Sam sometimes complains that Marceline doesn’t understand when we are hurt or feeling bad. She doesn’t quite get when we frown or say “ow.”

But, while she doesn’t have that empathy towards us, she definitely has “cat empathy.”

When I comb out our longer haired cats, who continually get knots in their fur and hate being combed, they meow really loudly and clearly distraught. Marceline gets really quiet at that time, and eventually starts making noises that she is not happy. She actually started to cry once.

Today I was clipping our cats nails, and she did the same. Clearly she was not happy the cats were being restrained and fighting against having their claws nailed, and flailed her arms in a very concerned manner.

So while she may not care about us being in pain, she clearly doesn’t want the cats to be in any sort of pain. “Cat Empathy.”