Do Cats Feel Guilt or Remorse?

You’ve come home to find your sofa shredded and your curtains down on the floor. The culprit is clear—but when you send a stern look in your cat’s direction, you just get a quiet stare back, leaving you to wonder, “Do cats feel guilt, and how do cats apologize?”

Cats don’t feel guilt or remorse like people do—and if you’re waiting for an apology from them, you’ll be waiting a long time. Here’s why cats likely don’t feel guilt.

Can Cats Feel Guilt?

Do cats feel remorse or guilt? Not really. Some of the reason for this is that most of the things we clash with our feline companions about are actually more of a “language barrier” than something cats would feel guilty about.

For example, a cat scratching furniture, not using the litter pan, bringing in live rodents, or biting when petted may be upsetting to their pet parent. But to cats, these actions are actually completely normal behaviors that they don’t view as “wrong.”

Because these cat behaviors are hard-wired in them and simply part of who they are, there just isn’t anything to feel guilty about from their perspective; while for humans, if we’re certain we did the right thing, we’re much more likely not to feel guilty over it than when we’re unsure what was right.

4 Situations When You Think a Cat Should Feel Guilty

So, when may we think a cat should feel guilty? Here are a few examples:

1. Shredding the Furniture

When a cat shreds furniture, you may think they’re being rebellious, and that they might feel bad for doing it. But does your cat actually feel guilty? Nope. That’s because scratching is a natural, instinctual cat behavior.

Cats have scent glands on their faces and feet, which they use to “mark” their territory multiple times per day.

Scratching—often on the biggest, most prominent item in the room—leaves an additional visual mark to say “This room is mine!” for all other cats to see.

Cats also scratch to sharpen their claws and express their emotions (for example, they’ll scratch when they’re feeling excited or anxious).

Furniture scratching can be reduced with a large, sturdy cat tree for climbing and scratching, placed in front of a window—something a cat looking to mark territory can be proud of, and is more likely to enjoy than your sofa.

2. Peeing Outside of the Litter Box

When a litter box-trained cat pees outside the box as a new cat is introduced to the household, she may be in search of a new place to go.

When a one-home cat is the only one using a litter box, they’re willing to “hold their nose” and step in their own pee. But when another cat uses that litter box, they find another place to go because it’s now “dirty.”

In this situation, visit your veterinarian to make sure there’s no medical problem at hand. Then, once we know the kitty in question is healthy, add litter pans to the household.

It’s recommended to have one more litter box than you have cats. So, if you have two cats, you’ll need three litter boxes. These boxes should also be located in different areas of the house—not all tucked into the basement!

3. Bringing in Live Rodents

Cats will often bring in the “catch of the day,” like a still-living mouse, chipmunk, or bird. They may be simply bringing you a “present” or, perhaps, treating you like a kitten and trying to teach you to hunt for yourself.

This is a normal and common kitty behavior. Although it may be distasteful for us, it is a form of kitty affection. 

To prevent your cat from bringing live rodents into your home, always keep your cat inside or have them wear a bell. Or feed wildlife in an area that’s not accessible to your kitty.

4. Attacking Your Ankles

Has your cat ever jumped out and attacked your ankles? This is definitely annoying, but to your cat it’s just a playful form of hunting.

Providing interactive toys that encourage chasing may help reduce the behavior. Consider games like laser tag. Use laser pointers and toys like fishing pole teaser wands, which encourage cats to chat, bat, swat, or bite.

Can Cats Get Embarrassed?

Whether cats can get embarrassed is a little bit harder to answer.

We’ve all seen the kitty who has botched a jump and looked around as if saying, “I hope no one saw that.” They may be feeling something similar to embarrassment, but like our misunderstandings above, the cat may actually be experiencing a thought process we don’t quite understand.

For example, your cat may be looking around to see if the noise or motion of the missed jump has attracted the attention of a predator. Or perhaps you reacted to the missed jump, and she is responding to you and not the jump alone. 

So while we like to think our cats experience embarrassment like we do, this may not be the case.

How Do Cats Apologize?

To apologize, cats actually have to feel bad about something they did; and as we’ve established, this probably doesn’t really happen. 

However, cats do sense if you are feeling uptight or unhappy, and they may extend an “olive branch” to try to patch up whatever upset you. 

Here are some cat behaviors that might indicate your cat would like to be in your good graces again:

• “Bunting” you with the top of her head or cheeks
• Bringing you a bird or rodent “gift”
• Rolling over for belly rubs (and then kicking and biting you)
• Kneading
• Purring
• Initiating playtime
• Licking/grooming you
• Coming over for attention/cuddles
• The “slow blink” cat-eyes look

Although cats don’t feel guilt or remorse—and may not even feel embarrassment—knowing their motivations and working within their framework can help resolve many behavior “problems,” which are really only problems when viewed from the human perspective and not the kitty perspective.