Experimental evaluation of attachment behaviours in owned cats

Edwards and colleagues tested whether the bond between cats and owners meets formal criteria for attachment by observing owned cats in an Ainsworth-style procedure with episodes of the owner present, a stranger present, and being left alone. They scored exploration, play, vocalization and contact-seeking across conditions to see whether cats preferentially sought the owner as a secure base and safe haven. The cats showed some differential responses to owner versus stranger, providing partial evidence consistent with an attachment relationship, though weaker and less consistent than the classic patterns in human infants. The study was an early systematic attempt to bring the attachment framework to cats and helped set the stage for later, larger investigations that reached differing conclusions about the strength and nature of feline attachment.