{"id":20010,"date":"2024-08-16T07:50:22","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T14:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/?p=20010"},"modified":"2025-02-02T13:14:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T21:14:02","slug":"10-facts-you-never-knew-about-your-cats-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/10-facts-you-never-knew-about-your-cats-personality\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a010 facts you never knew about your cat\u2019s personality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Contributed to Town Cats by Erin McCluskey<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Your cat\u2019s personality traits may be tied to their genes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: According to a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2615\/11\/10\/2823\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2021 research paper<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in the scientific journal Animals, one study found genetic variations in cats who were ranked by their owners as higher in \u201croughness\u201d out of four personality categories: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Openness, Friendliness, Roughness and Neuroticism.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>If you\u2019re having a bad day, your cat is a good shoulder to cry on<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Devoted dog lovers may tell you that cats aren\u2019t capable of the same love and affection as their canine counterparts, but we say otherwise. Research has demonstrated that cats increase meowing and leg rubbing behavior when in close proximity to owners experiencing negative emotions. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022<\/span><b> Your cat may interact with you for longer if you let them initiate first contact<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Some research shows that interactions between cats and their owners last longer in dura<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tion when the cat is the one who initiates contact.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 <\/span><b>Indoor cats tend to initiate human contact more often than outdoor cats<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Inside-only cats may seek more interaction with you than your outdoor adventurer. Experts theorize this may be due to indoor environments often having less stimulation for pets than outdoor settings. This is why it\u2019s important to provide your cat with plenty of enriching activities to keep them physically and mentally active.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 <\/span><b>Comply with your cat, and they may be more likely to return the favor<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Let\u2019s face it; sometimes it feels like our cats are the ones training us. Thankfully, there may be a happy middle. One study demonstrated that when owners were more willing to comply with their cat\u2019s attempts at interaction, the more likely cats were to comply the next time the owner was the one to request interaction.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 <\/span><b>Cats seem to recognize their owner\u2019s voice<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Exactly what our cats are saying when they\u2019re talking to us may still be somewhat of a mystery, but research indicates that cats do indeed know the difference between their owner\u2019s voice and the voice of someone unfamiliar to them. Of course, whether or not they choose to respond to our call is a different story\u2026<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 <\/span><b>Cats may know where you\u2019re pointing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: You might think that pointing and exclaiming, \u201cLook, your toy is right there!\u201d may have more success with your dog than your cat. But a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0160289618300035\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2019 study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> involving 41 cats found that feline companions had an over 70% success rate in following human gaze to successfully locate hidden cat treats. In fact, the researchers reported cats\u2019 gaze-following skills on par with that of primates.<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li><b>Cats respond to music<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Vet visits can be stressful for humans and cats alike. However, findings from a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1098612X19828131\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2019 study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery revealed that playing cat-specific music during a vet visit may make physical exams less stressful for our feline friends. A musical composition that featured purring and suckling noises showed to reduce cat stress level scores more so than silence or classical music.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Slow blinks may help establish trust between you and your new cat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: In some animals, eye-narrowing behavior is thought to communicate positive emotions. Researchers from a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/33020542\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2020 study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in Scientific Reports found that cats tend to reciprocate eye-narrowing behavior from their owners. Interestingly, cats were also more likely to approach strangers who offered a slow blink over strangers who maintained a neutral facial expression. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2022 <\/span><b>Different cat breeds exhibit different personality traits<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: In a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2615\/11\/7\/1991\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2021 study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> involving over 4,000 cats across more than 20 breeds, researchers from the University of Helsinki found that Bengal cats proved to be the most active breed, with Russian Blue cats scoring highest in the fear personality category. Oppositely, Persian and Exotic breeds were found to be the most passive, while the Abyssinian breed was the least fearful of them all.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contributed to Town Cats by Erin McCluskey Your cat\u2019s personality traits may be tied to their genes: According to a 2021 research paper published in the scientific journal Animals, one study found genetic variations in cats who were ranked by their owners as higher in \u201croughness\u201d out of four personality categories: Openness, Friendliness, Roughness and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":20011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,347],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts","category-cat-knowledge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20010"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20010"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20016,"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20010\/revisions\/20016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/towncats.org\/sandbox202604\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}