Are Cats Left-Pawed or Right-Pawed? We Put Our Six Cats to the Test!

Have you ever wondered whether your cat is a leftie or a rightie?

We all know some some cats have their own little quirks. Some are experts at batting toys under the sofa, others grab everything in site, and some act as though they haven't heard you shouting them for the hundredth time!

But have you ever stopped to look which paw your cat uses the most?

Here at Curiosity Cattique, we are always curious about our feline family, so today we decided to carry out our own little experiment to see whether our six cats showed a preference for their left or right paw.

And, true to form, when you live with six cats, things didn't quite go to plan!

The science behind paw preference.

You might of heard of people being left-handed or right-handed. Cats can show something similar, known as paw preference.

This means an animal may favour one side of its body when performing certain activities.

Scientists have studied this in domestic cats. Studies published in the Animal Behaviour via The Guardian and the National Institutes of Health reveal a strong statistical link to sex:

• Female cats predominantly favour their right paw

• Male cats predominantly favour their left paw.

So, what about our own little cat family?

Our six-cat paw experiment.

We looked at two everyday activities: reaching or swiping for a toy, and coming down the stairs.

We wanted to check the theory of males being mostly left-pawed and females being mostly right-pawed. This was a fun experiment rather than a formal scientific study, so our results are merely observations rather than definitive proof of each cat's dominant paw.

Bean - left paw

Out of all six cats, Bean was the one that always strongly favoured his left paw when carrying out the activities. He did use his right paw at times, but the first swipe or grab for a toy was always from his left paw.

Lola - left paw

Lola also had a very strong preference for using her left paw. Again, she also used her right paw but always after the initial swipe being done with her left.

Blue - our very own two-paw expert!

Blue didn't really swipe at toys, he's much more of a reach and grab kid of boy! He always grasps with two paws or jumps and claps both paws together. We couldn't get a one paw preference from Blue at all!

Fury - left paw

Fury was being a bit antisocial and didn't want to engage in playing today. However, we did get a left paw swipe at one toy so we decided to take that as his result!

Unfortunately, when doing the stairs test Fury did what he always does and simply flew down the stairs at a hundred miles an hour along with Bean. Hence, this being the reason we failed to get an accurate paw preference on the stairs test!

Bear - right paw

Bear who only likes to play with his red stick was our right-pawed cat in the toy swiping test. He doesn't go downstairs very often, so the stair test was a no-go for Bear!

Ferry - not today thank you!

Ferry refused to co-operate at all as he wasn't in the mood to participate today so we didn't get a paw preference result.

What happened on the stairs?

We also watched our cats coming down the stairs to see which paw they appeared to lead with.

However, these results were a bit inconclusive, as trying to conduct experiments with six cats can get quite chaotic when they won't co-operate and treats are involved!

Bear doesn't come down the stairs very often so no result for him, Blue jumped over Ferry who plonked himself half way down and wouldn't budge, so we couldn't quite get a result off Blue or Ferry either. Lola was nowhere to be seen at this point and Fury and Bean did what Fury and Bean always do and flew from top to bottom of the stairs chasing each other at a hundred miles per hour, so also no result.

So, are our cats left-pawed or right-pawed?

Here's what we have concluded from our tests today:-

Left-paw: Bean, Lola and Fury

Right-paw: Bear

Both paws together: Blue

No clear result: Ferry

This was a fun test to do and gave us a bit of an insight on how different cats use different actions for different activities, as well as confirming how having six cats and trying to achieve anything is completely chaotic and never, ever goes as planned!

Anyway, I've attached the videos I did manage to get from today's test! Enjoy!

Want to test your own cat?

Choose a favourite toy and offer it in a similar way several times. Watch which paw your cat uses to reach or swipe at it. Try to observe them over several short sessions. Let your cat stop whenever they want to and don't force them to take part!

You might discover you cat clearly has one favourite paw, uses both or like Ferry just point blank will not conform to what you want them to do!

Tell us about your cat.

Now we're curious to know about your furry family too - let us know in the comments how your cat paw tests go and if you managed to get any good or funny results.

Stay curious! ... with your right paw, your left paw, or both - we really don't have a preference!!!