Your Cat Could EAT You If You Die As Study Shows Felines Feast On ...

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CAT owners who die at home risk being eaten by their hungry moggies, according to chilling new research.

Scientists in Colorado made the shocking find after two cats broke into their research centre to feast on decomposing corpses.

The pair repeatedly came back to the bodies over several weeks, showing a “taste for arm tissues” as well as for flesh around the chest and shoulders.

Strangely, each feline found a cadaver they liked and stuck with it, choosing to munch on just the one corpse rather than dine on a selection.

“The main theory is that cats are picky eaters,” said scientist Sara Garcia, an author of a new study on the case.

“Once they find a food that they like, they’ll stick with it.”

Stories of people living alone who are devoured by their starving cats after they die have been doing the rounds for years.

In 2013, a woman who died in her home near Southampton had entire body parts eaten by her three ginger tabby cats.

One American man in his early thirties was found days after his death with his head, neck, and part of his arm completely defleshed by his ten pet cats, according to scientists.

Despite multiple recorded cases, no one had managed to study the practice scientifically until now.

For their research, experts at the Colorado Mesa University’s Forensic Investigation Research Station left 40 bodies in the open air for a period of 35 days.

The bodies, placed on land within the facility’s two-acre grounds, were recorded to document what happens to decaying human flesh.

Such studies are helpful to police and coroners trying to figure out “what is natural that happens to a body and what is not natural”.

To the scientists’ surprise, CCTV footage captured two feral cats scaling the facility’s 10-foot-high fences to snack on the bodies within.

The first feline – a striped tabby – was recorded eating the body of a 79-year-old woman, mostly picking at the soft tissue on her left arm and chest.

Scientists put a cage over the body for an unrelated reason, blocking the cat’s access, yet the moggy returned to feast on the woman once they’d removed it several days later.

A second, black tabby sniffed out the body of a 70-year-old man. It dined on his arm and abdomen.

Cannibalistic animals

Here's some of the creepiest creatures...

• Chimpanzees – chimpanzees have been observed numerous times eating other chimps, typically the males eat infants or females
• Spiders – in the majority of cases of spider cannibalism it’s a female spider that eats a male before, during, or after sex
• Rats – rats are known to eat the corpses of other dead rats to prevent the smell of corpses bringing predators to their nest and also for nutritional purposes when food is scarce
• Hippos – although these creatures were thought to be herbivores they have been occasionally observed eating other animals or each other when food is scarce
• Owls – large owls have been observed eating smaller owls and sometimes big owl chicks will eat their smaller siblings for nurtients when their mother is away from the nest

Strangely, both cats returned to their preferred bodies almost nightly for a period of 35 days

Despite the girsly nature of their find, researchers didn’t seem too put off by the discovery.

Study author Dr Melissa Connor said: “Any coroner or medical examiner will tell you of cases where a body was shut up with a pet that scavenged the owner eventually.

“If you were hungry, wouldn’t you eat them?”

The research was published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

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In other news, cats are just as loyal to their owners as dogs are, according to recent research.

Cats can recognise their own names just like dogs, another study has found.

And, one Chinese firm plans to bring your dead cat back from the grave by implanting a clone with your pet’s memories.

Do you think your cat would eat you if you died? Let us know in the comments!

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