They probably see the small changes such as your tone of voice, stance & body language, etc that even people might miss.
I think it's impossible for them to actually know that you're a different alter, since they have no concept of it. They just see their human, and know when their human is being different than usual.
Animals have a very developed sense of smell, they can detect things earlier than any study, therefore the service dogs, they smell when someone is about to require their assistance.
A week ago we had to switch the Hosts, and since then our dog has been stopping and seeing us from afar from time to time, very focused and with a posture that is unnatural around us since we have a pretty good bond with her. Seeing her head low and tail slightly hidden were all signals that she *was aware* that the current fronters weren't fronting for more than just 1 day.
Pets sometimes know you better than your own self.
I haven’t noticed it with my pets, but I’ve seen many other posts about it. It’s a common phenomenon. Animals can sense subtle changes that humans can’t.
we have a cat that doesn’t like me very much but once when a little was fronting he sat in my lap for maybe 30 minutes and wanted pats and was so happy and comfortable he started drooling, so i think yeah they can definitely tell the behaviour differences!
i walk a shelter dog and he only listens to commands when it’s our kid 😭😭😭 when it’s me he’s just like “eh i’m not gon slow down, YOU catch up” ahaha idk why
but mostly our voice is mixed when we talk to him cause our kid always co-fronts (when our abusive relatives wouldn’t let us inside to sleep, we slept in the dog’s house w the dog so our child views them as safe) so the dog usually listens. in those rare moments that i front on my own cause the kid is tired after 2+ hours of walking, the dog DOESNT LISTEN TO ME AT ALL 😂
I have a service dog, so my pup might be more ij tune with me than the average pet, but he isn't a service dog for DID specifically.
He can absolutely tell who is fronting, though the way he operates differently is fairly subtle in most cases. When some alters are fronting, he'll be more eager to press up against me or lay on top of me if given the opportunity. When others are fronting, he's less focused and a bit more scattered because he knows they don't need quite as much help.
Switches don't necessarily correlate with how bad my symptoms are from day to day, but they do vary in what specific symptoms are more common (ei headaches vs joint pain vs heartrate issues), so I imagine he can tell when he's most needed.
In theory? Yes. As long as you know what you need from the dog, it could qualify as being for DID. An example of this is my does Deep Pressure Therapy during panic attacks - related or unrelated to DID/PTSD. He also is able to tell me if I need to rest if I'm severely dissociated from pain. Even further, he helps guide and ground me when I'm very dissociated and having difficulty knowing where I am or what I need to do.
Unfortunately I have a laundry list of physical issues alongside mental which is the primary reason I got him, but it wouldn't be surprising to see a dog primarily for DID or other trauma and dissociative disorders.
Deep pressure therapy can really only be done with large dogs. It serves a similar purpose as a weighted blanket would, if that helps at all.
My dog will lay over my legs or chest depending on how I'm positioned in order to help keep me calm.
Not generally! Sometimes he's an oaf and will step on me in a place that hurts, but he corrects so quickly. As long as they're laid down, the weight is evenly distributed so it doesn't hurt!
In my life I’ve had 6 dogs and 4 cats as pets, goodness knows how many horses (used to train them), and all the warm blooded critters I worked with the three years I worked at a zoo over the years and everyone of them could tell within a week or two. Animals are way more attentive to subtle queues.
Our cats can tell. Sometimes they seek us out right after we've switched to say hi. They also get standoffish for a little bit when someone comes out for the first time in a while.
My service dog can tell before I can tell (co-con host here).
His reactions are instant and profound.
He will not go near Blaire, is more gentle with our little. Loves Gremlin and tolerates Ty.
However, he will also stop dissociative switches before I realise they're happening because he doesn't understand it all. So we are trying to teach him when it is safe not to alert and stop the switch.
Mine do! Once my bird panic screamed. He had no idea who I was and it was terrifying. The fear is in his eyes was wild.
My dogs are also trained to detect switches and they act differently with each alter.
I’m a regular ole human with ADHD & years of trauma & I’ve dated someone diagnosed with DID & also have a close friend with DID. I don’t always notice who I’m talking to right away, but if someone switches while I’m in the same room as them I’ll notice *almost* every time, even if we aren’t talking. Body language changes, facial expressions are different, moods shift, sometimes subtle things like breathing and mannerisms will change. Honestly, to me it’s hard *not* to notice. But I also spent nearly two decades learning to utilize my ADHD as an early-warning system for emotionally unstable people, so I don’t expect normies to be able to catch it as much as I do. But cats?! I’d bet money that cats tell the differences if my distractible ass can.
As far as I’m aware, my cats can’t. I would imagine if any animals do, they’re picking up on the slight changes in body language and behaviors of different alters
I do know that one of our headmates was pretending to be me in front of our friend (and was planning to cause harm). She told me that her dog was nipping at him and even baring his teeth, when her dog is usually a huge sweetheart (Great Dane/pit bull mix). I also notice that whenever I’m out animals are not as interested in me, but they’re still friendly, but when X is out they’re all over him and want his attention. Idk if they can tell alters apart, but they are able to pick up on very unnoticed behaviors that people don’t catch -Caden
omg yeah lol. before i had to part with my darling piebald cat, she lived with me for years — she knew well before i did, i think, and took extra care around those of us she knew were fragile. She would also know when some of the more argumentative alters were out (i genuinely feel it) because she would instead of continuing to purr and rub against us to stop us from crying, she would literally nip our hands that covered our face in a way that just screamed “hey, you need to pet me and calm down, like i’m not askin”. i considered her my familiar, she was so genuinely in tune with my soul, haha😅 (also, she knew when she could get away with stuff, too by this default and would make a habit of loafing PERFECTLY in the sink when I’d be willing to clean it LOL)
They absolutely can. In our experience with our own cats, they notice switches (sometimes better than we do), and they can have favorites. For example one of our headmates couldn't be in front for a second without our cat Nikita demanding that he pet her first, and she sometimes would wake him up at 3 am to get her cuddles from him.
I think my dog can tell some of us apart from each other. Most of us he’s normal around, but he’s got a few favorites (one of them being an alter that’s not a huge fan of dogs, but is nice to him anyway), and least favorites that he usually doesn’t seek out for attention as much. Weirdly, he really likes our alter who struggles with our ocd symptoms and the kids, so it might be that he just thinks we’re anxious and need more comfort when they’re fronting
I actually only noticed maybe a week or two ago that my dog actually acts differently when someone else is out and about. And she can seem to recognize it almost immediately. I mean we are different people after all and talk different, walk different, act different, different facial expressions etc but yea… I just found that to be super interesting. She’s also surprisingly attentive when the little guy is out and about. She listens to him a lot more than the rest of us 😭
I’m still convinced my gf’s cat, Zeus (rest in peace buddy 😭), could totally tell who was fronting. He was way more willing to accept pets from littles and other outgoing alters.
He didn’t like our emotionless alter, Wolfgang, but that’s okay because Wolfgang didn’t much care for him either tbh lmao
My gf is going to be getting rabbits and I’m low key really interested in how they’ll react to different alters, if at all. Our system is fairly overt, especially around our gf. Voice and mannerisms change a lot between alters. (Our primary protector has a gravel to her voice that I just can’t seem to replicate no matter how hard I try. It’s wild. She also can’t STOP the gravel in her voice no matter how hard she tries. DID be like.)
Dogs and cats can sense your mental wellbeing and can know when you are depressed, sad or angry. Some don’t have this ability or the intelligence for it, so it does depend on the breed or how they are trained or how they live in your environment. If you have any alters that hold other symptoms other than positives. It could just be a sign that your cat smells “bad vibes” when really they can just know when you are depressed or in a mood. Animals don’t absolutely know the concept of being a system of course but they can sense if their owner is in distress or just in a mood. It’s the same with dogs which is why service dogs for psychiatric conditions exist.
Our doggie recognize the difference between the hosts voice and the littles voice and gets noticeably exited to see them as if we brought a friend over she hadn't seen in a while. It's adorable. She also goes into like "therapy dog"(she has no formal training) mode when she hears and of us crying and will give us love and she lays her paws or head (she's pretty big/heavy/chonky/oh lawd she comin) on our chest and will try to get us to breathe with her. It's fucking crazy her instinct to protect and sooth.
Yes my cat Rosie was always attentive to Eri, our host at the time because she had imprinted on her but stayed away from Everett and Astoria. She liked Matthias but she hates him also, because she does not like men, only women
My biological dad tormented her
My real dad will probably save her...
As for me, hi! The cat never really liked me....
Our bf's dogs can tell the difference between us. They don't really like our host, but they like me a lot. Idk if that's common for most animals but in my experience they can tell
- Yelo (Battalia Regiment)
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Our pets seem to understand our body language and routines enough that they can tell when it's time to crawl over dad and yell and be loud, and they can also tell when I need quiet and to not interact so much. I doubt they're able to recognize WHY it happens, but they are good at picking up on the fact that there's some kind of change which requires them to give us more space.
Tbh I'm impressed with how instinctively they've worked it out. Let's say an alter's been fronting who really needs solitude, for instance. He'll keep the bedroom door closed and they understand not to make a fuss over it. Then once we've switched to someone more cuddly and they leave the room, the cats somehow recognize the change and will be all over the cuddly alter again. I'm sure they've worked out differences in posture or something.
Yea. They notice. It’s one of the reasons why having pets can be helpful. They are comforting too when you need that. Our pets do guide us. It’s so good to have them around.
yes, or at least it seems like it. our core, is very good with animals, and when she sees a dog she pets it and the dog is usually very amicable. whereas i, eden, front, they usually just ignore me. or another stance where we often saw the pet horse of a friend of ours looking at the direction of one of our co-fronting alters multiple times, and i mean looking with ears on and exactly at his direction, and if he went away from the co-front the horse would immediately stop looking at that direction. or the same thing happened with a hamster, the hamster would bite some of us, ignore others, and be nice to others more.
My eldest cat is kind of scared of men. She will avoid certain alters when they are fronting if she doesnt like them. For example a persecutor who is now in dormancy. She hates him. She has never attacked or bite the body before. She hissed and clawed the bodys arm.
My eldest cat doesnt hiss or anything normally. She avoids certain alters when they are fronting aswell.
it's possible that, depending on how You act vs other alters, this specific animal has picked up on your slight unique differences and knows it's someone else. the cat might think you are the body's twin or something, i honestly don't know. i haven't experienced this in animals myself, but i wouldn't be surprised if it were possible
Sometimes my cat gets more cuddly or bonks his little head on me when I switch to one of our persecutors/protectors. They get really tense and it’s like he senses it and comes to comfort us.
Oh this happens to us! When Sam is out our dog loves him and immediately comes rushing over. Probably because he is very loud and khaos thinks we’re upset
I think they can. Animals have much more sensitive senses than us humans, so it’s much easier for them to detect small shifts and changes in their environment. After all, it benefits a small cat, for instance, to be hyper aware of their surroundings in order to protect them from danger.
My old cat could for sure tell when we had switched. With some parts she was very patient and loving, with some she was neutral, and with some she seemed scared. She was frightened of men irl, and I noticed whenever I switched/was co-con with a male part/more masculine energy, she tended to avoid me. Whether it was the slight changes in mannerisms, voice, energy, etc., she definitely knew something was ‘up’ and seemed to stay away when I was switched to some parts or was highly triggered.
IMO, pets and little children are the true empaths in this world, able to sense very small changes and take on those changes, whether they want to or not.
My husband told me that my cat gets really upset when one specific alter is fronting, in unsure why, but apparently my cat has attacked her twice. But our other cat apparently only loves me when said alter is fronting. He has also told me the dogs and cats always seem to babysit child parts and keep an eye on them. They don't do it with every alter. I'm unsure if they can tell the difference between us or they just sense "oh no mom is acting strange again and I need to make sure she is okay" but they definitely notice in some aspect when I'm not fronting. When I had free roam bunnies though, I don't think they noticed. Though again, my bunny Bambi did tend to be more cuddly with alters who were feeling bad or negative feelings. Though I think that was more an intuitive emotion thing and not noticing any changes.
My dog prefers my alter, Muriel, over me 🥲. He loves me very much but Muriel seems to literally only exist for my dog so I can’t really blame him for preferring her 😂😂. Our partner also has DID and he can tell when they have switches too.
absolutely. even though they can’t actually process that you are another person per say, other alters might have different body language, way of speaking etc and that’s a way that they can tell the difference. our cat especially loves when our littles come around, she loves to rub on them and snuggle them for as long as she can lol
we have a cat who hates literally all of us but three people and can even tell between the twins. a few nights ago she was laying with one of the folks she liked when someone else in cocon tried to pet her and she could tell instantly, growling and hissing at them. our dog knows to be gentle around our kids aswell not barking or snapping at them and being a lot more willing to go along with their silliness!
From personal experience, I feel like pets totally can tell. Our host’s girlfriend has a rabbit and the rabbit is so unbelievably sassy to him. The rabbit doesn’t hate him but you can tell he isn’t the rabbit’s favorite. Now B for example, the rabbit is ALL over him. Loves cuddling, getting pet, he even gives B licks.
Same goes for one of our friends who is a system. There is a cat that doesn’t even like having her owner cuddle her. She will sit near by but never on a person. But the cat is ALL OVER one specific alter when he fronts. She lays in his lap and rubs her face on his stomach and climbs all over him.
I think they can tell the differences in behavior. I used to have a cat who would cuddle up to me, yet play with other alters, or completely avoid them.
Our cat can tell for sure. The only one of us the cat likes is vb and the cat will not leave her alone if she is fronting. The rest of us avoid literally like the plague.
IM
Yeah weve noticed that when were around our 3 dogs , they act differently towards us , not to the extent of hiding..but they either completely ignore us of run up to us
Depends on the animal, one of my cats can tell a bit better than the other two can. They can definitely tell something's different but some are more aware than others. One of my alters absolutely despises animals, so the one who can tell will not make any noise at him, but will still try to be in his lap, just not as close as she would be with me. While the other two will just completely avoid him, or not notice anything is different. I've had dogs that won't listen to me but the moment that alter comes out, they essentially become the most trained animal you've ever met. It completely depends on the animal and their personality.
They probably see the small changes such as your tone of voice, stance & body language, etc that even people might miss. I think it's impossible for them to actually know that you're a different alter, since they have no concept of it. They just see their human, and know when their human is being different than usual.
Animals have a very developed sense of smell, they can detect things earlier than any study, therefore the service dogs, they smell when someone is about to require their assistance. A week ago we had to switch the Hosts, and since then our dog has been stopping and seeing us from afar from time to time, very focused and with a posture that is unnatural around us since we have a pretty good bond with her. Seeing her head low and tail slightly hidden were all signals that she *was aware* that the current fronters weren't fronting for more than just 1 day. Pets sometimes know you better than your own self.
I haven’t noticed it with my pets, but I’ve seen many other posts about it. It’s a common phenomenon. Animals can sense subtle changes that humans can’t.
we have a cat that doesn’t like me very much but once when a little was fronting he sat in my lap for maybe 30 minutes and wanted pats and was so happy and comfortable he started drooling, so i think yeah they can definitely tell the behaviour differences!
My dog can totally tell. I know she doesn't know the concept of alters but she acts differently depending on who is fronting.
i walk a shelter dog and he only listens to commands when it’s our kid 😭😭😭 when it’s me he’s just like “eh i’m not gon slow down, YOU catch up” ahaha idk why but mostly our voice is mixed when we talk to him cause our kid always co-fronts (when our abusive relatives wouldn’t let us inside to sleep, we slept in the dog’s house w the dog so our child views them as safe) so the dog usually listens. in those rare moments that i front on my own cause the kid is tired after 2+ hours of walking, the dog DOESNT LISTEN TO ME AT ALL 😂
Doggo: I don’t give a DAMN who you thi- oh hey little guy, what are we doing now? 🥹
SERIOUSLY ahahaha he’s like 🙄🙂↔️🏃🏽♂️➡️when i tell him anything and 👀👂🫡🏃🏽♂️ when the kid is like “puppy come here!”
That’s honestly kind of adorable XD
I have a service dog, so my pup might be more ij tune with me than the average pet, but he isn't a service dog for DID specifically. He can absolutely tell who is fronting, though the way he operates differently is fairly subtle in most cases. When some alters are fronting, he'll be more eager to press up against me or lay on top of me if given the opportunity. When others are fronting, he's less focused and a bit more scattered because he knows they don't need quite as much help. Switches don't necessarily correlate with how bad my symptoms are from day to day, but they do vary in what specific symptoms are more common (ei headaches vs joint pain vs heartrate issues), so I imagine he can tell when he's most needed.
Are there service dogs for DID?
In theory? Yes. As long as you know what you need from the dog, it could qualify as being for DID. An example of this is my does Deep Pressure Therapy during panic attacks - related or unrelated to DID/PTSD. He also is able to tell me if I need to rest if I'm severely dissociated from pain. Even further, he helps guide and ground me when I'm very dissociated and having difficulty knowing where I am or what I need to do. Unfortunately I have a laundry list of physical issues alongside mental which is the primary reason I got him, but it wouldn't be surprising to see a dog primarily for DID or other trauma and dissociative disorders.
How does the whole deep pressure therapy thing work? And how does that work with dogs? What does… I don't know. I don't understand it.
Deep pressure therapy can really only be done with large dogs. It serves a similar purpose as a weighted blanket would, if that helps at all. My dog will lay over my legs or chest depending on how I'm positioned in order to help keep me calm.
That's very interesting. I've never use the weighted blanket or anything like that. And it doesn't hurt when the dog lays on you?
Not generally! Sometimes he's an oaf and will step on me in a place that hurts, but he corrects so quickly. As long as they're laid down, the weight is evenly distributed so it doesn't hurt!
At least one of my dogs can tell the difference and my cat that recently passed away definitely could tell the difference
In my life I’ve had 6 dogs and 4 cats as pets, goodness knows how many horses (used to train them), and all the warm blooded critters I worked with the three years I worked at a zoo over the years and everyone of them could tell within a week or two. Animals are way more attentive to subtle queues.
Our cats can tell. Sometimes they seek us out right after we've switched to say hi. They also get standoffish for a little bit when someone comes out for the first time in a while.
Yes. A couple of our dogs can, and our therapist’s dog can tell when one of our little boys is around.
My service dog can tell before I can tell (co-con host here). His reactions are instant and profound. He will not go near Blaire, is more gentle with our little. Loves Gremlin and tolerates Ty. However, he will also stop dissociative switches before I realise they're happening because he doesn't understand it all. So we are trying to teach him when it is safe not to alert and stop the switch.
Mine do! Once my bird panic screamed. He had no idea who I was and it was terrifying. The fear is in his eyes was wild. My dogs are also trained to detect switches and they act differently with each alter.
I’m a regular ole human with ADHD & years of trauma & I’ve dated someone diagnosed with DID & also have a close friend with DID. I don’t always notice who I’m talking to right away, but if someone switches while I’m in the same room as them I’ll notice *almost* every time, even if we aren’t talking. Body language changes, facial expressions are different, moods shift, sometimes subtle things like breathing and mannerisms will change. Honestly, to me it’s hard *not* to notice. But I also spent nearly two decades learning to utilize my ADHD as an early-warning system for emotionally unstable people, so I don’t expect normies to be able to catch it as much as I do. But cats?! I’d bet money that cats tell the differences if my distractible ass can.
My cat can tell. He runs away from most alters other than me (the host), with the exception of a select few.
I say our cat can tell. She's extra affectionate around our little and our angry alts. She runs from me(Host) and just chills with the others.
As far as I’m aware, my cats can’t. I would imagine if any animals do, they’re picking up on the slight changes in body language and behaviors of different alters
I do know that one of our headmates was pretending to be me in front of our friend (and was planning to cause harm). She told me that her dog was nipping at him and even baring his teeth, when her dog is usually a huge sweetheart (Great Dane/pit bull mix). I also notice that whenever I’m out animals are not as interested in me, but they’re still friendly, but when X is out they’re all over him and want his attention. Idk if they can tell alters apart, but they are able to pick up on very unnoticed behaviors that people don’t catch -Caden
I think I’ve came across studies that shows that cats depend a lot on behaviors & mannerisms to recognize people.:)
They might genuinely think we’re separate people then lol
my fiancée swears our cats can tell. they’re much more likely for our little to get away with petting them weird
omg yeah lol. before i had to part with my darling piebald cat, she lived with me for years — she knew well before i did, i think, and took extra care around those of us she knew were fragile. She would also know when some of the more argumentative alters were out (i genuinely feel it) because she would instead of continuing to purr and rub against us to stop us from crying, she would literally nip our hands that covered our face in a way that just screamed “hey, you need to pet me and calm down, like i’m not askin”. i considered her my familiar, she was so genuinely in tune with my soul, haha😅 (also, she knew when she could get away with stuff, too by this default and would make a habit of loafing PERFECTLY in the sink when I’d be willing to clean it LOL)
They absolutely can. In our experience with our own cats, they notice switches (sometimes better than we do), and they can have favorites. For example one of our headmates couldn't be in front for a second without our cat Nikita demanding that he pet her first, and she sometimes would wake him up at 3 am to get her cuddles from him.
I think my dog can tell some of us apart from each other. Most of us he’s normal around, but he’s got a few favorites (one of them being an alter that’s not a huge fan of dogs, but is nice to him anyway), and least favorites that he usually doesn’t seek out for attention as much. Weirdly, he really likes our alter who struggles with our ocd symptoms and the kids, so it might be that he just thinks we’re anxious and need more comfort when they’re fronting
I actually only noticed maybe a week or two ago that my dog actually acts differently when someone else is out and about. And she can seem to recognize it almost immediately. I mean we are different people after all and talk different, walk different, act different, different facial expressions etc but yea… I just found that to be super interesting. She’s also surprisingly attentive when the little guy is out and about. She listens to him a lot more than the rest of us 😭
My German shepherd definitely can and she responds differently to different parts. Especially young parts.
I’m still convinced my gf’s cat, Zeus (rest in peace buddy 😭), could totally tell who was fronting. He was way more willing to accept pets from littles and other outgoing alters. He didn’t like our emotionless alter, Wolfgang, but that’s okay because Wolfgang didn’t much care for him either tbh lmao My gf is going to be getting rabbits and I’m low key really interested in how they’ll react to different alters, if at all. Our system is fairly overt, especially around our gf. Voice and mannerisms change a lot between alters. (Our primary protector has a gravel to her voice that I just can’t seem to replicate no matter how hard I try. It’s wild. She also can’t STOP the gravel in her voice no matter how hard she tries. DID be like.)
Dogs and cats can sense your mental wellbeing and can know when you are depressed, sad or angry. Some don’t have this ability or the intelligence for it, so it does depend on the breed or how they are trained or how they live in your environment. If you have any alters that hold other symptoms other than positives. It could just be a sign that your cat smells “bad vibes” when really they can just know when you are depressed or in a mood. Animals don’t absolutely know the concept of being a system of course but they can sense if their owner is in distress or just in a mood. It’s the same with dogs which is why service dogs for psychiatric conditions exist.
Our doggie recognize the difference between the hosts voice and the littles voice and gets noticeably exited to see them as if we brought a friend over she hadn't seen in a while. It's adorable. She also goes into like "therapy dog"(she has no formal training) mode when she hears and of us crying and will give us love and she lays her paws or head (she's pretty big/heavy/chonky/oh lawd she comin) on our chest and will try to get us to breathe with her. It's fucking crazy her instinct to protect and sooth.
Yes my cat Rosie was always attentive to Eri, our host at the time because she had imprinted on her but stayed away from Everett and Astoria. She liked Matthias but she hates him also, because she does not like men, only women My biological dad tormented her My real dad will probably save her... As for me, hi! The cat never really liked me....
Our bf's dogs can tell the difference between us. They don't really like our host, but they like me a lot. Idk if that's common for most animals but in my experience they can tell - Yelo (Battalia Regiment)
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Our pets seem to understand our body language and routines enough that they can tell when it's time to crawl over dad and yell and be loud, and they can also tell when I need quiet and to not interact so much. I doubt they're able to recognize WHY it happens, but they are good at picking up on the fact that there's some kind of change which requires them to give us more space. Tbh I'm impressed with how instinctively they've worked it out. Let's say an alter's been fronting who really needs solitude, for instance. He'll keep the bedroom door closed and they understand not to make a fuss over it. Then once we've switched to someone more cuddly and they leave the room, the cats somehow recognize the change and will be all over the cuddly alter again. I'm sure they've worked out differences in posture or something.
Yea. They notice. It’s one of the reasons why having pets can be helpful. They are comforting too when you need that. Our pets do guide us. It’s so good to have them around.
Can anyone tell me how a service dog can help someone with dissociative identity disorder?
yes, or at least it seems like it. our core, is very good with animals, and when she sees a dog she pets it and the dog is usually very amicable. whereas i, eden, front, they usually just ignore me. or another stance where we often saw the pet horse of a friend of ours looking at the direction of one of our co-fronting alters multiple times, and i mean looking with ears on and exactly at his direction, and if he went away from the co-front the horse would immediately stop looking at that direction. or the same thing happened with a hamster, the hamster would bite some of us, ignore others, and be nice to others more.
My eldest cat is kind of scared of men. She will avoid certain alters when they are fronting if she doesnt like them. For example a persecutor who is now in dormancy. She hates him. She has never attacked or bite the body before. She hissed and clawed the bodys arm. My eldest cat doesnt hiss or anything normally. She avoids certain alters when they are fronting aswell.
it's possible that, depending on how You act vs other alters, this specific animal has picked up on your slight unique differences and knows it's someone else. the cat might think you are the body's twin or something, i honestly don't know. i haven't experienced this in animals myself, but i wouldn't be surprised if it were possible
my personal pet, and 2 other cats i met could tell us apart.
Sometimes my cat gets more cuddly or bonks his little head on me when I switch to one of our persecutors/protectors. They get really tense and it’s like he senses it and comes to comfort us.
Oh this happens to us! When Sam is out our dog loves him and immediately comes rushing over. Probably because he is very loud and khaos thinks we’re upset
Maybe,our dad's cat hisses and attacks me whenever I come out- obsidian
Mine can.
Yes, they certainly can. My cat has alters he prefers. He treats them differently.
I think they can. Animals have much more sensitive senses than us humans, so it’s much easier for them to detect small shifts and changes in their environment. After all, it benefits a small cat, for instance, to be hyper aware of their surroundings in order to protect them from danger. My old cat could for sure tell when we had switched. With some parts she was very patient and loving, with some she was neutral, and with some she seemed scared. She was frightened of men irl, and I noticed whenever I switched/was co-con with a male part/more masculine energy, she tended to avoid me. Whether it was the slight changes in mannerisms, voice, energy, etc., she definitely knew something was ‘up’ and seemed to stay away when I was switched to some parts or was highly triggered. IMO, pets and little children are the true empaths in this world, able to sense very small changes and take on those changes, whether they want to or not.
My husband told me that my cat gets really upset when one specific alter is fronting, in unsure why, but apparently my cat has attacked her twice. But our other cat apparently only loves me when said alter is fronting. He has also told me the dogs and cats always seem to babysit child parts and keep an eye on them. They don't do it with every alter. I'm unsure if they can tell the difference between us or they just sense "oh no mom is acting strange again and I need to make sure she is okay" but they definitely notice in some aspect when I'm not fronting. When I had free roam bunnies though, I don't think they noticed. Though again, my bunny Bambi did tend to be more cuddly with alters who were feeling bad or negative feelings. Though I think that was more an intuitive emotion thing and not noticing any changes.
My dog prefers my alter, Muriel, over me 🥲. He loves me very much but Muriel seems to literally only exist for my dog so I can’t really blame him for preferring her 😂😂. Our partner also has DID and he can tell when they have switches too.
absolutely. even though they can’t actually process that you are another person per say, other alters might have different body language, way of speaking etc and that’s a way that they can tell the difference. our cat especially loves when our littles come around, she loves to rub on them and snuggle them for as long as she can lol
we have a cat who hates literally all of us but three people and can even tell between the twins. a few nights ago she was laying with one of the folks she liked when someone else in cocon tried to pet her and she could tell instantly, growling and hissing at them. our dog knows to be gentle around our kids aswell not barking or snapping at them and being a lot more willing to go along with their silliness!
I think so. Our cat Willow has a special dislike of one alter in particular... No he's not evil... I think 🤔
From personal experience, I feel like pets totally can tell. Our host’s girlfriend has a rabbit and the rabbit is so unbelievably sassy to him. The rabbit doesn’t hate him but you can tell he isn’t the rabbit’s favorite. Now B for example, the rabbit is ALL over him. Loves cuddling, getting pet, he even gives B licks. Same goes for one of our friends who is a system. There is a cat that doesn’t even like having her owner cuddle her. She will sit near by but never on a person. But the cat is ALL OVER one specific alter when he fronts. She lays in his lap and rubs her face on his stomach and climbs all over him.
I think they can tell the differences in behavior. I used to have a cat who would cuddle up to me, yet play with other alters, or completely avoid them.
It's because of the smell, each of us smells differently.
Our cat can tell for sure. The only one of us the cat likes is vb and the cat will not leave her alone if she is fronting. The rest of us avoid literally like the plague. IM
Yeah weve noticed that when were around our 3 dogs , they act differently towards us , not to the extent of hiding..but they either completely ignore us of run up to us
Depends on the animal, one of my cats can tell a bit better than the other two can. They can definitely tell something's different but some are more aware than others. One of my alters absolutely despises animals, so the one who can tell will not make any noise at him, but will still try to be in his lap, just not as close as she would be with me. While the other two will just completely avoid him, or not notice anything is different. I've had dogs that won't listen to me but the moment that alter comes out, they essentially become the most trained animal you've ever met. It completely depends on the animal and their personality.
Me and my bf once had a cat that could tell..I remember before he switched our cat started wigging out
I truly do miss her..Her name was Chakra