Very interesting topic and one that would a great discussion to see others experiences.  I do feel that animals have a very keen sense of emotions- there is an excellent book I read years ago  called When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy that talks about how animals can have complex emotional lives.

There are several youtube videos also that make you wonder about their sense of emotion- Christian the Lion, Bella the dog who was the playmate of an elephant in a sanctuary, the cow that escaped the slaughter house…  Whether or not these emotions are felt at the level as we as humans feel will always be questioned because we cannot truly understand what goes on in their brains, but I do believe they feel something. In our experience with Wrigley Friday night, when you could tell she was in serious decline, our other dog Rookie layed at her side with us, licking her face and staring at her while she slept as we did.

In the past 3 months during Wrigley's recovery from amputation, if Rookie was in another room and he heard Wrigley cry or whimper, he would run to her from wherever he was and make sure she was ok. They had a very incredible bond. One that I don't think would be possible if they did not have some sort of emotion.  I think it is possible they can smell the cancer as well.  I don't think they can process it like we as humans do, but I believe they know.

I also believe they can hear our words.  I have had so many times when I tell our pets something and I really believe they comprehended. Just saying the word WALK set off a frenzy.

Years ago I had to put down one of my horses. For those of you that have ever been in a barn full of horses, you know there is no silence. Someone is always, kicking the stall door, whinnying to another horse, pawing the ground….. lots and lots of noise.  Well , at the precise moment when my horse was given the injection  and dropped to the ground ending his battle with pain, you could have heard a pin drop. The barn was silent- it was like there was a moment of silence given in honor of a fallen friend. It remained silent for a few minutes and then it was back to the noisy barn again.

For just as many that feel like I do that animals do know and can feel, there will be just as many that say they can't. For me it is a much more comforting world knowing  they are more complex than they are given credit and makes loving them much more fun.  ( and harder too at those difficult times)

Seanne

I believe death is a process and it is also noted in this link http://www.eliz.....severino.c.....22599.html  .

Buster has been living with lung mets now since mid December. He is living on borrowed time according to the Dr's. I can sense he realizes he is tired and doesn't have the energy he used to have as a pup. However, this is life and the nature of getting older. It seems he now has to go up to every dog he sees as if to see hello and make some friends, if in an odd way to pass the time waiting for me to be reunited with him one day once his time comes.

They say dogs have a really keen sense of smell. Which is why certain breeds are used in search and rescue and I even had a dog once that would constantly go up to my leg & smell a certain birth mark I was born with. I was always worried about skin cancer. With this information, I think dogs can smell cancer or some sort of disease that another animal has… they know more than we realize. It is their instinct. 

They don't have a fear of death like us humans do. 

Kim & Buster