The
Telegraph reports that new research from Oregon State University,
published on Friday in Behavioural Processes, concludes that cats enjoy human contact more than eating.
Dispelling the rumour that cats are antisocial and the only
love they show is cupboard love, they subjected cats to a series of
tests to prove what they choose in different situations.
The
researchers took 50 cats from shelters and peoples homes and deprived
them of food, human contact, scent and toys for a few hours.
They then introduced them to stimuli within these four categories to see what they chose.
Most cats chose human socialisation over any of the other categories.
The authors of the study wrote:
"While it has been suggested
that cat sociality exists on a continuum, perhaps skewed toward
independency, we have found that 50% of cats tested preferred
interaction with the social stimulus even though they had a direct
choice between social interaction with a human and their other most
preferred stimuli from the three other stimulus categories."
Hmm, I must tell Rosie this!
