Evidence for Individual Differences in Behaviour and for Behavioural Syndromes in Adult Shelter Cats

Abstract

Consistent inter-individual differences in behaviour have been previously reported in adult shelter cats. In this study, we aimed to assess whether repeatable individual differences in behaviours exhibited by shelter cats in different situations were interrelated, forming behavioural syndromes. We tested 31 adult cats in five different behavioural tests, repeated three times each: a struggle test where an experimenter restrained the cat, a separation/confinement test where the cat spent 2 min in a pet carrier, a mouse test where the cat was presented with a live mouse in a jar, and two tests where the cat reacted to an unfamiliar human who remained either passive or actively approached the cat. Individual differences in behaviour were consistent (repeatable) across repeated trials for each of the tests. We also found associations between some of the behaviours shown in the different tests, several of which appeared to be due to differences in human-oriented behaviours. This study is the first to assess the presence of behavioural syndromes using repeated behavioural tests in different situations common in the daily life of a cat, and which may prove useful in improving the match between prospective owner and cat in shelter adoption programmes.

Emergence of personality in weaning‐age kittens of the domestic cat?

“…Returning to the main aim of this study, in four of the five tests, we found repeatable individual differences, which extends our previous results on individual differences in the behavior of kittens in brief isolation tests (Hudson et al, 2015(Hudson et al, , 2017. We previously found that adult cats in animal shelters showed stable individual differences in all of the tests employed in the present study, with the exception of the meat test which was not previously performed (Martínez-Byer et al, 2020;Urrutia et al, 2019). In the present study, individual differences in most of the behaviors measured were repeatable in kittens, but with considerably lower R values than those reported for adult cats.…”

“…In the longer term, rankorder of friendliness toward humans is reportedly consistent between the ages of 3 and 8 months (Turner et al, 1986), and cats handled more as kittens consistently reacted more "boldly" toward humans at 4 months and 1 year, although this effect was lost by 2 years of age (Lowe & Bradshaw, 2001), although the short-term stability of these traits was not evaluated within age groups. In addition, we have previously found consistent individual differences in behavior among adult male and female mixed-breed cats of diverse origin and age repeatedly tested in a range of situations (Martínez-Byer et al, 2020;Urrutia et al, 2019).…”

“…also reported the results of a handling test by an unfamiliar person on a cohort of cats at 2, 4, 12, 24, and 33 months of age, and with the exception of the 12-month period, found consistency in individual differences in attempts to escape and signs of stress between ages. To better understand how individual differences in behavior develop in the cat and other species, and to extend previous work on the cat and address the discrepancy between the results of the present study and those of our previous work on adult cats(Martínez-Byer et al, 2020), more extensive longitudinal research is needed. Whether individual differences in behaviors in the domestic cat are consistent before and after major transitional and developmental periods, such as weaning and sexual maturity, and consolidate to form behavioral syndromes remains to be seen.…”

Methods of Assessment of the Welfare of Shelter Cats: A Review

“…The principles of approach tests have been applied to other group of tests, which aim to reveal cats' personalities. Studies show that many aspects of a cat's individuality are stable over time [152]; this fact has led and continues to lead to new studies on the temperament of cats [116,[161][162][163][164][165][166][167] and on development of tools for assessing the temperament of cats in shelters (Feline Temperament Profile (FTP) [50], ASPCA ® 's Meet Your Match ® Feline-ality™ [168] and its modifications [169,170] and other alternatives of testing [171]). Testing of cats' personalities contributes to the improvement of welfare as it increases the chance of compatibility between the lifestyle of the new family and temperament of cats, which leads to a reduction in the numbers of cats that are returned to the shelter [50].…”

Challenges and Solutions Surrounding Environmental Enrichment for Dogs and Cats in a Scientific Environment

“…Frequently changing or randomising toy presentation can help retain the cat's interest and toy engagement, though some cats choose not to participate in human social interactions and prefer to rest, observe, explore or play by themselves. Having awareness of individual preferences but still providing opportunities and choice for these cat behaviours is essential [43,44]. For example, allowing the cat to choose a novel toy from a selection offered in a box or bag encourages the cat to explore, sniff and search for something they want, activating the seeking system, or they may just choose to play or rest in the box (Figure 6).…”