reach), and into the car we all went. I put my hand back to reassure her and that's when I saw the tears. At first I thought maybe she had scratched her eye but she had not. There is only one explanation I can find for those tears-- that she thought after all this time we also were going to dump her.

The store was every bit the negative experience with one exception. I mean it was a long wait and there were a lot of barking dogs. One old man and his little dog were in front of us. By that time Pepper was into the usual cat mode of slumped into enduring what she must. It was all taking a very long time.

When I saw the old man leave with his little dog, I worried that he had been too tired and wished he had said something as we'd have saved his place. He seemed like such a sweet old man and he showed such love for his little dog. It worried me that he had felt the line was too much for him.

 I kept an eye out in case he would come back as we waited and talked to those around us. It went on and on with only slow progress on the line. Then I saw him at the cash register talking to one of the clerks. I stayed with Pepper while Farm Boss went over and asked if he wanted to return to his place in line in front of us. He went and got his dog from the car and they returned. Nobody behind objected.


When it was our turn, the woman at the desk said our shot had been paid for.  We assumed he had done it and wished he hadn't because he really didn't seem like someone who had much money, but I guess it was important to him to show his gratitude.

When we drove in our driveway, Pepper came out of her funk and began to stand in her box, her ears up, as she smelled the scents and heard the sheep. By the time she got back into the house, it only took a few minutes for her to come out from under the bed again and begin to play with her toys and Blackie. (One of her favorite toys is this laser pointer that you can see her about to pounce on. The older cats aren't fooled but she loves to try and catch it).

Before I decided to write about it here, I did some research on whether cats can cry. The experts say they cannot but anecdotal evidence from other cat owners says they can. I can't explain any other reason for those big, very obvious tears.

So, as to whether cats can cry, all I know is Pepper had very real tears rolling down her face alongside her nose, and there was no explanation for them physically that we could see. With all my years of having cats, I've never seen this before except from an eye irritated by something. Before Sunday, I would have said they can't cry.  Now, I'd say, yes they can with enough motive.