Is Your Cat Left-Handed or Right-Handed?

By John Farrier in Animals & Pets, Science & Tech on Jul 27, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Scientists have conducted research which suggests that cats may have paw preferences:

Psychologists from Queen’s University Belfast in North Ireland, in a study published in Animal Behaviour, conducted a series of experiments on 42 kitties to discover if they are left- or right-pawed.

In two of the experiments, in which the cats had to reach for a toy mouse, the kitties were ambidextrous. But in the third experiment—in which bits of tuna were placed in a jar for a cat to fish out—showed a definite paw preference: 20 out of 21 female subjects used their right paw, and 20 out of 21 male subjects used their left.

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image by flickr user cjc4454 used under creative commons license


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  1. SydneyClaire
    Jul 27th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    Interesting. I have 2 female dogs, and when asked to ‘shake’, they definitely have a paw preference. One is left, the other is right.
    OTOH, I used to have a golden retriever mix that would shake what she was asked, “Right paw” or “Left paw”.

  2. seekshelter
    Jul 27th, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    i had my cat write his name with both front paws… he seems be just as competent with both. i then had him write his name with both back paws and its like he totally forgot how to write… stupid cat…

  3. Video Game Dork
    Jul 28th, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    my (male) cat bops me, and his toys, almost always with his left paw.

  4. Shanelle
    Jul 29th, 2009 at 10:15 am

    My cat is a girl, and she is most definitely left-pawed. However, she’s also missing her back left leg, so that might have something to do with it.


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