Development of “personality” in the domestic cat: A longitudinal study

Description

We conducted a study to investigate the development of individual differences in animal behavior, often referred to as personality. This dataset contains the results of behavioral tests conducted on 74 mixed-breed cats. We conducted four different behavioral tests, described as follows: 1) Struggle/handling test: The experimenter picked up the cat and held it securely at shoulder height. The time it took for the cat to place a hind paw on the experimenter's arm was recorded. 2) Meat test: The cat was given a piece of raw beef, and the experimenter slowly moved wooden tongs towards the cat's face to take the meat away. The cat's reaction to the removal or attempted removal of the meat was recorded. 3) Mouse test: The cat was presented with a live mouse in a jar with a perforated lid. The cat's reaction to the mouse was analyzed. 4) Separation/confinement test: The cat was placed alone in a room, inside a pet carrier, for two minutes. The cat's vocal and motor activity were analyzed. The 74 cats were born to six mothers and maintained as part of a free-ranging breeding colony at a private house in Mexico City. Each kitten was tested three times in the four behavioral tests during the preweaning period (<2 months of age). At eight weeks of age, the kittens were given away as pets to people living in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. A subset of these individuals was later visited in their new homes at the ages of 6, 12, and 18 months, and the four tests were repeated three times during three visits at each age. Due to technical problems, some data from some trials were lost, and not all cats in the older age groups were available for all trials. Individual differences in behavior became increasingly repeatable with age due to a combination of decreased individual-level variance and increased among-individual variance. These changes in variance and repeatability continued into adulthood (12–18 months), but we did not observe any behavioral syndromes (associations between behaviors) at any age. The dataset also includes a table with individual characteristics of the cats, such as sex, birthdate, and composition of the adoptive household.

Steps to reproduce

74 mixed-breed cats were tested using four behavioral tests, described below. Cats were tested three times at different age groups: pre-weaning (5-7 weeks of age), 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months. Due to technical problems, some data from some trials were lost, and not all cats in the older age groups were available for all trials. We conducted four different behavioral tests on domestic cats, briefly described as follows: 1) Struggle/handling test: The experimenter picked up the cat and held it securely at shoulder height. The time it took for the cat to place a hind paw on the experimenter's arm was recorded. 2) Meat test: The cat was given a piece of raw beef, and the experimenter slowly moved wooden tongs towards the cat's face to take the meat away. The cat's reaction to the removal or attempted removal of the meat was recorded. 3) Mouse test: The cat was presented with a live mouse in a jar with a perforated lid. The cat's reaction to the mouse was analyzed. 4) Separation/confinement test: The cat was placed alone in a room, inside a pet carrier, for two minutes. The cat's vocal and motor activity were analyzed. Further detail is available in the manuscript of the same title, "Development of 'personality' in the domestic cat: A longitudinal study".

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