Some time ago, a report published in the foreign journal "Journal of Forensic Science" showed that if the pet owner dies unexpectedly, dogs are more likely to eat the owner's carcass than cats, which is related to dog breeds.
The results of this study surprised many people!
Because in the eyes of many people, dogs are more loyal, while cats are wilder and more emotionally independent of their owners. If there is such a day, then the result must be that the dog loyally guards the corpse until it starves to death, and the cat will start attacking the corpse once it is hungry.
However, when it comes to studying real cases, the truth is often hard to accept!
Hunger drives, but canines can even if they aren't hungry
Animal scavenging, especially human remains, is not a new discovery, and it happens in nature.
There is a carcass farm abroad that specializes in studying the natural decomposition process of the human body, and it was found that two wild cats frequented the farm and then fed on human remains, which were scientific research materials.
Although cats and dogs have been domesticated by humans, they have retained their animal nature in their bones.
When the owner dies unexpectedly, the pet loses the care of humans and tends to be a survival instinct, and the behavior of feeding on human remains will occur.
This is true not only for cats and dogs, but also for any pet, including miniature hamsters. Driven by hunger, they had to do so.
The only difference is that cats and dogs behave differently in the face of their owner's carcass.
Caroline Lando, a forensic and anthropologist at University College London, believes that canines are more likely to eat scavengers than felines in terms of probability.
She believes it's natural because canines aren't as picky about food as cats.
This results in different parts of their preference:
Dogs tend to have a human face and throat and also break ribs and chew bones, while cats prefer soft parts of the face, such as the nose, lips, and cheeks.
Of course, this picky eating behavior generally only occurs in the early stages, and if they are trapped long enough, then the result is the same, they will consume all the carrion on the corpse.
Secondly, dogs gnaw on corpses, sometimes not just because of hunger.
In 2015, a research team analyzed 63 real-life cases of dogs devouring the carcass of their owners, and found that in 1 in 4 cases, these dogs began to gnaw on the carcass in less than a day.
In one case, a young man in his thirties was unable to commit suicide, and less than 45 minutes after his death, the police arrived at the scene, and when they opened the door, they found a body in the room, and a friendly-looking German shepherd. The dog also led the police to the owner's body.
When the police examined the body, they found bite marks on the man's face and neck, and when they were still wondering what it was biting, Demu suddenly threw up, spitting out skin and hair (human tissue) from his mouth, and half a bowl of dog food was placed next to the vomit.
This means that on the premise of having food, Demu gnawed on the corpse of his master.
According to the researchers' analysis, this may be caused by anxiety, and the whole process should look like this:
The master fell to the ground and died, Demu was startled, Demu stepped forward to lick the master's face, trying to wake up the master, but found that he couldn't wake up no matter how he screamed, and began to be anxious. And the mouth suddenly licked the blood, and instantly changed from caring about the owner to being attracted by the blood and unable to extricate himself, and then began to gnaw.
At this time, it is not because of hunger, it is just stimulated by the blood, which induces instinctive behavior.
In the face of the same situation, the cat will also try to wake up the owner, but it will develop to nibble, and it will persist a little longer in the middle.
In 2010, a real-life case was published in the Journal of Forensic Medicine: a woman died suddenly at home due to an aneurysm, only to be found the next day, and according to forensic tests, it was found that her pet dog had bitten off most of her face, and her cat had not harmed her.
Medium- and large-sized dogs are more likely to exhibit scavenging behaviors
Researchers believe that there is a correlation between scavenging behavior and breed in dogs.
Among the cases that have been published so far, there are many types of dogs, such as hunting dogs and working dogs.
Labradors and Golden Retrievers, who have always been known for their docility and cuteness, are also frequent "perpetrators", while Demu has bitten his head in the past three cases.
Overall, the researchers believe that medium-sized and large dogs are more likely to have similar incidents, and that beagles are the smallest breeds based on experience.
There is also an obvious problem with medium and large dogs, that is, once they have moved their minds to eat, due to their size advantage, the impact on people will be much greater than that of small dogs, so when considering this issue, more attention should be paid to medium and large dogs.
But this does not mean that other small dogs will not eat scavengers, and another important factor is personality.
A dog that is insecure and prone to separation anxiety and fear is more likely to go berserk in extreme situations.
In 1994, a dog was so nervous and anxious that it began to bite her face when its owner was just drunk and unconscious. At this time, the owner was not dead, and it took about 16 hours from the beginning of the bite to the final death of the owner.
At last
Will my pet bite me after I die?
This is an open topic in itself, and since there are fewer documented cases, there are fewer studies.
The whole article is really about a question of probability.
So, the answer to this question is: all pets are possible! However, from the existing case statistics, plus the analysis of the differences between cats and dogs, the probability of scavenging in dogs is greater than that of cats.
But it's not absolute.
There was a news report of a Labrador dog who did not show any scavenging behavior after the accidental death of its owner, and when it was found, it starved to death in front of its owner.
Although rare, this Labrador defended its friendship with its life!