Cats are very particular animals, which often baffle even the owners themselves. They can be classified as “psychopaths” due to their ability to manipulate.
The Journal of Research in Personality published a study that analyzes the triarchic model of psychopathy of these domestic animals (boldness, meanness and disinhibition).
For owners, it is key to know these particularities in order to know how to treat it and communicate better. For this, scientists from the British University of Liverpool and John Moores created a questionnaire with 46 questions to detect if your cat suffers from psychopathy.
This is a test with 46 statements about cats, in which the person must rate the extent to which the animal fits that statement to determine its CAT-Tri, the pet’s level of psychopathy.
Some scenarios it poses are if the cat explores dangerous places, if it tortures its prey instead of killing it, if it climbs to places that are too high, or if it is aggressive towards neighborhood cats.
To conduct this questionnaire, researchers asked 549 people about their pets’ levels of meanness, inhibition, and boldness. Based on the responses, the scientists identified 40 characteristics that they used for the preliminary test of feline psychopathy.
This questionnaire was reviewed by another 1,463 cat owners who carefully analyzed the responses to refine it.
According to the authors, many of the questions also apply to other animals. Rebecca Evans, the lead researcher at the University of Liverpool, told Metro: “It is likely that all cats have an element of psychopathy, as it was once useful to their ancestors in terms of acquiring resources: for example, food , territory and mating opportunities”.
This questionnaire has positive aspects, since it can help the owner connect better with their pet, seeking to please the feline’s needs based on its personality. For example, if the cat scored high on boldness, the owner could challenge it with large cat trees or tall scratching posts.
It also works for animal shelters, which can refer the cat to the right family with the test results.
