Research overview: welfare frameworks from the Five Freedoms to positive welfare

Conceptual frameworks structure how we judge captive animal welfare, and they have evolved over time. This overview surveys the progression from the Five Freedoms, freedom from hunger, discomfort, pain, fear and the freedom to express normal behaviour, toward more recent models emphasising positive affective states and a life worth living. It examines how these frameworks apply to captive felids, the limitations of harm-avoidance-only approaches, the rise of the Five Domains Model and concepts of behavioural diversity and positive welfare, and how frameworks translate into practical assessment protocols. It also discusses the relationship between naturalness, feelings and biological function as competing welfare conceptions. The synthesis frames welfare frameworks as the evolving scaffolding that organises the diverse measures used to evaluate captive cats.