Cat Has Saddest Reaction to Owner Packing Suitcase—'She Knew I Was Leaving'

A cat owner has shared a picture of the heartbreaking moment his cat appeared to realize he was going on vacation.

San Francisco resident Bilal snapped a picture of Maroon the cat when he noticed she seemed upset that he was packing his suitcase.

With huge wide eyes, the 6-year-old cat was "grabbing onto" the suitcase, as though trying to persuade him to stay put at home, the owner said.

"I wasn't surprised she knew I was leaving," Bilal told Newsweek, explaining that he believes animals understand much more than we give them credit for.

Packing for a trip to visit family, Bilal said that he knew Maroon would be fine as she was staying with a trusted friend, but was still touched by her emotions.

"I believe animals have a conscience, maybe not as deep as humans, but they feel similar emotions," said the owner. "They feel sad and can get depressed; though they are a lot better at recovering from emotional trauma than humans, they aren't so different."

After catching Maroon's reaction on camera, Bilal shared it on Reddit's r/aww subreddit where animal lovers have melted.

"Oh that face, poor baby knows and misses you already," said one commenter. While another wrote: "So you canceled the trip right??"

While other cat owners shared their own experiences of cats realizing they're heading out.

"Consider yourself lucky, I had a cat that would pee on my stuff if she saw me packing," said one commenter.

While another wrote: "I don't know how they know. Our cats get in the suitcase and refuse to leave."

Cats are known to pick up on their owners' routines, and often react differently when they've been apart from their owners, like Phillip the cat who made his feelings clear when he returned from a stay at the cattery.

While cats are generally happy to be left for the day or overnight as long as they have food and water, they shouldn't be alone for more than 12 hours without supervision.

U.K.-based pet welfare charity Cats Protection recommends leaving your cat in their own home during vacation where possible, but ensuring that a cat sitter stops by at least twice a day to ensure the cat is safe and well fed.

Bilal was amazed by the reaction on Reddit, where he goes by the user name
u/Specific-Football548, and pleased that so many people enjoyed the post, which has notched up 4,900 upvotes. "I felt happy for sure," he said. "I knew the post would get a few hundred upvotes, but I was surprised to see it hit the thousands."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.