Research overview: personality, stress physiology, and coping styles in cats

Consistent individual differences in cats extend to how they cope with stress, linking behaviour to physiology. This overview surveys research relating feline personality dimensions such as boldness and neuroticism to proactive versus reactive coping styles, stress hormone responses, and behavioural lateralisation. It discusses how coping style predicts adaptation to novel environments, shelters, and clinics, and how it relates to welfare and disease susceptibility. It connects the bold-shy continuum to underlying neuroendocrine differences. The topic integrates personality, physiology, and welfare, showing that temperament is not merely descriptive but tied to how individual cats physiologically manage challenge and to their resilience under stress.