Table 2. Ethogram describing the behaviors observed in the present study.
| Coded Behavior | Sampling Method a | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Affectionate Interaction | ||
| Human hugs/kisses cat | M | Participant hugs or kisses cat (does not imply cat consent) |
| Gentle petting | S | Human makes gentle physical contact with their cat i.e., soft petting, cuddling |
| Gentle skin to skin beyond petting | S | Human makes gentle skin to skin physical contact with skin that was not humans hands i.e., human rubs face on cat |
| Gentle or baby voice | S | Human speaks to cat gently, including baby voice/whispering: |
| Direct voice | S | Human speaks to cat in direct voice (as if speaking with another human in general conversation) |
| Scolds or harsh voice | S | Human speaks to cat scolds/harshly |
| Stimulatory Behavior | ||
| Human attempts to play | M | Human throws toy or attempts to play with cat |
| Human and cat play together | S | Human and cat play together |
| Groomed with brush | S | Human grooms cat with a brush |
| Affection-seeking Behavior | ||
| Human-initiated contact | M | A human action that initiates physical contact (e.g., human reaches out their hand and pets the cat) |
| Cat-initiated contact | M | A cat action that initiates physical contact (e.g., cat pushes head into human hand) |
| Cat displayed affiliative behaviorb | S | “Friendly” behaviors that may communicate the cat’s intention to associate with other individuals in a peaceful manner. Base Behaviors include: Follow, Gurgle, Head butt, Huddling, Lick, Nuzzle, Play, Prusten, Puff, Play Roll on Back, Groom/Allogroom, Rub/Allorub, Touch noses, Stutter |
| Cat purredb | S | Low, continuous rhythmical tone produced during respiration while the cat’s mouth is closed. Creates a murmuring sound. |
| Conversation with cat, paused for response time | B | Human speaks to cat and pauses for a response for over 5 s. |
| Anti-social Behavior | ||
| Cat displayed aggressive or agonistic behaviorb | S | Offensive behaviors communicate an intent to cause injury or engage in physical combat. Hostile behaviors associated with the confrontation with owner or other cats. (not play behavior) Base Behavior include: Attack, Arch Back, Avoid, Bare Teeth, Bite, Charge, Chase, Crouch, Cuff, Displace, Ears Back, Ears Flat, Fight, Flee, Ground slap, Growl, Pounce, Raise Paw, Rake, Retreat, Snap bite, Snarl, Spit, Stair, Strike at, Tail Slap, Tail twitch, Tail Under, Yowl |
| Focused on another cat in environment | B | Human focuses on another cat in the environment that was not a focal cat |
Notes.
Coding of observed human-cat behavioral interactions was separated into three categories: binomial, within a minute of each minute, and by seconds. Binomial (B) sampling required observers to provide a yes or no response if the behavior happened at all during the interaction. Binomial per minute (M) included watching the recorded video and hash marking a behavior/event one time with-in each minute of the video. For example, min. 1 the behavior happens, it is marked down, min. 2 the behavior happens again, it is then marked again, and if the event does not happen then it is not marked in that specific minute. Sampling by seconds (S) included watching each member of the interaction and writing down behaviors in seconds. Some of these behaviors have non-continuous streams thus any behavior with a 10 s pause was stopped and once it began again it was resumed. If a behavior started and resumed in less than 10 s, then the behavior was considered to be the same continuous activity observed.
Ethograms based on a standardized ethogram for the Felidae: A tool for behavioral researchers (Stanton, Sullivan & Fazio, 2015) was utilized to define cat behavioral categories.