Do Cats Get Bored in the Absence of Their Owners?

What do our cats do when we are not at home? Do they miss us? Are we loved as much as we love them? Or are those who say that cats "walk on their own" and see us only as a "supplier of resources" right?  In 2015, a study by British scientist Daniel Mills, a professor at the University of Lincoln, was published, titled "Domestic cats do not show signs of protective attachment to their owners." The study by Professor Mills and his colleagues consisted of a series of tests on humans, dogs and cats. At first, a mother with a small child was brought into a closed room. Then a stranger came into the room and began to distract the child. At this time, my mother quietly walked out the door. Very soon the child noticed the absence of his mother and began to worry. And when the mother returned to the room, the child happily crawled towards her. The same situation was repeated with dogs - they very soon noticed the "disappearance" of the owner, began to worry, and then rejoiced at his appearance. But with cats, everything went wrong. The hostess brings a cat in a carrier, and the participant in the experiment, depicting a "stranger", immediately begins to play with the cat. Then the hostess and the "stranger" sit on chairs and sit motionless. The cat, in full accordance with its curious nature, sniffs the "outsider" - and then the fun begins! She clearly likes the stranger - unlike the hostess. They start playing, the owner leaves, and the cat is so passionate about the game that he does not notice her absence. Moreover, she demonstrates frank signs of affection towards a stranger! The return of the mistress does not just leave the cat indifferent - she continues to play with the stranger and with all her appearance, posture and even position in the room shows her sympathy.

From this ambiguous case, scientists would clearly like to draw an unequivocal conclusion: seals do not feel affection for their owners based on a sense of security. However, the repetition of tests on twenty cats and their owners did not give them absolute grounds for such a statement. The summary of the study reads: "Adult cats tend to be quite autonomous, even in their social relationships. Their sense of safety and security does not necessarily depend on someone else. However, it is necessary to develop alternative research methods in order to understand the peculiarities of normal psychological relations in a cat-owner pair.