Lateralized behavior in the domestic cat
Wells DL and Millsopp S (2009) Lateralized behavior in the domestic cat,Felis silvestris catus. Animal Behavior 78.2: 537-541. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.06.010
90% of humans are right handed, but few studies have been done on lateralization in other species, mostly focusing on nonhuman primates (yay anthropocentricity!) A few studies have found that unneutered male dogs are more likely to use their left paws than female dogs or neutered dogs which suggesting the role of sex hormones in motor skills. Male horses also showed the same left bias, but other factors, such as training, may have affected motor bias.
Handedness often varies as a function of task complexity or conditioning, as any of us oppressed left handers will tell you, so multiple tests should be done to actually elucidate handedness. This study subjected only neutered/spayed domestic cats to three different tasks to determine whether or not the animals had significant paw preference.
Task 1: Food retrieval - make cat aware of treat, stick treat in a jar small enough that they can’t use face to retrieve. Observe first paw used.
Task 2: Tease cat with cat string toy/anything in the air. Observe first paw used.
Task 3: Drag toy along ground so cat will chase. Observe first paw used.
Repeat tasks 100 times (not in one day or cat will murder you, see future post).
The cats showed a stronger paw preference for Task 1 (the most complex task) than Task 3 or Task 2 (may be more reflex oriented). Direction of the cats’ paw preference was significantly related to animals’ sex, with males being left biased. Previously, studies had not been able to show a sex based significant difference in handedness at the population level, but this could’ve been due to simply a higher n for females.
Conclusion: I think all three boys of the ginger frat are right pawed. I wonder if there’s any sort of relationship between owner handedness and cat handedness. Like if they’ve been conditioned to get more attention from the owner’s right or left side, depending on the owner’s handedness, would that condition their own handedness in response?