Do cats make good therapy animals? The new trend showing felines may be more complicated than we realise

Dogs are sociable, enthusiastic and widely used to comfort people in settings like hospitals, schools and care homes. But an increasingly popular alternative is emerging: therapy cats.

The term is often used loosely in the media and inconsistently within the scientific community. But in its strictest sense, animal-assisted therapy is a structured activity delivered by health professionals with clinical goals.

Most cats involved in this kind of work are part of broader animal-assisted services. For simplicity, we will stick with “therapy cat” throughout this article.

Therapy cats are used to alleviate loneliness and stress. They are used in prisons, schools, hospices, care homes and hospitals and are recommended for people who are afraid of dogs or might struggle to interact with large animals like horses.

The environments therapy cats are often taken into, such as nursing homes or schools, can be noisy, unpredictable, and filled with unfamiliar people and surroundings. These are precisely the kinds of settings that can unsettle a typical cat.

Cats usually prefer predictability and stable surroundings. Similar to their wildcat ancestors, domestic cats prioritise territorial security over social bonds with people or other cats. C

ats rely on scent to navigate and feel secure in their surroundings. The F3 pheromone helps them mark areas as “safe” or “known”, creating a kind of olfactory map of their home range.

Yet recent social media trends suggest a shift in our understanding. Increasingly, we see cats travelling alongside their owners in a campervan, via plane or even on motorbikes. These cats appear to tolerate, and sometimes even thrive, in environments animal behaviour experts once assumed were too stressful for them. So, what makes these cats different?

Some cats can benefit from the presence of a trusted human in unfamiliar or potentially stressful environments. In a 2021 study, animal behaviour researcher Alexandra Behnke and colleagues found that nearly half of the 42 cats they tested showed signs of the secure base effect, a bond that helps reduce stress and encourages exploration when reunited with their owner. This could be helping therapy cats cope with new environments.

A recent study led by Joni Delanoeije, a Belgian researcher in human-animal interaction, explored how cats selected for animal-assisted services differ from the average household pet. The study analysed survey responses relating to 474 cats - 12 of which had participated in such services. Cats involved in animal-assisted services were found to be more sociable with both people and other cats, were more attention-seeking and less resistant to being restrained.

These findings suggest that behavioural traits, like sociability and tolerance, may make some cats better suited to interacting with people in unfamiliar settings. However, the small number of cats actually involved in service work in this study means that we need more research to draw firm conclusions.

These cats also have strong, trusting bonds with their handlers. Early socialisation and gradual exposure seem to be essential for preparing cats to cope with the unpredictable nature of service work.

However, even with these qualities, cats may still face challenges in therapy environments. In a 2023 global study of cat-assisted services, US psychologists Taylor Griffin and Lori Kogan found that even well-adapted cats may struggle in practice.

The study found that 68% of handlers had ended visits early when they deemed it best for the cat. Handlers in this study also described strong bonds with their cats - a relationship probably key to the cat’s ability to adapt, offering a sense of safety and predictability in a potentially stressful setting.

How do therapy cats compare to dogs?

Cats are different from dogs in their social needs, temperament and tolerance for change. These differences must be carefully considered during selection for therapy work - but with their differences come advantages. For example, therapy cats may provide more benefits to people that see themselves as “cat people”.

Research has shown that this self-classification is linked to personality traits, with cat people often being more independent, creative and self-sufficient. Dog people tend to be more outgoing, sociable and group-oriented. Cat lovers might feel more at ease in one-to-one therapeutic settings, while dog lovers could prefer group-based activities.

Species preferences can also affect emotional responses. In a 2022 study, researcher Jovita Lukšaite and colleagues used facial expression software to analyse participants’ reactions to animal images.

Both cat and dog images triggered similar levels of happiness on average, yet dog images evoked significantly more fear. Fear of dogs could reduce the effectiveness of canine-assisted therapy for some, making cats a valuable alternative.

Dogs may excel at providing emotional support through physical interaction but cat purrs are a unique characteristic that may offer therapeutic benefits. A 2001 study found that domestic cats purr at a frequency between 25 and 50 hertz – a frequency that promotes healing in humans.

While there is a lack of more recent research to support this finding, a 2021 study found that cat owners reported that their cat’s purrs had a calming effect.

So, dogs might be the traditional therapy animal, but cats have shown they too have what it takes. With the right temperament and training, cats can offer something different to those in need of comfort.

Grace Carroll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.