Behavioural Processes 39 (1997) 241 – 247 Paw preferences in cats (Felis sil6estris catus ) living in a household environment A.V.L. Pike*, D.P. Maitland Department of Biology, The Uni6ersity of Leeds, Leeds LS29JT UK Received 8 June 1994; revised 17 September 1996; accepted 17 September 1996 Abstract Unrestrained, naı ¨ve cats (Felis sil6estris catus )(n =48: 28 males and 20 females), living in a natural domestic environment, were studied for paw preferences using a food reaching test. A total of 46% were right-preferent, 44% were left-preferent and 10% were ambilateral. 60% of the cats in our sample used one paw 100% of the time. This preference was stable over time (10 weeks), and was not influenced by the presence of food residue on the cats’ non-preferred paw. There was no difference between male and female cats in the proportions of left and right paw-preferent individuals. We have reviewed the literature reporting paw preferences in cats and conclude that in static food-reaching tests, domestic cats show a marked paw preference with an equal distribution of left- and right-preferent individuals. They do not, however, show a group or population bias toward the use of any one paw. There are no significant sex differences. In contrast, there is previously published evidence which appears to suggest that moving-target reaching tests uncover a left-sided behavioural asymmetry. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. Keywords: Behavioural asymmetry; Cat; Handedness; Laterality; Paw preference 1. Introduction Structural asymmetries are common within the animal kingdom. For example shells of molluscs grow in left- or right-handed spirals; male fiddler crabs have claws of unequal size; flat-fish swim on either their left or right side; and the hermit crab’s body is coiled to match its mollusc shell (Neville, 1976; Annett, 1985). Behavioural asymmetries in- dicating brain laterality are also well documented (Annett, 1985; Bianki, 1988). Many birds show an individual foot preference (Harris, 1989): pigeons may favour one foot when landing from flight (Davies and Green, 1991); several species of par- rot and cockatoo favour their left foot when manipulating food (Rogers, 1989), and domestic chickens show a right foot preference (Rogers and Workman, 1993). * Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 113 2232851; e-mail: bgyaul@leeds.ac.uk 0376-6357/97/$17.00 © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0376-6357(96)00758-9