Guardian: Feline uncertain? Cats do give clues if the fur's about to fly, study finds [View all]

Study of 105 pairs of interacting felines decodes the cat behaviour that puzzles humans – and flags up the unsubtle battle cry of claws and yowling



Kittens play and test out their powers. Photograph: Melanie DeFazio/Stocksy United

Nicola Davis Science correspondent
@NicolaKSDavis
Thu 26 Jan 2023 12.16 EST
First published on Thu 26 Jan 2023 11.00 EST

When cats get together it can be difficult to tell rough and tumble play from a full-blown scrap. Now researchers say they have decoded feline behaviour to help owners spot when the fur might be about to fly. Dr Noema Gajdoš‑Kmecová, first author of the research from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, in Košice, Slovakia – a cat owner herself – said understanding feline interactions could be difficult.

“Many owners are asking themselves the question, are these cats playing, fighting? Or what’s going on actually? We found out that there was actually very little scientific evidence to guide us in answering this question so we decided to go for it and study inter-cat interactions,” she said.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Gajdoš‑Kmecová, and colleagues, describe how they examined the behaviour of 105 pairs of interacting domestic cats recorded on videos collected from YouTube. They also advertised for cat owners.

The researchers randomly selected 30% of the videos and analysed the cats’ actions to produce six behavioural categories, including wrestling, chasing, vocalisations, and motionless postures such as crouching. Each of the cats in the full sample were then assessed for these categories.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/26/feline-uncertain-cats-do-give-clues-if-the-furs-about-to-fly-study-finds