Scientists in California are looking for brave volunteers to take on the rigorous task of playing with cats. The researchers hope to better understand how pet owners interact with their cats and what constitutes good play. Participants will also have a chance to win a $50 gift card.
The study is being conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis’ Animal Welfare and Epidemiology Laboratory. Previous projects have asked people about their cats’ appetite for worms, whether their cats socialize easily with other cats, and whether they declaw their adopted kittens.
The new study will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase, subjects will be asked to simply send in a two-minute video of themselves playing with a cat as they normally would (videos shared with other researchers and the public will be edited, if necessary, to show only the cat and toy). In the second phase, subjects will be sent the same “standard” toy and asked to use specific movements to move the toy in front of the cat.
The project’s explicit goals are to study how cat owners interact with their cats during normal playtime, and to compare how playful different cats are with particular moving toys, but Hee-Lin Chun, a doctoral student in the lab, also hopes the research will dispel some misconceptions about cats.
“One of the things that motivates me the most is knowing that cats are one of the most misunderstood animals in the home. I think a lot of people who are scared of or dislike cats have a lot of misconceptions about their behavior. For example, I trained my cat Memi to jump through hoops, and a lot of people are surprised to hear that a cat can do that. I think increasing knowledge about cat behavior can help clear up some of these misconceptions and allow people to interact with cats and understand their needs better,” she said. “So people who take part in this study will know that they’ve contributed to a field of science that will ultimately be applied to help cats and help people understand them better.”
