Misinterpretation of study: Anxious cat owners can carry on stroking their four-legged friends without worry
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - 07:30
in Psychology & Sociology
In a study published recently in the journal Physiology & Behavior an international team of researchers examined whether cats living in multi-cat households are more stressed than cats housed singly. Many media outlets responded to the study with an incorrect interpretation of the results and published such as "Cats Hate to be Stroked". The co-author Rupert Palme of the Institute of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, explains: "As a matter of fact, the majority of the cats enjoyed being stroked. Only those animals that did not actually like to be stroked, but nevertheless allowed it, were stressed."