Do animals feel love???

I mentioned earlier about Smokey and Tripper. They have been acquainted for almost 2 years now.
Bandit on the other hand is not so easily won over by Trippers charms. Just as it took her some time to warm up to Loki, my daughters Russian Blue tom cat I expected it would take time for her to finally accept Tripper and be willing to lay a foot or two from each other on the floor as Tripper and Smokey do. Bandit acts her usual self by wandering into the living room to be with the rest of us and even climbed up into Georgina’s lap to sit while we watched a movie. On occasion when Tripper would come closer than she was comfortable with at that moment she'd give a low growl or hiss at him and he’d back off. Smokey had moved to a chair in the dining room and was asleep there.
Suddenly all hell broke loose and Bandit hissed and hit Tripper then was up and over the chair and around the room with Tripper close behind. He had her cornered near the fireplace tail wagging. Georgina pulled Tripper back because Bandit was obviously upset at which point Smokey came slowly and stiffly across the floor puffed up as big as he could and approached Tripper. A growl rose in his throat followed by a hiss and a volley of strikes to Trippers face that left the poor dog reeling. It was a good thing the cat had no front claws or blood would have been drawn. Bandit had run through the door into the hallway between the boy’s rooms and I picked up Smokey and could feel the tension in his body. I put him down in the hall and he went and sniffed at Bandit and the two of them went into Liam’s room.
Absolute silence engulfed the room for a minute then Georgina spoke.
“Wow I have never seen anything like that. He must really love her to stand up to an animal more than ten times his size like that.”
Smokey went in and was ready to take on the animal that he has lain with… has greeted nose to nose when John and G arrive for the weekend for the last year and a half, because Tripper had spooked Bandit and in Smokey’s eyes was probably attacking her.
Rogers’s sister Carol was equally impressed.
I had seen him do this before when Bandit was not yet comfortable with Loki.
So, does he feel love for the little female cat that was brought into his life 4 years ago or is it just instinctual? Protecting, what is in a cats mind, the female of his pride?
As humans discussing the event afterwards, we were inclined to transfer human emotions and motives to this display.
An hour later all was as it was before. Tripper lay on the floor and the cats walked past him as if nothing had happened.
I have to say... it was the most exciting part of the evening.