Research overview: behavioral indicators of welfare in captive felids

Behaviour offers a rich, non-invasive window into felid welfare, but interpreting it requires care. This overview surveys the behavioural signs used to assess captive cats: stereotypic pacing and route-tracing, activity and inactivity budgets, exploratory and play behaviour, feeding and hunting behaviour, hiding and vigilance, abnormal repetitive self-directed behaviours such as over-grooming, and the expression or suppression of species-typical behaviours. It discusses how these map onto positive and negative affective states, the use of behavioural diversity and qualitative behavioural assessment, and the pitfalls of reading single behaviours in isolation. The synthesis stresses combining multiple behavioural measures, ideally with physiological data, to build a reliable picture of an individual cat's welfare.