Studies Show that Cats Like Their Owners More Than Food

STATES CHRONICLE – A new research developed by researchers at Oregon State University and New Jersey’s Monmouth University has unveiled that cats love their owners more than food. The new study was published on March 24 in Behavioural Processes. Researchers indicate that, based on some experiments which tested the reactions of cats to people and things present in their everyday routine, they tend to love their relationship with humans more than anything else.

A new study shows that cats may like their owners more than they like food

Basically, that means that every cat may like its owner. To demonstrate their assumption, researchers took 50 cats from an animal shelter and some private homes and restricted their access to four types of stimuli for several hours, like human interaction, smell, toys and food. Then, specialists reintroduced the missing stimuli one by one to deduce which of the stimuli is their favorite one.

The results indicated that half of the cats wanted to see their owners, craving for human interaction and disregarding anything else. Nevertheless, about 37% of the felines favored food over people. Researchers claim that even if cats are known to be very sociable on a continuum, most likely they are inclined towards independence.

When they are deprived of human interaction, they crave for it

They have revealed that 50% of the cats which participated in the study preferred to socially interact even if they indicated a direct choice between their interaction with people and the other most favored stimuli from the list. The authors of this study suggested that even if there was no difference in adopted cats and shelter cats’ reactions, the cats’ choice could have been different depending on their breed or their personal experiences with food and people.

Probably many people believe that humans’ feline friends are well-known for being distant and independent. However, they are also graceful, self-contained and narcissistic compared to dogs. Dogs are known for their friendly behavior, their clumsiness, and unwavering affection. Some may say that cats are friendly only when they want something.

The new study indicated that the cat cognition study provides palpable proofs regarding their problem-solving skills and the complex socio-cognitive they have. Nevertheless, people trust the common belief which argues that cats are not trainable or sociable. The study demonstrated felines’ crave for human interaction. Next time a cat meows, she may just want your attention.

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