2025-03-18 ワシントン州立大学
<関連情報>
- https://news.wsu.edu/press-release/2025/03/18/feline-therapy-study-suggests-cats-could-fill-an-assistive-niche/
- https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/1/33
フランダースにおける Fe-BARQ を使用した動物介在サービス (AAS) を受けている猫と AAS を受けていない猫の行動プロファイルの違い Behavioural Profile Differences Between Cats in Animal-Assisted Services (AAS) and Non-AAS Cats Using the Fe-BARQ in Flanders
Joni Delanoeije,Christel Palmyre Henri Moons,Els Helena Karel Anna Peeters andPatricia Pendry
Animals Published: 26 December 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15010033
Simple Summary
Cats are increasingly involved in animal-assisted services (AAS), which help people with physical, emotional, or mental challenges. However, some believe cats may not be suitable for this work because of their species-specific needs and behaviours. This study explored whether cats participating in AAS have different behavioural traits compared to other cats. Using a Flemish translation of the Feline Behavioural Assessment and Research Questionnaire (Fe-BARQ) completed by 474 cat caregivers in Flanders, we found that AAS cats scored higher on sociability with people, attention seeking, sociability with cats, and predatory behaviour, and they scored lower on resistance to restraint, compared to other cats. These findings suggest that cats chosen for AAS might naturally exhibit traits that help them thrive in this role. While this study does not make conclusions about whether cats as a species are suitable for AAS (i.e., focusing on between-species differences), it adds to our understanding of how cats might support humans through AAS, taking into account individual characteristics (i.e., focusing on within-species differences). Furthermore, this research tested a useful tool to study cat behaviour, helping to improve how we assess the engagement of cats in AAS now and in the future.
Abstract
The engagement of cats in animal-assisted services (AAS) is increasing. This is surprising given that feline behavioural needs have been perceived as contradictory to conditions associated with AAS engagement, leading to the assumption that cats as a species are not suitable for AAS. However, important within-species variability in behavioural traits nuancing this assumption has not been addressed. Therefore, this study aimed to map the behavioural profiles of cats engaged in AAS and non-AAS cats to detect behavioural profile differences between these groups. Such differences could point to AAS cats being selected to engage in AAS based upon particular behavioural traits or, relatedly, to AAS cats coping differently with AAS features. Using a Flemish translation of the Feline Behavioural Assessment and Research Questionnaire (Fe-BARQ), cross-sectional survey data on various cats’ (N = 474) behavioural indices were collected. Using Mann–Whitney U-tests, results indicate that AAS cats significantly differed from non-AAS cats on five out of 19 behavioural subscales. Specifically, AAS cats scored higher on sociability with people, attention seeking, sociability with cats and predatory behaviour, and they scored lower on resistance to restraint. While this study did not allow for assessing explanations for these differences, findings suggest that cats in AAS may be intentionally or unintentionally selected for behavioural traits perceived as desirable for engagement in AAS. While we refrain from drawing conclusions regarding the “suitability” of cats based solely on our findings, our study contributes to the ongoing discourse surrounding critical themes around AAS-engaging cats. Furthermore, our findings provide a first indication of the reliability of a translation of a well-validated measurement tool suitable to map behavioural traits of cats in Flanders engaged in AAS.
