Actually, yes, I do believe that animals are capable of a lot more than is generally recognized.
But I've given the subject of 'feelings' a great deal of thought. I grew up in a strict christian household-by strict I mean faith in church doctrine, Jesus as the only way to Heaven, any other path leads to eternal hell etc. My parents are actually very loving people, it just happens to be what they truly believe through and through, and I was told this from the time I could think. So let's just say that I've not come across a level of brainwashing as unbelievably difficult to overcome than this.
But when I did force myself to face the many discrepancies, when it became apparent that I wasn't capable of the blind faith expected of me, I went through a period of mourning initially and then a long period where I was numb. Like every single chemical that produces feelings got shut off. I was in my later twenties and my children were about four and seven. But even though I was scarily void emotion wise, I still wanted my family to be well on an intellectual level, I logically knew how important it was for my kids to feel loved. I also knew that it was occurring because I had lost my center and my foundation and therefore I needed to find out what those things were. I had to rebuild myself from the bottom up, a task so initially overwhelming that I'm certain it's the reason I shut down.
My husband helped by taking over a lot of the things I would normally do, like reading at bedtime etc. And he listened when I wanted to talk, was silent when I didn't. And, long story short, I made it through the 'dark age', my children the none the wiser. (They actually do know about it now, they're teenagers and we discuss everything ;)
My point here is that as much as animals are capable of, I don't think they're capable of knowing that they've become emotionally or psychologically damaged and in knowing this then able to mostly function as before until they heal. To "Act as if" To "fake it till you make it" . lol.
I could be wrong though. I am not one to put definite's on things, if there's anything I know for sure it's that there is a whole hell of a lot I don't know :)