Did I Adopt My Cat or Did He Adopt Me?

  Posted on June 6, 2010  by Joy of Living  No comments

Interesting question………..eight years ago, as I first time cat owner I wasn’t sure what I was looking for in a feline friend.  As it turned out, I was very fortunate that Bo picked me, we’ve been a team ever since.

Research has been done to study the first interactions between cats and their owners with some interesting results.  Dennis Turner, a renowned cat expert, and Claudia Martens used ethology, the study of animal behavior to gain information on the first interactions between cats and their owners.  Their research study included 240 people and 19 cats, following are some findings.

In the experiment, when the person ignored the cat, 68% of the cats approached the person to within one meter, showing an interest in interacting.  There was more distance between cat and adult than between cat and child, but cats did approach adults more readily than they approached children.  Cats also approached females more than males whether adult or child.

When people interacted with the cat, adults vocalized to the cat earlier than children did, but children approached cats sooner than the adults did.  This shows that vocalizing before approaching the cat to make physical contact was more successful.  Boys tended to follow a retreating cat the more than girls or adults did.

This study shows how we first form bonds with our feline companions.   With this being Adopt-A-Cat month, think about adding a feline to your household, you’ll be glad you did!

Information for this post was obtained from Cat Fancy Magazine, May 2010