Scientific Foundations of Feline Activities

Structured Shared Activities Between People and Their Own Cats and Professional Support for These Activities

Feline Activities (FA) focus on structured shared activities between people and their own cats and on providing professional support for these activities through education and guidance.

FA work with the existing human–cat relationship and their shared everyday life.

The closest research model is provided by Frank et al. (2026). The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 36 children aged 8–17 years with developmental disabilities and their own family cats. The six-week program included structured shared activities, cat care, and reward-based training. Outcomes were assessed for the child, the cat, and their relationship.

Frank et al. refer to their program as Cat-Assisted Training and classify it as AAI. The study does not investigate Feline Activities. Its relevance to FA lies in providing experimental data on structured work with an existing human–own family cat dyad, while simultaneously assessing outcomes for the human, the cat, and their relationship.

What Constitutes the Scientific Foundation of Feline Activities?

The current FA framework draws on findings from several areas of research:

• structured shared activities with one's own family cat – Frank et al.;
• the human–cat relationship – Ines et al.; Vitale et al.; Potter & Mills;
• human knowledge, caregiving practices, and cat welfare – Grigg & Kogan;
• body language, choice, and patterns of human–cat interaction – Haywood et al.;
• shared interactive play – Delgado et al.;
• positive training – Kogan et al.;
• training of practical skills and stress monitoring – Pratsch et al.;
• outcomes associated with living with cats in selected human populations – Sanderson et al.; Carlisle et al.;
• welfare, positive and negative experiences, choice and control – Mellor et al.

Together, these areas provide an evidence base for developing, supporting, and evaluating shared activities between people and their cats.

Feline Activities Within HAB and HAI

Feline Activities belong within the fields of the Human–Animal Bond (HAB) and Human–Animal Interaction (HAI).

FA are not conceptualized as part of Animal-Assisted Services (AAS) or Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI). They focus on the existing relationship between people and their own cats and on their shared activities.

Structured activities may include, for example, interactive play, positive training, environmental enrichment, training of practical skills, or voluntary cooperation in care.

Support for these activities includes educating people about feline behavior and cats’ needs, understanding feline body language, respecting individual needs and capacities, monitoring stress, providing choice and control, and assessing welfare.

Outcomes can be assessed for the human, the cat, and their relationship. Human health and well-being, feline health and welfare, and the environment in which they share their lives also make it possible to examine FA within the context of One Health and One Welfare.

References

Carlisle, G. K., Johnson, R. A., Wang, Z., Bibbo, J., Cheak-Zamora, N., & Lyons, L. A. (2021). Exploratory Study of Cat Adoption in Families of Children with Autism: Impact on Children's Social Skills and Anxiety. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 58, 28–35.

Delgado, M., Marcinkiewicz, E., Rhodes, P., & Ellis, S. L. H. (2024). Identifying barriers to providing daily playtime for cats: A survey-based approach using COM-B analysis. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 280, 106420.

Delgado, M., Marcinkiewicz, E., Rhodes, P., & Ellis, S. L. H. (2025). Assessing the impact of a human behaviour change intervention to reduce owner-related barriers to interactive cat play. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 282, 106479. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106479.

Frank, D. H., Darling, S., Moore, K., Vitale, K. R., MacDonald, M., & Udell, M. A. R. (2026). Evaluating a Novel Cat-Assisted Training (CAT) Intervention for Youth with Developmental Disabilities and Their Family Cat. Animals, 16(14), 2133. DOI: 10.3390/ani16142133.

Grigg, E. K., & Kogan, L. R. (2019). Owners' Attitudes, Knowledge, and Care Practices: Exploring the Implications for Domestic Cat Behavior and Welfare in the Home. Animals, 9(11), 978.

Haywood, C., Ripari, L., Puzzo, J., Foreman-Worsley, R., & Finka, L. R. (2021). Providing Humans With Practical, Best Practice Handling Guidelines During Human-Cat Interactions Increases Cats' Affiliative Behaviour and Reduces Aggression and Signs of Conflict. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8, 714143.

Ines, M., Ricci-Bonot, C., & Mills, D. S. (2021). My Cat and Me—A Study of Cat Owner Perceptions of Their Bond and Relationship. Animals, 11(6), 1601. DOI: 10.3390/ani11061601.

Kogan, L., Kolus, C., & Schoenfeld-Tacher, R. (2017). Assessment of Clicker Training for Shelter Cats. Animals, 7, 73.

Mellor, D. J., Beausoleil, N. J., Littlewood, K. E., McLean, A. N., McGreevy, P. D., Jones, B., & Wilkins, C. (2020). The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including Human–Animal Interactions in Assessments of Animal Welfare. Animals, 10(10), 1870. DOI: 10.3390/ani10101870.

Potter, A., & Mills, D. S. (2015). Domestic Cats (Felis silvestris catus) Do Not Show Signs of Secure Attachment to Their Owners. PLOS ONE, 10(9), e0135109.

Pratsch, L., Mohr, N., Palme, R., Rost, J., Troxler, J., & Arhant, C. (2018). Carrier training cats reduces stress on transport to a veterinary practice. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 206, 64–74.

Sanderson, S. L., et al. (2024). The Impact of Cat Fostering on Older Adult Well-Being and Loneliness: A Feasibility Study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 79(1), gbad140.

Vitale, K. R., Behnke, A. C., & Udell, M. A. R. (2019). Attachment bonds between domestic cats and humans. Current Biology, 29(18), R864–R865.

Appendix: Overview of Studies Underpinning Feline Activities

1. Frank et al. (2026) – Structured Activities With One's Own Family Cat

Sample: 36 children aged 8–17 years with developmental disabilities and their own family cats.

Method: Randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waitlist control group.

Program: Six weeks of structured shared activities, cat care, and reward-based training.

Outcomes: Children showed increases in some health-promoting activities and in responsibility for cat care. Immediately after the program, cats showed greater sociability toward the child. At the one-year follow-up, a higher frequency of secure attachment of cats to children was observed compared with baseline. Not all measured outcomes changed.

Relevance to FA: The study works with an existing human–own family cat dyad, uses structured shared activities, and assesses outcomes for the human, the cat, and their relationship.

2. Ines, Ricci-Bonot & Mills (2021) – The Human–Cat Relationship

Sample: 3,994 cat caregivers.

Method: Questionnaire survey focusing on the nature of the human–cat relationship.

Outcomes: The authors identified five distinct relationship profiles. These differed, for example, in the degree of human emotional involvement, the cat's need for proximity to the person, sociability toward other people, and degree of independence.

Relevance to FA: Individual human–cat relationships differ. The nature of the relationship is one of the factors that can be considered when planning and carrying out shared activities.

3. Potter & Mills (2015) and Vitale, Behnke & Udell (2019) – Cats’ Attachment to Humans

Potter & Mills: A study of 20 adult cats did not provide sufficient evidence to support the general application of the classical secure attachment model.

Vitale et al.: The authors described different patterns of cats’ attachment to caregivers and reported findings supporting the possibility that, for some cats, a human may serve as a source of security.

Relevance to FA: Research on the social bond between humans and cats has produced differing findings, and relationships may vary between individual human–cat dyads.

4. Grigg & Kogan (2019) – Human Knowledge and Cat Welfare

Sample: 547 caregivers of domestic cats.

Assessed: Knowledge of feline behavior and needs, attitudes, caregiving practices, and behavioral problems.

Outcomes: Greater knowledge was associated with fewer reported behavioral problems and less use of positive punishment. The study also identified shortcomings in environmental enrichment.

Limitation: The cross-sectional design does not allow causal relationships to be established.

Relevance to FA: Supporting shared activities includes educating people about feline behavior, needs, and welfare.

5. Haywood et al. (2021) – Human–Cat Interaction

Sample: 120 people, 100 cats, and 535 interactions.

Intervention: Brief instruction for participants on respecting the cat's choice, observing feline body language, and using appropriate forms of physical contact.

Outcomes: Following the instruction, participants changed the way they interacted with the cats. Cats displayed more affiliative behavior and less aggression and fewer signs of conflict.

Relevance to FA: Human behavior during shared activities can influence cats’ behavioral responses.

6. Delgado et al. (2024, 2025) – Shared Interactive Play

The authors first investigated barriers preventing people from engaging in daily interactive play with their own cats. These findings were subsequently used to develop an intervention aimed at changing caregiver behavior.

Follow-up questionnaires were completed by 363 cat caregivers. After the program, 35.3% of participants reported playing with their cats more frequently. A further 11.9% reported an intention to change the frequency of play. Participants reported fewer barriers related to capability and motivation and fewer behavioral problems in their cats.

Limitation: The findings are based on participant self-reports and do not demonstrate a causal improvement in feline welfare.

Relevance to FA: Shared activities between people and their own cats can be supported through targeted human education.

7. Kogan, Kolus & Schoenfeld-Tacher (2017) – Positive Training

The study evaluated the use of clicker training with cats.

Outcomes: Cats were able to learn specific tasks through positive reinforcement. Individual cats differed in motivation and learning progress.

Relevance to FA: Positive training can constitute one form of structured shared activity between a person and a cat.

8. Pratsch et al. (2018) – Carrier Training and Stress

Sample: 22 cats.

Method: Randomized controlled trial. Eleven cats completed 28 carrier-training sessions over six weeks, while eleven cats formed the control group.

Outcomes: Trained cats showed lower stress scores during a subsequent car journey, and their veterinary examinations were shorter.

Relevance to FA: Training outcomes can be evaluated not only in terms of learned behavior but also according to the cat's response in the situation for which the training was intended to prepare them.

9. Sanderson et al. (2024) – Cats and Older Adults Living Alone

Sample: 29 people aged at least 60 years who lived alone and did not have a companion animal before the study.

Intervention: Fostering a shelter cat for at least four months.

Outcomes: A statistically significant reduction in loneliness was found after four months.

Limitations: Small sample, absence of a control group, and specific study conditions.

Relevance to FA: The study provides data on potential psychosocial associations of everyday life with a cat in a specific human population.

10. Carlisle et al. (2021) – Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Family Cats

Sample: 11 families of children with autism spectrum disorder.

Method: Small randomized controlled trial. Cats that had been pre-selected for temperament were adopted into the participating families.

Outcomes: Following adoption, changes were observed in several psychosocial measures, including increased empathy and reduced separation anxiety.

Limitations: Very small sample; the authors describe the findings as exploratory.

Relevance to FA: The study examines outcomes associated with children living with family cats and also considers characteristics of the cats themselves.

11. Mellor et al. (2020) – The Five Domains Model of Animal Welfare

The updated Five Domains Model includes:

1. nutrition,
2. physical environment,
3. health,
4. behavioral interactions,
5. mental state.

The model incorporates both negative and positive animal experiences and human–animal interactions. It also addresses the animal's capacity to actively engage with its environment and voluntary, goal-directed behavior associated with agency – the capacity to actively influence one's own situation.

Relevance to FA: During shared activities, evaluation can extend beyond completion of the activity itself to include the cat's behavioral and emotional responses, positive and negative experiences, and ability to influence the course of the interaction.