The answer is yes. Here’s what they’re feeling — and how you can help.
When you lose one pet, you often still have another one at home waiting for you.
And if you’ve noticed something different about them lately — a quietness that wasn’t there before, a restlessness, a new habit of sitting in places that used to belong to their companion — you’re probably asking yourself a question that more people ask than you might think.
Do they know?
The answer, according to science and the experience of pet owners around the world, is yes. Not in the way you know — not with words or timelines or the full weight of understanding what death means. But in their own real, felt, animal way — they know something has changed. Someone is missing. And they feel it.
What the Research Actually Says
For a long time this question lived mostly in the territory of feeling and instinct. Pet owners knew something was happening with their surviving animals. Science just hadn’t caught up yet.
It’s caught up now.
A 2019 survey of pet owners published in the journal Animals found that over 86% reported behavioral changes in surviving dogs after the death of a canine companion — including decreased activity, increased neediness, and changes in sleeping and eating patterns lasting weeks or months. Instagram
A study published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science found that cats show clear signs of mourning when another pet in the household passes away — with surviving cats experiencing decreases in eating, sleeping, and playing in the period following the loss. Accio
The ASPCA found that more than 60% of pets showed four or more behavior changes after losing an animal companion. The ASPCA
And a May 2026 review published by Phys.org confirmed that many animal species exhibit behavioral responses to the death of companions — ranging from grief-like behaviors in mammals and birds to documented mourning across species we once assumed felt very little. goodreads
This isn’t just anecdote anymore. It’s documented, peer-reviewed, and growing clearer every year. Your surviving pet is grieving. They just can’t tell you.
What It Looks Like in Dogs
Dogs tend to show their grief outwardly — in their behavior, their appetite, their energy, and their need for closeness with you.
In a Morris Animal Foundation funded study, 74% of dog owners reported that their surviving dog became more affectionate after losing a companion animal — seeking to be closer, demanding more attention, following their owner from room to room. Sphere Agency
Research published in Scientific Reports found that surviving dogs showed changes in playing, sleeping, and eating after the death of a companion dog — with fearfulness also emerging as a notable behavioral shift. Google
You might notice your dog:
- Searching the house — sniffing the bed, the favorite spots, the places that used to belong to their friend
- Waiting by the door as though expecting someone to come home
- Eating less or more slowly than usual
- Sleeping more, or sleeping in different spots
- Staying closer to you than usual
- Seeming quieter, less playful, less like themselves
The research also found that dogs who had shared food with their companion, or who had a friendly or parental relationship with them, were more likely to show significant behavioral changes after the loss. The closer the bond, the more visible the grief. Sound familiar? Google
What It Looks Like in Cats
Cats grieve differently from dogs — and because cats are naturally more subtle in their emotional expression, their grief can be easier to miss or misread.
The study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science found that the longer a cat had lived with the deceased animal, the more caregivers reported increases in attention-seeking following the death. Accio
Cats were more likely than dogs to increase vocalization after a loss — more meowing, more calling out, sometimes at odd hours — and were also more likely to seek out the deceased pet’s favorite spots in the home. Sphere Agency
You might notice your cat:
- Vocalizing more than usual — calling out in ways that feel different
- Wandering the house restlessly, particularly at night
- Seeking out spots that belonged to their companion
- Becoming more clingy with you, or conversely, more withdrawn
- Eating less or refusing food for a period
- Sleeping more, or changing where they sleep
A small percentage of cats — around 15% — actually sought less attention from their owners after a loss, becoming more withdrawn rather than more clingy. If your cat has gone quieter and more distant, that’s grief too — just a different expression of it. Sphere Agency
What Animals in the Wild Tell Us
The science of animal grief didn’t start with domestic pets. It started with some of the most striking observations in nature — and what those observations tell us adds a layer of depth to what’s happening in your home right now.
Elephants have been documented standing vigil over deceased herd members. Dolphins have been observed carrying dead calves for days. Dogs in the wild have been known to refuse to leave a companion’s resting place. Instagram
“The visible expression of grief is widespread in the animal kingdom,” Barbara J. King, author of How Animals Grieve, has noted. “A cat wails in visible distress after the death of her sister. A dog stops playing and eats poorly when his dog friend dies.” Wikipedia
The capacity to feel a companion’s absence — to notice, to miss, to change — is not unique to humans. It runs deep through the animal world. Your pet is part of that. What they’re experiencing right now is real.
One Thing Worth Knowing
Some of what your surviving pet is responding to may also be you. Wikipedia
Experts note that surviving pets pick up on their owner’s behavior — your sadness, your changed routine, the quietness of the house — and respond to those signals as much as to the direct absence of their companion. Google
This isn’t a reason to pretend you’re fine. You’re not fine, and your pet doesn’t need you to perform otherwise. But it is worth knowing that your calm, your routine, and your presence are some of the most stabilizing things you can offer them right now. You’re grieving together, in your own ways. That’s okay. You can do that together.
How to Help Your Surviving Pet
You can’t explain what happened. You can’t fast-forward their grief any more than you can fast-forward your own. But there are things that genuinely help.
Keep the routine as steady as possible. Feeding times, walk times, play times — consistency is deeply comforting to animals who are already disoriented. The routine tells them the world is still predictable. That matters more than you might think.
Give extra affection without overdoing it. More time, more touch, more presence — yes. But resist the urge to smother them with anxious attention, which can actually increase their stress rather than reduce it. Calm, steady closeness is what they need.
Let them sniff and investigate. If your surviving pet wants to sniff the bed, the collar, the places that belonged to their companion — let them. This is how animals process loss. Don’t rush to wash everything or remove all traces immediately. Give them time to understand in their own way. Glimpse
Don’t rush a new companion. Experts advise giving surviving pets time to adjust before bringing a new animal home. While the intention is companionship, adding a new pet too soon can add stress rather than comfort — both for the surviving pet and for you. There’s no rush. Let the grief settle first. Google
Watch for extended changes. Many experts suggest that grief in dogs and cats will run its course in weeks to months. If your pet stops eating for more than a day or two, becomes completely withdrawn, or shows signs of physical distress — a call to your veterinarian is worth making. Sometimes grief needs a little medical support alongside the emotional kind. Glimpse
You’re Both Going Through This
There’s something quietly meaningful about the fact that you’re not grieving alone in your house right now.
Your surviving pet doesn’t have the words. They don’t have the understanding of what death means in the way you do. But they have the feeling — the sense that someone who was part of their daily world is simply gone. And they’re looking to you, the way they always have, for steadiness and comfort and the reassurance that things are going to be okay.
You can give them that. Even while you’re still figuring out how to give it to yourself.
Grieve together. Be patient with each other. Keep the routines. Sit in the same room. Let the quiet be okay.
They’re not just a surviving pet. They’re a witness to the same loss. In their own way — they knew that animal too. They miss them too.
You’re a team. You always were.
When You’re Ready to Honor Who You Lost
Your surviving pet can’t tell the story of who they shared their home with. But you can.
When the time feels right — to celebrate the one who’s gone, to capture their personality before the details begin to blur — we’d be honored to help you do that.
👉 [LINK: What Makes a Great Pet Memorial Video] 👉 [LINK: How to Create a Pet Memorial Space at Home] 👉 [LINK: Everhere.us]