Will My Cat Eat Me If I Die? All You Need To Know

Sometimes it’s impossible to restrain your hungry curiosity. If a person dies at home, a widespread fear among cat lovers is that their felines will eat their bodies. Some people say No, whereas others claim that it’s a sure thing. But most people ask whether cats eat dead owners.

Will my cat eat me if I die? There are many incidents seen where cats have been seen eating their deceased caretakers. When you die, you’ll become a corpse for domestic felines. So, they’ll come and eat you to prevent malnutrition. The age, weight, temperament, and general cat’s health will determine how long it takes to you or how much it can wait.  Your body will be easy to chew by felines when it’s early decay.

Despite this fact, it’s an extremely uncommon thing, according to the latest scientific literature. Felines are capable of telling what’s alive and what’s dying. Moreover, felines aren’t natural predators, and domestic cats are more likely to eat cat chow than dead humans.

Let’s dive into this article to know the fact behind this question. This article will help clear your confusion regarding cats eating their owners.

Do Cats Eat People? Have Cats Ever Eaten People?

Cats must eat meat to survive, so they can consume the flesh of recently deceased animals. This is an instinctive behaviour that supports their need to eat, survive, and remain healthy. From a psychological standpoint, a human may look like they’re not a choice, but felines can still eat them.

Domestic cats will less likely to eat humans than feral cats. They mostly eat cat food. Moreover, they won’t eat anything that isn’t neatly presented in front of them.

Furthermore, felines aren’t typically predators and won’t kill or eat humans. However, if they don’t find any food and their hunger arises, they can dead person. But this is only possible in desperate need of food.

But feral cats don’t get varieties of food, which makes them hungrier and urges them to hunt. As a result, they can consume a dead human.

Do Cats Eat Dead Their Owners? What Science Says

Cats can consume their dead owners, according to research. In 1994, a released study described the first instances of domestic cats devouring their deceased owners.

A Journal published by American Forensics claims that a deceased owner’s body has injuries caused by its own cat. The majority of the wounds were confined to its face and other delicate parts of the body. According to scientists, cats will be more likely to eat their owners, if:

• Felines left to explore the house freely.
• Owner lives alone  
• The owner passed away suddenly.

A human carcass was eaten by domestic cats, according to a study conducted in 2001. However, that owner doesn’t own a cat, but a feral cat that visited the region had eaten the body pieces at the time of discovery.

Is It Normal To Wonder, “Will My Cat Eat Me If I Die“?

The fear of being eaten by your cat is genuine. But, domestic felines rarely turn violent against their owners. Cats, in particular, may engage in “predatory behaviour” toward tiny, timid animals like dogs, mice, pigeons, and “sadly, human newborns and adolescents.”

But according to Spano, felines are much more likely to eat wild animals instead of their owners. However, this situation is also rare for your house cat and focuses more on feral and wild cats.

Do Cats Think About Eating Their Owners?

You may become frightened after listening to this that “THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT A CAT WOULD EAT SOME OF THEIR OWNER’S BODY… “. But this disturbing thought appears when you forget to feed your feline due to your busy routine or any other reason. 

Moreover, it’s possible that house cat can eat their dead owners. But the reason is that they don’t see any distinction between them and an animal corpse. The main reason behind this is the body’s decaying smell and desire for meals.

But, when you’re alive, your felines won’t eat you because you’re not a corpse. Cat won’t eat you when you’re a living being because of the following reasons:

• You love and feed your feline
• You have a social environment
• You’re too big for them to eat

Despite the above reasons, domestic cats don’t prey on us or view us as their meal.

Intresting Reading: What Do Cats Think About All Day?

What Type Of Cat Is Most Likely To Eat Its Owner?

Some scientists claim that since house cats and wild cats belong to the exact similar family, we can say that both can eat humans’ bodies.

Although wild cats are typically habituated to scavenging and gathering their own meal, even if a domestic cat is starving, it won’t refuse to consume any accessible food, including human bodies.

However, according to some scientists, the hunting habits of domesticated and wild cats do appear different. But those domestic felines who spend most of their time outdoors may ingest dead animals and human corps like wild cats.

However, environmental factors affect the predatory behaviours of house cats and how they respond. If you have a disturbing environment and they don’t get their food on time, their focus will be shifted toward hunting.

But if you have a strong bond with your feline, then it’s uncommon that they’ll think to eat their owner.

How Long Before Cats Eat Owners?

If feral cats want to eat a dead person, they will do it immediately because they are more likely to eat the decaying body of a dead person.

Because the corpse hasn’t yet hardened, these phases are sometimes referred to as the moist decaying phase. Moreover, these cats preferred to eat those body parts having softer tissues, such as shoulders, biceps, and chest surfaces.

That’s probably because a cat’s jaw is so powerful. The jaws of a domestic or a wild cat aren’t as strong as that of the cat’s predecessors to rip down dense fibres of a large corpse, such as a person. Therefore, before the carcass gets too hard to chew, cats eat the softest parts of it.

Find Out: What Do Cats See When They Look at Humans?

Will Cats Eat You If You Die? Really!

Cats are living things, and living things require food to live. So, if you own a free-roaming feline and, due to a serious disease, you die, and you’re isolated at your home with your cat, then they’re more likely to consume your remains.

Even domestic felines have some ingrained characteristics, such as survival at any cost being the most fundamental. The majority of domestic felines rely on their owners for nourishment. Therefore, it’s natural that they’ll eat your dead body if their food production becomes limited.

Furthermore, keep in mind that felines are prey animals. Therefore, whether they’re domestic or wild cats, they prefer to consume meat.

Note that felines will only consume their owners’ bodies to prevent their deaths, whatever how horrific it may be to think about. More significantly, occurrences like these are uncommon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrap Up!

At last, it seems that your feline could—and might—eat your flesh as nourishment if it were totally vital. So, there’s no need to fret about any outbreak of cats eating their owners. There are very few chances that your house cats will eat you; however, feral cats are more likely to do this.

Whatever happens in such tragic circumstances—which isn’t likely—the best approach is that you still have to give your furry friend life after you pass away. So, no matter whether they eat your body or not, the thing that matters the most is that you give them your body to survive; that shows your love for them.

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6. Cat Myths And Misconceptions: Know The Truth