The next time you hear “fetch,” don’t assume it’s directed at your dog.
Cats enjoy engaging in playful behavior more than people think: A new study by researchers at Purdue University and the University of Pennsylvania found that cats fetch a ball about 41 percent of the time, compared to about 78 percent of dogs.
Mikel Delgado, a senior research scientist at Purdue University who led the study, said that prior to this study, it was well known that some cats play with balls (previous studies have documented this behavior in cats). What caught Delgado’s attention was how many cats play with balls.
“Given that cats have a (fairly) unfair reputation for being aloof and independent, we are pleased to hear that many cats behave in this way toward humans,” the Purdue researchers told CBS News in an email. “This adds to our understanding that cats have complex social interactions with humans and engage in this particular type of play.”
What Researchers Discovered About Fetch
Delgado, along with Purdue colleagues Judith Stella and Candace Cloney and James Serpell of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, surveyed 8,224 cat owners and 73,724 dog owners. The researchers wanted to learn not just how often cats and dogs fetch toys, but also what characteristics make them more or less likely to chase and retrieve them. To that end, the owners’ survey also included questions about their pets’ behavior, sociability, and characteristics.
Research suggests that an animal’s sex, breed, living environment and health all influence its tendency to fetch a ball. In both cats and dogs, the tendency to fetch a ball was more pronounced in younger, male, healthier animals and animals from households without other dogs.
A pet’s breed also influences whether or not they will fetch the ball with their owner. Similar to previous studies, Purdue University scientists found that certain breeds, including border collies, golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers and German shepherds, were more likely to fetch the ball.
Among cats, cats with Eastern Hemisphere roots tend to fetch higher prices than, for example, domestic long-haired cats. According to the survey, the top cat breeds that fetch higher prices are Abyssinians, Bengals, Siamese, and Siberians.
Why do animals pick up balls?
Why do animals catch prey in the first place? Delgado explains that hunting and catching prey is part of the act of predation.
“In both cats and dogs, fetching overlaps with many aspects of hunting, primarily the pursuit and capture of prey,” Delgado said.
The link between dogs and preying is less clear, since many dogs were bred to help humans hunt by chasing and capturing (but not killing) prey and bringing it back to the humans. Cats don’t have a similar history of helping humans hunt, but Delgado said that when they hunt alone, cats carry their prey to safety before eating it. “This habit of carrying prey may influence how cats express preying,” Delgado said.
Delgado and his colleagues believe that cats’ tendency to fetch balls may also have something to do with how sociable cats are: They think that breeds that fetch balls are more likely to be interested in making connections with humans. “Siamese cats are very curious about people,” Delgado wrote in the study.
Can you train a cat to fetch a ball?
Some cats will fetch a ball on their own, even if their owners don’t train them. Delgado, who also has a cat, said she had never trained her three kittens to fetch a ball, but they started doing it on their own. “It was a fun surprise. It’s very cute,” Delgado said.
A 2023 study found that cats are most successful at fetching a ball when the cat initiates the action. While not ruling out the possibility of training, fetching a ball may be more complicated for cats to master than other traditional actions like sitting or high-fiving, Delgado told CBS News.
“Fetching a toy involves many steps, including chasing the toy, picking it up and bringing it back, so it is considered a very complex behavior to train,” she said.
Purdue researchers say it’s best to start with small tricks and work your way up to more difficult ones. Positive reinforcement, like rewarding your cat with a treat, also helps. Delgado suggests checking out Cat School, an online resource with training tutorials, for inspiration.