New Research to Examine Impact of Youth-Cat Training Program on Child and Cat Well-being

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute Awards Grant to Oregon State University

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) today announced a new grant for research to evaluate the impact of a youth-cat training program on youth thriving and cat well-being. This grant was awarded to a team of researchers at Oregon State University including Dr. Kristen Davis Moore, 4-H Program Coordinator, Professor Monique Udell, associate professor and Director of the Human-Animal Interaction Laboratory, and Dr. Saethra Darling, Postdoctoral Scholar.

In this study, youth and their family cat will take part in a 12-session youth-cat training program that is focused on positive youth development with active learning activities and fear-free cat handling and care. The goal of this project is to evaluate a multidisciplinary, whole-child approach to fostering a partnership between young people and their family cats that promotes both youth and cat well-being.

"Cats are the second most commonly owned pet in America, but we find that they are often misunderstood and still heavily underrepresented in animal behavior and human-animal bond research compared to dogs," said Dr. Kristen Moore, the project's Principal Investigator. "Our research will raise awareness of new opportunities for young people to bond with their pet cats and promote more animal-assisted activities in local communities."

The study design involves 30 children between the ages of 8 and 13 years and their pet cats, who will be recruited through schools and community programs in Oregon to participate in this youth-cat training program. Researchers will employ a pseudo-randomized control model with an experimental group and a control group of children on a waitlist to participate in the training program. The youth-cat training program will be focused on positive youth development with opportunities for learning about cat health, care, and individual preferences. All cat training methods will be fear-free and positive reinforcement based.

To encourage further community engagement, additional sessions will be offered to young people interested in becoming a registered Pet Partners therapy animal-handler team. If this training strategy is validated by the data, researchers plan to publish open-source youth-cat training strategies so other communities can easily replicate these programs.

"HABRI is proud to support research championing the role of cats in the health of young people, families, and communities," said Steve Feldman, President, HABRI. "Development of an open-source, youth-cat training program would not only strengthen the human-animal bond between children and their pet cats, but it will also help to foster interest in more cats serving as therapy animals, filling a much-needed gap in the field."

About HABRI
HABRI is a not-for-profit organization that funds innovative scientific research to document the health benefits of companion animals; educates the public about human-animal bond research; and advocates for the beneficial role of companion animals in society. For more information, please visit http://www.habri.org.

SOURCE Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI)