Cat Personality – PADA: an assessment tool to let you know your furry friend
Who are the Society of Companion Animal Studies (SCAS)?
Animal Assisted Services (AAS) is growing rapidly in popularity, with the benefits animals can have on our well-being being widely recognised. Due to this many professional settings such as, schools and care homes are introducing animals for their therapeutic values. Unfortunately, this is still very much an unregulated area.
AAS, previously referred to as Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI), refers to an animal-based intervention which incorporates animals into health, education, or human services for therapeutic gains. AAS aims to improve a clients social, emotional, and cognitive functioning, leading to improved health and wellness.
It is important to ensure that AAS also has a positive experience, on the animals as well as humans. This responsibility falls on the organisations and handlers of the animals. It is our responsibility to advocate for the animals and ensure the impact of AAS is a positive one for all involved.
The Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS) aim to promote the study of human-companion animal interactions and raise awareness of the importance of AAS in a safe, positive way for both animal and person.
The SCAS Code of Practise is assessable to everyone and is a crucial read for any organisations who are hosting or considering hosting AAS interventions on their site for clients.
http://www.scas.org.uk/animal-assisted-interventions/code-of-practice/
As an organisation we host a variety of AAS provisions with our rescue animals. It is important that we ensure that all our dogs, cats, and small animals that take part in our projects are advocated for. To ensure we adhere to this we follow the SCAS code of conduct and are also proud members.
Personality Assessment of Domestic Animals (PADA)
As members we are fortunate enough to have access to their webinars. We recently attended a webinar on ‘Cat Personality: PADA: an assessment tool to let you know your furry friend’ on the 5th September 2024. Among some the staff attending was one of our Assistant Education Officers Danielle Perry who assists with many of our AAS offerings.
The webinar was hosted by Dr Christine Olsen who presented her research on cat personality.
The webinar discussed PADA an assessment tool set up in Norway to assess a cat’s temperament and personality. The personality test is carried out by feline behaviourists with a knowledge of AAS.
To find out more about PADA please follow the link below to an article by SCAS.
https://www.scas.org.uk/pada-cat-personality-assessment-of-cats/
Different Personalities
Since the 1980’s people have tried to determine cat personality. Just like us, each cat is an individual, with different personalities and life experiences. The webinar discussed briefly different personality and temperament types. For example:
- Timid cats – Will avoid social interactions, may seek places to hide
- Bold cats – they are social and will actively seek out attention.
Animal Assisted Services (AAS)
The webinar further discussed the important role cats can play in AAS. Typically, when we think of AAS we imagine dogs and horses however, suitable cats in personality and temperament can make great candidates for AAS.
Cats in AAS can:
- Reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness
- Evoke positive emotions and memories
- In some cases, they can help create a positive relationship between patients and therapists.
- Gives clients something to focus on
- The cat can provide a sense of wellbeing
- Playing and petting cats can help reduce stress
Advocating for the Animals
AAS can be beneficial for both humans and pets. However, it is important that animals participating in AAS are both suitable and will enjoy the sessions.
It is the responsibility of the handler of the animals, who should be a professional and understand body language and stress signals, to monitor the cat’s enjoyment of the session. This is for both the clients and cat’s safety, as well as ensuring the session is beneficial for everybody.
The webinar discussed how personality and temperament are crucial to ensure cats used are suitable for the use of AAS. Character traits included bold, confident cats, cats who seek out human interactions, are socially motivated, remain at ease in company, resilient, and if applicable happy in new environments.
Due to cats being reliant on their environment, here at CAS all our AAS cat interactions are on-site in our Catio area, which is a safe, secure, sensory garden for our rescue cats.
All our cats are assessed by our Feline team to ensure that any cats participating thrive around human companionship and have a suitable temperament. During the AAS interaction it is the Education team’s role to advocate for the cat and ensure they monitor the cat’s enjoyment of the session, as well as the attendees. Our team understand the body language of cats and can pick up on cues if a cat is unsure or stressed.
The SCAS code of conduct
As we follow the SCAS code of conduct we ensure all our cat interactions are a maximum of 20 minutes, that they are given respite, and we record and evaluate enjoyment of the session. As an animal welfare charity, it is part of our mission to educate members of the public on responsible pet ownership and safety.
Through our thorough assessment process and knowledgeable team, along with the support of other rescues and SCAS, we can host our education and community projects to benefit both humans and animals. Our projects allow our rescues animals to have respite from their pens/kennels, and human companionship for social animals in our care, whilst attendees can benefit from the therapeutic benefits of being around animals.
If you would like to find out more about our projects, you can follow the link below.
https://gawa.org.uk/education/
To see upcoming SCAS webinars please follow the link below.
