Attachment bonds between domestic cats and humans

Vitale, Behnke and Udell adapted the secure base test used with infants and dogs to ask whether cats form attachment bonds with their owners. Cats experienced a brief separation from and reunion with their owner in an unfamiliar room, and their behaviour was classified using the same framework applied to human babies. About two-thirds of cats showed secure attachment, greeting the owner and then calmly exploring, while the rest showed insecure patterns, proportions strikingly similar to those found in human infants and dogs. The bonds were stable when retested weeks later and were not erased by a socialization-and-training intervention. The study provided strong evidence that cats, often stereotyped as aloof, form genuine attachment relationships and use their owners as a source of security.