Many people have cats as pets. But according to research from animal behavior specialists at the University of Lincoln, cats do not necessarily need owners, as they found that domestic adult cats do not look to their human overlords as their primary source of security and safety, the way dogs do.
Indepndent.UK reported that researchers adapted the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test, or SST, which has been used for years as a way to measure “secure attachment,” such as the bond between children and their parents when in unfamiliar environments.
In this case, cats were placed in strange environments in the form of plain rooms. The cats were observed in the rooms by themselves, with their owners and with strangers. Researchers observed cats’ passive behaviour, distress when an owner was absent and contact.
The cats were actually more vocal when their owners left than when the strangers did, but “we didn’t see any additional evidence to suggest that the bond between a cat and its owner is one of secure attachment,” co-author and veterinary behavioral medicine professor Daniel Mills said in a statement.
“This vocalization might simply be a sign of frustration or learned response, since no other signs of attachment were reliably seen,” Mills said. “In strange situations, attached individuals seek to stay close to their carer, show signs of distress when they are separated and demonstrate pleasure when their attachment figure returns, but these trends weren’t apparent during our research.”
Cats are much more independent, autonomous creatures in strange situations than dogs, for whom owners “represent a specific safe haven” Mills said.
But the study authors didn’t conclude that cats don’t develop close relationships, just that they don’t appear to be based on a need for safety and security. In this study, cats belonging to owners who said the pets were highly attached to them didn’t really have different results than the other cats, Mills said.
