Previous research using feline personality tests focused on wild and shelter cats, but the Australia study is the first to analyse personality test results from a large number of domestic cats. Most of the participants fell somewhere in the middle for each trait, Roetman said.
Older cats tended to be slightly more dominant and less outgoing than younger ones, Mr Roetman said. But there were no significant variations between genders, or between cats in New Zealand and Australia.
And most important to Mr Roetman, the results revealed no major personality differences between indoor and outdoor cats. He said that finding could be helpful in cat "management", which is a huge topic in Australia, where politicians have declared "war" on the predatory feral cats they accuse of driving out native species.
Some Australians worry that keeping their cats inside will negatively affect their personalities, Mr Roetman said. But most cats rank as typical whether they're behind closed doors or roaming the streets, which is "really good news for people who keep their cats indoors", he said. "The research suggests that it's actually okay to cats."
Cat owners received charts showing where their cat fell on the spectrum for each trait and suggestions about how to interpret them. Highly skittish cats would benefit from hiding spots at home, it might note, and cats with low spontaneity scores "may enjoy routine." "What I've found talking to cat owners about these results is that they intuitively make sense," Mr Roetman said.
The study is open only to cats in South Australia at the moment. But there's good news for cat lovers in the United States who like online personality tests (and we assume there must be a decent overlap): Researchers in North Carolina are planning to expand the study to include American cats, Mr Roetman said.
The Feline Five
Skittishness: This one's akin to neuroticism in people. Cats that earned high skittishness scores are more anxious and fearful; calm and trusting cats had low scores.
Outgoingness: This is the equivalent of extroversion in humans. Highly outgoing cats are curious and active; those with low scores are aimless and "quitting", according to the test.
Dominance: This one belongs just to felines. Cats that are bullying and aggressive to their peers got high scores; cats that are friendly and submissive to other felines scored low.
Spontaneity: Another one that's cat-specific. High scores indicate impulsive, erratic cats; low scores went to predictable, constrained cats.
Friendliness: This is akin to agreeableness in people. Highly friendly cats tend to be affectionate, while those with low scores are solitary and irritable.
