Feline Advisory Bureau Releases 'Cat Personality Report'

by Jenny Dolphin

The UK's Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB) has produced a 'cat personality report' entitled 'Up Close and Purrsonal,' based on a survey of 1,853 British cat guardians and cat breeders.

According to Claire Bessant, FAB CEO, most of the respondents were "enthusiastic cat owners." The survey was carried out in conjunction with Felix (Nestlé Purina), to mark the beginning of the 2004 FAB Year of the Cat.

The results were issued with the caution that the sample may not be representative of the average UK cat or cat guardian.

Pedigree cats comprised 40% of the sample but only make up 10% of the general cat population in the UK. There are 7 million cats in the UK.

The survey's findings included the discovery that almost half the cats hate car travel, although 16% reportedly enjoy it, and 10% have never been in a car.

Three quarters of the surveyed cats are allowed to go out during daylight hours. 33% of those allowed out are able to wander without restraint, while 20% are restricted to the garden or an enclosed run.

Half of the cats allowed out during the day, however, are kept inside at night. 69% of the cats that go outside display hunting behaviour, while 41% of the cats kept inside resort to catching insects to keep up their hunting skills.

The cats in the survey found pleasure in a variety of activities, including getting attention from their guardians, climbing curtains or playing with dripping water. 80% of the cats reportedly enjoyed catnip.

Just 20% of the cats were the only cat in the household, with 7% of the cats living in households of 10 or more other cats. The majority of cats in the report got along with the other cats in their household.

44% of the cats retrieve items their guardians throw for them, such as balls, toys, scrunched up paper balls, silver-foil balls, cotton reels, elastic bands, string, socks, tights, brushes, leaves, feathers, beads and ear-plugs. Most of the cats who retrieve items are pedigrees, and/or less than five years old.

Close to 33% of the surveyed cats are given only dried food, while 13% are given only wet food. Over 50% are fed a mixture of wet and dry food. 50% of cats are fed occasional treats, while 20% are given cat milk.

96% of mixed breed cats in the survey have been spayed or neutered, compared with 80% of 'non-breeding' pedigree cats.

Cat guardians reported that 75% of the cats in the survey had experienced behaviour difficulties during their lives, including inappropriate indoor toileting (17.5%), aggression to other cats in the house (10%), overgrooming (8%), aggression towards people (5%), separation problems after overbonding with their guardian (5%), destructiveness through scratching (4%) and inappropriate sexual behaviour (1%).

The top ten names for females are, in order from most popular to least popular: Lucy, Poppy, Cleo, Holly, Daisy, Molly, Tabitha, Misty, Amber and Chloe.

The top ten names for males are Charlie, Sammy, Billy, Oscar, Oliver, Ben, Smokie, Tigger, Sooty and Leo.

The more unusual names reported included Abracadabra, Wacky Pie and Marbles.

Other patterns among the cats in the survey included a decline in activity with age, and a correlation between activity levels of individual cats when they are kittens and when they become adults. Cats’ personalities also changed with age, according to the guardians in the survey.

Many cats became more confident, more interactive, more 'talkative,' less nervous and more demanding over time.

© 2004 Animal News Center, Inc.