The Unexpected Science of Cats and Happiness

Cats have a reputation for being aloof, independent, and sometimes downright indifferent to their human companions. But what if we've been getting cats all wrong?

In honor of National Cat Day, Dr. Laurie is joined by cat behavior expert Dr. Kristyn Vitale to explore the surprising science of our relationships with cats. They unpack what cats really think about their human caregivers, how our feline friends can boost our happiness and wellbeing, and what we can do to make their lives happier, too.

Experts Mentioned:

• Kristyn Vitale, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and internationally recognized expert in cat behavior and the cat-human relationship
• John Bowlby, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and founder of attachment theory
• Mary Ainsworth, developmental psychologist and creator of the Strange Situation assessment
• Harry Harlow, University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher and former director of their Primate Laboratory
• Karen McComb, Emeritus Professor of Animal Behaviour and Cognition at the University of Sussex
• Wendy Berry Mendes, Professor of Psychology at Yale University
• Mikel Maria Delgado, animal behavioural scientist

Resources Mentioned:

• “Social interaction, food, scent or toys? A formal assessment of domestic pet and shelter cat (Felis silvestris catus) preferences,” by Kristyn Vitale, Lindsay Mehrkam, and Monique Udell (Behavioural Processes, 2017)
• “The quality of being sociable: The influence of human attentional state, population, and human familiarity on domestic cat sociability,” by Kristyn Vitale and Monique Udell (Behavioural Processes, 2019)
• “Attachment bonds between domestic cats and humans,” by Kristyn Vitale, Alexandra Behnke, and Monique Udell (Current Biology, 2019)
• “The Development of Affectional Responses in Infant Monkeys,” by Harry Harlow and Robert Zimmermann (Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1958)
• “Attachment, Exploration, and Separation: Illustrated by the Behavior of One-Year-Olds in a Strange Situation,” by Mary Ainsworth and Silvia Bell (Child Development, 1970)
• “Maternal Care and Mental Health,” by John Bowlby (Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1951)
• “The cry embedded within the purr,” by Karen McComb, Anna Taylor, Christian Wilson, Benjamin Charlton (Current Biology, 2009) — Thank you to Professor McComb and her team for letting us include the solution purr audio in this episode!
• “Cardiovascular reactivity and the presence of pets, friends, and spouses: the truth about cats and dogs,” by Karen Allen, Jim Blascovich, and Wendy Mendes (Psychosomatic Medicine, 2002)
• “Social referencing and cat-human communication,” by Isabella Merola, Martina Lazzaroni, Sarah Marshall-Pescini, and Emanuela Prato-Previde (Animal Cognition, 2015)
• “Cats (Felis silvestris catus) read human gaze for referential information,” by Péter Pongrácz, Julianna Szulamit Szapu, and Tamás Faragó (Intelligence, 2019)
• “Domestic cats (Felis catus) discriminate their names from other words,” by Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka, Yuki Ito, and Toshikazu Hasegawa (Scientific Reports, 2019)
• “The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat–human communication,” by Tasmin Humphrey, Leanne Proops, Jemma Forman, Rebecca Spooner, and Karen McComb (Scientific Reports, 2020)
• Play with Your Cat!, by Mikel Maria Delgado (2024)
• “Cat School” — Youtube channel
• “Positive Reinforcement Training Educational Toolkit,” by Feline Veterinary Medical Association (2026)
• Maueyes — Educational resources

Related Episodes:

• “Let Slip the Dogs of More Happiness”
• “How Dogs Changed my Life (with The Dogist)”
• “‘Birds Are Like My Afternoon Martini’ (Birding with Lili Taylor)”

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