50 Chapter 4owners, but not all pet cats do this and these behaviours can be just as frequently
directed onto inanimate objects, especially soft, fur-like fabrics. Another idea is that
because pet cats demonstrate the same affiliative behaviours towards people as they
do towards other cats considered to be part of the same social group, they regard us
as fellow social group members. But as there is no validated scientific evidence to
support either hypothesis, the cat’s view of its role in its relationship with us remains
a mystery.
Cats often tend to favour the person that feeds them. Geering (1986, in Turner, 2000)
found that although other interactions such as stroking and playing were necessary
to help maintain a relationship, feeding was most important in establishing the rela-
tionship in the first place. A recent study by Shreve et al. (2017) suggested, however,
that cats prefer human interaction to food, although the social interaction with
people that most of the cats in the study preferred was playing with a wand type toy.
When playing, a cat’s focus of attention will be far greater towards the toy than
towards the human who is making the toy move, so this could be seen more as an
interaction with the toy than with the person. The other interactions offered were
being stroked or being talked to, which most of the cats preferred less than playing
with the toy. One specific food, tuna, was also preferred over being stroked or spo-
ken to, although preferred less than interactions with the toy, indicating that in fact
predatory-type play was actually the most preferred activity, followed by tasty food
and then human interaction.
But it would be impossible to extrapolate the preferences of all cats from a single
study because this can vary greatly between individuals and be influenced by multiple
factors such as time of day, mood, hunger, and the strength and quality of the rela-
tionship with the person.
Attachment to owners
An attachment is an emotional bond between two or more individuals. Inarguably pet
cats develop a bond and affection for their owners, although there is some debate and
further research required as to the type or level of attachment that cats have to their
human caregivers.
In relationships of secure attachment, an individual perceives another as a point
of safety and security and can become highly distressed when separated from their
attachment figure, a condition commonly known as ‘separation anxiety’. Secure attach-
ment is the bond that exists between the young of many species, including human
children, and their mothers, and has been well documented to exist between pet dogs
and their owners (Bowlby, 1988; Topál et al., 1998; Prato-Previde et al., 2003).
Some authors report that cats also exhibit secure attachment to their owners
(Schwartz, 2002; Edwards et al., 2007). But a more recent study questioned previous
findings and revealed that although cats are affectionate towards their owners, they
do not appear to demonstrate this particular form of attachment (Potter and Mills,
2015). In another, albeit small and unpublished study by Zak (2016), blood samples
were taken from both dogs and cats before and after interacting with their owners,
and tested for oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter that is often
called ‘the love hormone’ because it plays an important role in emotional attachment.
After interacting with their owners, the average increase in oxytocin in the dogs was