Dogowners often boast about their pets being more engaged in playful doings , like bring ordragging an enormous stickback rest home . But there is mounting evidence thatcatsare happy to guide and retrieve objects , too . Just do n’t expect them to do it on your terminus .
A new research paperpublished inScientific Reportsexamined feline behavior observed by 924 cat owners from around the human race who responded to an online questionnaire . The ego - describe data gave penetration into get habits in a totality of 1154 cat .
The responses demonstrated that 48 percent of cats initiate games of fetch , with only 22 percent picking up on a human ’s attack to engage in play . well-nigh all cats were never taught how to play : the number of sprinting after a throw off aim and make for it back seemed to be inborn rather than acquired .
It appears quat enjoy the act — but why ? For dogs , it might be connected to wanting to please their owner , a concept that cats would in all likelihood scoff at . Instead , it might spark prey inherent aptitude , or might merely be a enthrallment with the throw target , typically a global point or plaything .
concord to Elizabeth Renner , a work author and psychologist at Northumbria University , it might also come down to uncomplicated play taste . “ Some humans might prefer to encounter football game and some like to work golf game , ” RennertoldThe Washington Post . “ Some cats just prefer to playact fetch . ”
Even if a cat enjoys fetch , there ’s no guarantee they ’ll harmonise with the specific . Some CT refused to engage if the object was n’t project far enough away ; other cats would dally only in specific rooms of a house or if a specific toy in a specific colour was used .
Toy size is also apparently critical . Said one respondent of a pom pom toy : “ The size of the pom pom is important . I bought a larger pom pom and she reject it . I ’ve also try small items approximately the same size as the pom pom and she rejects those as well . ”
They also prefer to adjudicate when they ’re done . Most cats in the survey choose to end the fetch seance rather than wait for the possessor to move on .
[ h / tSmithsonian ]
