Cat training program helps children with developmental disabilities—and cats too

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Add as preferred source A cat-training program for children with developmental disabilities fostered healthy behaviors in children, strengthened relationships between children and their family cats and improved cats' social behavior, a new study published in the journal Animals has found.

"People often underestimate what cats can contribute to human–animal interventions," said Monique Udell, a professor at Oregon State University who studies human–animal interactions. "This study shows that cats can be active participants rather than passive companions. When children and their cats work together through training, it can strengthen their bond while supporting positive outcomes for both the child and the cat."

The study, co-led by Udell and Megan MacDonald, a professor of kinesiology at Oregon State, builds on growing interest in animal-assisted interventions to promote people's physical, psychological and social well-being. The interventions are increasingly recognized as a promising approach to help children, including those with physical or learning disabilities or social, emotional or behavioral challenges.

Dogs and horses have received most of the attention. Udell wanted to explore whether cats could play a similar role. She has studied the human–cat bond for more than a decade and has found that cats, like dogs, are a social species and possess many of the same traits, such as the ability to form attachment bonds with humans and to be trained.

The study also arrives at a time Udell called a "cultural shift" involving cats. She mentioned people wanting to train their cats and the adventure cats movement, in which people increasingly want to take their cats on walks, camping or even kayaking.

For the study, the researchers evaluated a cat-assisted training intervention with 36 children ages 8–17 and their family cats. Half of the participants were assigned to the training group, which took part in six 45-minute training sessions and completed weekly homework, such as practicing training mechanics and teaching behaviors such as sit and come. The other half served as the control group and didn't take part in the activities.

Children were given three different surveys at three points during the study: before it started, six weeks after it concluded and one year after it started. The surveys assessed the strength of the child's attachment to the cat, responsibility for cat-related chores and humane behavior toward the cat.

The researchers also examined cats' attachment to the child and cat sociability in the child's presence by videotaping the standardized training sessions and assessing the videos for certain behaviors. For example, sociability was measured by how much time a cat had at least one paw within a taped semicircle encompassing a 1-meter (3.3-foot) radius around the child.

"This helps demonstrate that when we provide the right opportunities and guidance on how children and adolescents can improve their relationships with their cats, we can see positive changes happen," Udell said. "The cats are becoming more confident. They're becoming more social. And they're developing stronger bonds that the children are benefiting from too.

"They're seeing these cats now as partners, a source of motivation to take on more responsibility and engage in healthy behaviors. This can be a really special relationship that's more complex than people have sometimes believed they can have with a cat."

Delaney H. Frank et al, Evaluating a Novel Cat-Assisted Training (CAT) Intervention for Youth with Developmental Disabilities and Their Family Cat, Animals (2026). DOI: 10.3390/ani16142133

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