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Cats playing fetch may sound unlikely, but Mikel Delgado, senior research scientist at Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has discovered it’s actually an activity many cats enjoy.
The revelation followed Delgado’s adoption of three sister kittens from an animal shelter. She was amazed to see them engage in classic fetch behaviour more commonly associated with dogs: they would bring her their toy mice to be thrown, then run to retrieve them. Despite being a lifelong cat owner, she had never seen any of her cats fetch before.
Intrigued, Delgado set out to explore how common this behaviour is among domestic cats, teaming up with colleagues Judith Stella, senior research scientist, and Candace Croney, professor and director of the Center for Animal Welfare Sciences, along with James Serpell from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
The study found 41% of cats fetch.
Using data previously gathered by Serpell, the researchers looked at how frequently cat fetching was reported by pet owners and set out to determine what characteristics made cats more or less likely to fetch. Their findings, recently published in the journal PLOS One, were titled in reference to the movie Mean Girls: “Making Fetch Happen: Prevalence and Characteristics of Fetching Behavior in Owned Domestic Cats (Felis catus) and Dogs (Canis familiaris).”
Their research, which surveyed 8,224 cat owners and 73,724 dog owners, revealed that:
- Approximately 41% of cats and 78% of dogs fetch
- Cat breeds most likely to fetch include Abyssinians, Bengals, Siamese, & Siberians
- Both male cats and dogs fetch more often than females
- Younger animals fetch more frequently
- Living with dogs decreases fetching behaviours in both cats and dogs
- Indoor cats are more likely to fetch than outdoor cats
Though cats are often thought to be standoffish, this research shows that our kitties really do enjoy social interactions with people—and many are more eager to retrieve than you might expect.
Though cats are often thought to be standoffish, this research shows that our kitties really do enjoy social interactions with people.
“Bringing a toy to us is a social request,” says Delgado. “A lot of people mischaracterize cats as being aloof or independent, and in truth, they really do enjoy these interactions with their owners.”
This article originally appeared in the award-winning Modern Cat magazine. Subscribe today!
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