Greeting Vocalizations in Domestic Cats Are More Frequent With Male Caregivers

Abstract

Greeting is an essential component of social relationships, facilitating harmonious communication and reinforcing social bonds. The domestic cat (Felis catus) provides a valuable model system for investigating greeting behavior, particularly in the context of interspecific interactions with humans. In this study, we examined how cats (n = 31) greet their human caregivers in their natural home environments. Using 22 behavioral measures, we explored how these behaviors related to one another during 100-s greeting sessions. We also tested whether demographic factors such as the influenced the amount of greeting behavior expressed by household cats. Our results showed that cats vocalized more frequently toward male caregivers, while no other demographic factor had a discernible effect on the frequency or duration of greetings. Correlational analyses revealed two interrelated behavioral patterns: affiliative and displacement-like behaviors. These findings suggest that cat greetings are multimodal, may reflect different motivational or emotional states, and can be modulated by external factors such as caregiver sex.