Research has shown that cats have a natural tendency to retrieve objects and play fetch without formal instruction. A study conducted by British researchers surveyed over 900 cat owners around the world about their cats’ fetching behaviors. The owners reported that more than 94 percent of the cats that fetched did so spontaneously, without any formal training. This suggests that cats may not need human intervention to learn this behavior.
Interestingly, the study found that most cats engaged in fetching activities most enthusiastically when they initiated the game themselves. While certain cat breeds like Siamese, Bengals, and Ragdolls are known to have a predisposition for fetching, more than 90 percent of the cats reported to be retrievers in the study did not belong to any specific breed. This challenges the notion that cats need to be taught this behavior and suggests that it could be an innate instinct for many felines.
