Cats form secure and insecure attachments to caregivers

Adapting the Strange Situation Test used with infants and dogs, researchers observed how cats behaved when their owner left and returned. Cats displayed distinct attachment styles: secure individuals used the owner as a safe base, exploring and greeting calmly on reunion, while insecure cats showed excessive clinging or avoidance. The distribution of styles mirrored that found in human infants, and attachment classification was stable across a follow-up. The study reframed the cat-human relationship as a genuine social bond rather than mere food-seeking, and it has been influential in shifting public and scientific views of feline sociality and emotional life.