this happened in one of my forts:
They'd been getting sieged by elves since day one, since the parent civ was at war with them (ten years later, and the elves are STILL at it, I might add). One of my wrestlers was badly injured, one of his friends died, etc. so he was having hissy fits while bedridden.
Eventually one of the fortress kittens went into his room. The tantrums gradually slowed, then ceased all together. I get a message:
Urist McKitty has adopted Urist McTantrumdude, Wrestler.
I imagine here's this dwarf, he's pissed because he's on bedrest, lost his friends, etc. And this little kitten goes in and sits at the foot of his bed, and makes him feel better and just purrs instead of running away when the dwarf tantrums.
Eventually, I get a message about Urist McKitty, who is now UristMcOldCat:
UristMcOldCat has died of old age