Reliability and Validity of Seven Feline Behavior and Personality Traits

Abstract

Domestic cats are popular pets, and they have personalities, with stable behavior differences between individuals. Lately, feline behavior and personality have been studied with different approaches, for example, with owner-completed questionnaires. The majority of these studies, however, lack a sufficient validation and reliability assessment of the questionnaires used. We designed an online feline behavior and personality questionnaire to collect cat behavior data from their owners. Then, we ran a factor analysis to study the structure of personality and behavior in a dataset of over 4300 cats. For validation, we studied the internal consistency, test–retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity of this questionnaire and extracted factors. In addition, we briefly examined breed differences in the seven discovered factors: fearfulness, activity/playfulness, aggression toward humans, sociability toward humans, sociability toward cats, excessive grooming and litterbox issues. Most of the rank ordering of breeds within each trait paralleled what has been found in previous studies. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire and factors were good, strengthening owner-completed questionnaires as a method to collect behavioral data from pet animals. Breed differences suggest a genetic background for personality. However, these differences should be studied further with multidimensional models, including environmental and biological variables.

Fearfulness associates with problematic behaviors and poor socialization in cats

“…For example, the Turkish Van has been ranked as the most aggressive breed in previous studies of local cat population ( Vapalahti et al., 2016 ; Salonen et al., 2019 ). Breed order differs only slightly from a previous study that partly used the same data but did not include other factors in the models ( Mikkola et al., 2021 ). Interestingly, short- and long-haired Landrace Cats differ from each other, even though both can be born in the same litter.…”

“…In addition, genetics may affect the probability of developing these behavioral problems. Previous literature has found occasionally contradictory breed differences between these behaviors ( Naderi et al., 2011 ; Hart and Hart, 2013 ; Tamimi et al., 2015 ; Wassink-van der Schot et al., 2016 ; Ahola et al., 2017 ; Salonen et al., 2019 ; Mikkola et al., 2021 ). Certain personality types are also suggested to be more prone to stress ( Foster and Ijichi, 2017 ) and, thus, to more readily develop problematic behaviors than others.…”

“…We collected a convenience sample of over 3,200 Finnish cats using a validated feline behavior and personality survey ( Mikkola et al., 2021 ). This study focused on identifying the risk factors of three problematic behaviors: fearfulness, aggression toward humans, and excessive grooming.…”

Comparative Analyses of the Gut Microbiota in Growing Ragdoll Cats and Felinae Cats

“…At first, humans probably domesticated cats because they had the ability to catch rodents and could protect crops [ 2 ]. In modern life, domesticated cats mainly play a role in the emotional care and mental happiness of their owners [ 3 , 31 ]. In fact, frequent contact with domesticated cats can alter the owner’s microbial communities and reduce the risk of obesity and allergic diseases [ 9 , 32 ].…”

“…During the long-term evolutionary process, the morphological and genetic portraits of domestic cats changed significantly from their wild ancestors [ 2 ]. Moreover, the behaviors and personalities of domestic cats are also quite different from their wild ancestors [ 3 ]. Today, domestic cats have adapted to the domesticated environment and have become popular pets all over the world.…”