Cats are notoriously independent and aloof, preferring to interact with humans in their own quirky ways. So you'll never see a cat playing fetch like a dog, right? Wrong. This type of play behavior is more common than you might think - one of our cats was an avid fetcher when he was young, but as he got older, he slowed down a bit. However, so far, the evidence regarding cats' specific fetching behavior has been mostly anecdotal.
So a team of British scientists set out to study this unusual feline play behavior more broadly and report their findings in a new paper in the journal Scientific Reports. The researchers concluded that most cats that enjoy playing fetch learned how to play fetch without any explicit training, and that cats are generally able to control themselves when playing fetch with humans. Specifically, cats played fetch longer and retrieved thrown objects more often when the cats themselves, rather than their owners, initiated the play. In other words, cats are still cats.
The authors say that play behavior is shown in many different animal species and is most common in mammals and birds. When cats play, their behavior often resembles hunting behaviors common to European wild cats and lynxes: rapid approach and retreat, jumping, chasing, pouncing, and stalking. Initially, as kittens, they engage in social forms of play such as wrestling with littermates, while as adults they tend to engage in more solitary play - the opposite of dogs, who often play alone with objects before transitioning to social play.
Contrary to what people expect from cats, fetching behavior occurs in several breeds of cats around the world, often starting in kittenhood. One owner who participated in the 2022 study noted that their cat was so obsessed with fetching that it would sometimes drop a favorite toy on their face in the middle of the night. The authors of this latest study wanted to determine whether cats can learn to fetch without explicit training, and how well cats perform when starting and ending fetch play.
The authors developed an online questionnaire with 23 questions, focusing specifically on when cat owners first noticed the fetching behavior of their pets (current or past kittens), what objects the cat preferred during such play, whether the cat or a human initiated and ended the play, and the number of times the cat retrieved an object during a play of fetch. They also collected demographic data (age, gender, neutered status, breed, whether the cat lived in a multi-cat household or with other animals such as dogs) and cat owner demographics. There were also two open-ended questions to allow cat owners to provide extended responses.
The analysis included responses from 1,154 cats and 924 owners. These responses revealed that 94% of cats started playing fetch without any explicit training, and 61% of these cats began to exhibit this behavior as kittens. For example, one cat started picking things up after a rubber band slipped from a rolled-up newspaper and flew out into the hallway, according to its owner. The cat chased the rubber band, brought it back triumphantly, and dropped the rubber band at its owner's feet. When the owner slapped the rubber band back into the hallway, the cat took it back. Another owner described how their cat would retrieve a thrown cat toy without any prompting and drop it at their feet, patiently waiting to be thrown again.
These cats were less likely to learn to fetch from the family dog, as only 23% of fetching cats lived in households with dogs or other cats who enjoyed playing fetch. 59% of fetch cats play fetch games up to 10 times a month, with most playing fetch up to 5 times on average.
Among purebred cats, Siamese cats enjoyed playing fetch the most (36 out of 160 samples), followed by Bengal cats (16) and Ragdolls (12). But most of the cats that played fetch (994) were mixed breed cats. In other findings, the most popular items to retrieve were cat toys (40 per cent), but cats being cats, fur ties, bottle caps and crumpled paper were also popular. Male and female cats learn to fetch in much the same way. Cats are more likely than humans to initiate and end fetch play, and when they initiate the play themselves, they play more frequently and fetch more times per session.
In short, "the initiative of fetching lies mainly in the hands of cats, who can largely control the fetch play with their owners and decide how they want to participate in fetch play," the authors concluded. "Owners who are receptive to their cat's attempts may develop a stronger bond with their cat."
Scientific Reports, 2023. DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-47409-w (About DOI)