Greeting Vocalizations in Domestic Cats Are More Frequent with Male Caregivers

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RESEARCH ARTICLEOpen Access

Greeting Vocalizations in Domestic Cats Are More Frequent With Male Caregivers

Yasemin Salgırlı Demirbaş,
Yasemin Salgırlı Demirbaş
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
Department of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Project administration, Supervision, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Data curation, Visualization, Funding acquisitionSearch for more papers by this authorKaan Kerman,
Corresponding Author
Kaan Kerman

[email protected]

Department of Psychology, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
Correspondence:
Kaan Kerman ([email protected])
Contribution: Visualization, Project administration, Supervision, Formal analysis, Validation, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Methodology, Software, Data curation, ConceptualizationSearch for more papers by this authorDurmuş Atılgan,
Durmuş Atılgan
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
Contribution: Writing - review & editing, Methodology, InvestigationSearch for more papers by this authorMelis Ünler,
Melis Ünler
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
Contribution: Data curation, Writing - review & editing, Methodology, InvestigationSearch for more papers by this authorTolga Yildirim,
Tolga Yildirim
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
Contribution: Data curation, Investigation, MethodologySearch for more papers by this authorSelenay Şimşek,
Selenay Şimşek
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
Contribution: Data curation, Investigation, MethodologySearch for more papers by this author

[email protected]

First published: 14 November 2025
https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.70033

Editor: Luis Ebensperger

Funding: This work was supported by the TÜBİTAK–2209-A Program for Supporting Research Projects of University Students.

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ABSTRACT

Greeting is an essential component of social relationships, facilitating harmonious communication and reinforcing social bonds. The domestic cat (Felis catus) provides a valuable model system for investigating greeting behavior, particularly in the context of interspecific interactions with humans. In this study, we examined how cats (n = 31) greet their human caregivers in their natural home environments. Using 22 behavioral measures, we explored how these behaviors related to one another during 100-s greeting sessions. We also tested whether demographic factors such as the influenced the amount of greeting behavior expressed by household cats. Our results showed that cats vocalized more frequently toward male caregivers, while no other demographic factor had a discernible effect on the frequency or duration of greetings. Correlational analyses revealed two interrelated behavioral patterns: affiliative and displacement-like behaviors. These findings suggest that cat greetings are multimodal, may reflect different motivational or emotional states, and can be modulated by external factors such as caregiver sex.

1 Introduction
Greeting behavior is a key component of social behavior in animals, which serves a variety of purposes such as conveying intent and adjusting social relationships by reducing tension and reinforcing social bonds (Smith et al. 2011; Allen et al. 2021; Hopper 2025; Zhang and Soma 2025). While commonly observed in intraspecific interactions, greeting behavior can also evolve in interspecific contexts (Westrip and Bell 2015), particularly between domestic animals and their human caregivers, where both parties actively engage in reciprocal signaling that fosters mutual understanding and social bonding (Hemsworth et al. 1986; Firnkes et al. 2017; Cornips 2022; Nilsson and Norrthon 2024).
The domestic cat (Felis catus) represents a particularly interesting subject in the study of interspecific communication, given its long history with humans (Driscoll et al. 2009; Lyons et al. 2012). Although descending from solitary ancestors, cats are often described as a “socially flexible” species due to their ability to form conspecific social groups—particularly in environments with sufficient resources (e.g., food provided by humans) and maintain group cohesion through behaviors such as allogrooming and allorubbing (Bradshaw 2016; Finka 2022; Vitale 2022a). This capacity for social affiliation readily extends to interactions with humans (Turner 2021; Koyasu et al. 2022), as domestic cats are sensitive to various anthropogenic communicative signals across different sensory modalities (Pongrácz and Szapu 2018; de Mouzon and Leboucher 2023; de Mouzon et al. 2024). These include visual signals such as gaze direction, blinking, and pointing (Miklósi et al. 2005; Pongrácz et al. 2019; Humphrey et al. 2020), as well as vocal cues like directed speech and basic verbal referents (Saito et al. 2019; de Mouzon et al. 2023). When greeting humans, cats display a multimodal pattern of behaviors, the most frequent being the characteristic tail-up posture (Cafazzo and Natoli 2009; Deputte et al. 2021). Other components of the human-oriented greeting repertoire include head or flank rubbing, lying on the back, stretching, and, notably, vocalizations (Mertens and Turner 1988; Mertens 1991; Eriksson et al. 2017; Vitale 2022b).
Nevertheless, the greeting behavior of cats is not expressed uniformly and may depend on the length of the relationship and prior experiences with humans, particularly their primary caregivers. For instance, the timing and intensity of early-life socialization with humans appear to exert a strong influence on interspecific sociability later in life (Casey and Bradshaw 2008; Koyasu et al. 2022). Cats tend to prefer social interactions with adults, particularly women, over youngsters, likely due to differences in interaction patterns such as intensity and approach styles (Mertens 1991; Mertens and Turner 1988). Cat demographics such as sex, age, and breed are also known to influence sociability toward humans, with younger and male cats and certain breeds generally exhibiting higher sociability (Kaleta et al. 2016; Menchetti et al. 2018; Finka 2022), yet their impact appears less pronounced compared to human demographic variables and is often characterized by mixed findings (Adamelli et al. 2005; Leech et al. 2022). Similarly, the number of cats in the household poses a comparable issue, as findings regarding their association with sociability and aggressiveness toward humans have been inconsistent (Mertens 1991; Adamelli et al. 2005; Bennett et al. 2017; Ha and Ha 2017; Leech et al. 2022). One potential reason for this was that much of the existing research on cat greeting behavior shows an overreliance on survey data for feline sociability levels. While such approaches can be valuable for accessing larger participant samples, they may reduce the ecological validity of the findings and limit their implications for animal welfare and the quality of cat-owner relationships (Finka and Foreman-Worsley 2022).
Thus, the objective of this study was to systematically assess cat greeting behavior as it naturally occurred in the home environment, without relying on owner-reported ratings of cat behavior. Specifically, we sought to analyze the behaviors exhibited by cats upon their caregivers' return and to determine whether these behaviors were influenced by demographic factors such as caregiver sex, cat sex, age, pedigree status, and the number of cats in the household.

2 Methods

2.1 Participants
We recruited cat caregivers (n = 40) through online invitations shared on social media platforms and email lists. Data collection took place between 2022 and 2024. Inclusion criteria required that participants were adults who had cared for their cats for a minimum of 6 months, and that the cats were at least 8 months old (i.e., adults) at the time of the study. Prior to the start of the study, participants signed an informed consent form that grants permission to record video and audio within their homes and to use these recordings for research purposes. Participants also completed a demographic survey about themselves and their cats using Qualtrics (version February 2024) and Google Forms. We obtained ethical approval for this study from two institutional review boards (see Ethics Statement).

2.2 Data Collection
The demographic information section was part of a larger study on human-cat interactions. For our purposes, we used six demographic information relevant for our study: (a) caregivers sex (female/male), (b) cats sex (female/male), (c) cat age (in months), (d) pedigree status (purebred/mixed), (e) acquisition type (purchase/adoption) and (f) number of cats in household (single-cat/multi-cat households). Since all participants were adults, we decided not to include caregiver age as a potential variable.
We asked primary caregivers to record a 5-min video of their interaction with their cat immediately upon returning home from work/school using a chest-mounted camera (either their cellphone or a GoPro Hero 7, when available). They were instructed to start recording before opening the door to ensure that the cat's spontaneous greeting behavior upon their arrival was fully captured. Caregivers were further instructed to behave as naturally as possible to ensure ecologically valid recordings. The camera remained active throughout the entire interaction phase.

2.3 Behavioral Analysis
We used 22 behavioral measures previously identified in the literature (Stanton et al. 2015; see also Kappel et al. (2024), for a more recent ethogram published prior to the submission of this paper) to characterize the greeting behavior of cats toward their human companions (Table 1). We categorized behaviors as either frequency-based (counted per occurrence) or duration-based (measured in seconds). This allowed us to capture both the occurrence of discrete actions and the duration of sustained postures or states. We applied duration measures (i.e., moving away, playing, self-licking, tail swishing, crouching, tail up, and eating) to behaviors that could be maintained over time. These measures allowed us to evaluate the behavioral investment of cats in a given context. Frequency measures (i.e., rolling over, shaking, yawning, rubbing, stretching, vocalization, scratching on objects, approach, being picked up, and visiting the food bowl) were applied to behaviors expressed as discrete events rather than sustained states. An exception was made for vocalization, which was recorded as a frequency measure to capture the full range of vocal behaviors, from brief meows to extended purring.

TABLE 1.
List of behavioral measures used to assess greeting behavior in cats, including their data type and operational definitions.

Behavior code
Data type
Operational definition/description

Moving away
Duration
Cat moves away from the caregiver or object by walking or running

Playing
Duration
Engages in play behavior (object play, pouncing, chasing, or solitary play)

Rolling over
Frequency
Rolls onto back or side, exposing belly, either fully or partially

Shaking
Frequency
Rapid whole-body shaking

Self-licking
Duration
Licks own body or fur (self-grooming)

Yawning
Frequency
Opens mouth wide in a characteristic yawn

Rubbing (owner)
Frequency
Rubs head, cheek, body, or flank against the caregiver

Rubbing (object)
Frequency
Rubs head, cheek, body, or flank against an object (furniture, wall, etc.)

Tail swishing
Duration
Tail moves side to side in a swishing or lashing motion

Crouching
Duration
Body lowered close to the ground

Stretching
Frequency
Extends front or back legs and/or body in a stretch

Vocalization
Frequency
Emits vocal sounds (meow, trill, chirp, growl, hiss)

Scratching on object
Frequency
Uses forelimbs and claws to scratch on object (scratching post, furniture, etc.)

Self-scratching
Frequency
Uses hindlimb to scratch its own body

Tail up
Duration
The tail held upright vertically or slightly curved

Approach
Frequency
Moves toward the caregiver or object in the environment

Being picked up
Frequency
Is lifted and held off the ground by caregiver

Eating
Duration
Ingesting food at the food bowl

Visiting food bowl
Frequency
Approaches and inspects or contacts the food bowl without necessarily eating

Sitting
Duration
Maintains a seated posture without locomotion, with the rear end in contact with the ground

Owner intervention
Duration/frequency
Caregiver physically interacts with the cat, except for lifting it up (e.g., petting, touching, etc.)

In multi-cat households, we included only the first interaction between the caregiver and the cat and continued analyzing the behavior of that individual cat throughout the video. In one case where multiple cats approached the caregiver while greeting, we analyzed the cat that was first greeted (i.e., whose name was called) by the caregiver. The remaining cats were excluded to prevent potential data bias arising from repeated and similar caregiver behaviors within the same household.
We used BORIS to systematically code and analyze behaviors observed during the greeting interactions (Friard and Gamba 2016). An experienced observer with more than 15 years of experience (YSD) coded all behaviors to ensure consistency. Because the durations of the videos varied, with the shortest one lasting 100 s, we standardized the observation window to the first 100 s for all recordings. This approach ensured that the same time frame was analyzed for each cat, thereby avoiding bias introduced by unequal video lengths.

2.4 Statistical Analysis
We first examined the pairwise associations among all behavioral measures using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. Next, we tested the effect of each demographic factor on greeting behavior by conducting separate Wilcoxon rank-sum tests for categorical behavioral measures, and Spearman's rank correlations for age. We applied a Bonferroni correction to the significance threshold to minimize Type I error inflation resulting from multiple comparisons, and we reported significance based on the adjusted alpha level. For any significant effects, we followed separate linear regression models to determine whether the effect persisted after accounting for other demographic variables. In each model, the behavioral measure served as the response variable, and the main predictor was the demographic variable previously found to have a significant effect. We verified that all assumptions of linear regression were satisfied prior to conducting the analysis.
All analyses were conducted in R v. 4.4.1 (R Core Team 2021). For descriptive statistics, we used the package summarytools (v.1.0.1, Comtois 2022). We used the rstatix package (v0.7.2; Kassambara 2023) to perform Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. To test the assumptions of linear models, we used the performance package (v.0.12.2, Lüdecke et al. 2021).

3 Results

3.1 Demographics
From the initial list of 40 participants, 9 were excluded for not meeting the inclusion criteria, due to reasons such as inappropriate owner intervention that limited the cat's behavioral expression or recording angle issues that hindered proper observation of the cat (Table 2). Among the remaining caregivers, 58% were female. Only one caregiver reported acquiring their cat through purchase. Regarding the cats, 77% were described as mixed or random-bred, while 23% were reported as purebred, although no formal documentation was provided. Forty-two percent of the cats were female. Nearly two thirds of the participants lived in single-cat households, whereas the remainder reported having multiple cats at the time of the study. Five caregivers did not report on their cats' age; among the remaining responses, the median age was 66 months (IQR = 55.75).

TABLE 2.
Summary statistics of the demographics.

Demographic variable
Category/metric
Frequency
Percentage

Cat sex
Male
18
58.06

Female
13
41.94

Caregiver sex
Male
13
41.94

Female
18
58.06

Acquisition type
Adopted
30
96.77

Purchased
1
3.23

Pedigree status
Mixed
24
77.42

Pure
7
22.58

Number of cats in household
Single
24
77.42

Multiple
7
22.58

Cat age
Median (IQR)
66 (55.75)

3.2 Correlation Patterns Among Behavioral Measures
We present the strength and direction of the relationships between the behavioral measures used to characterize greeting behavior in the correlation matrix (Figure 1). The first group of correlated behavioral measures included affiliative social behaviors such as duration of tail-up posture, frequencies of approaching and rubbing against the owner, which showed moderate to strong positive correlations with each other. In contrast, the frequency of moving away showed negative correlations with the frequency of rubbing against the owner. Secondly, we observed significant associations among yawning, shaking, self-scratching, and self-licking behaviors, all of which showed intercorrelation as displacement behaviors. A moderate correlation was found between owner intervention and displacement behaviors. Finally, food-related behaviors such as visiting the food bowl and eating showed no correlation with either the affiliative (social) or displacement-related measures.

FIGURE 1Open in figure viewerPowerPoint

Correlation matrix depicting the strength and direction of pairwise relationships between behavioral variables observed in cats. Positive correlations that are significant are shown in blue and negative correlations in red, with color intensity and circle size indicating the magnitude of the correlation coefficient (Spearman's ρ).

3.3 Demographic Factors on Greeting Behavior
When examining the effects of demographic factors, due to missing entries for cat age, we were able to include only 26 respondents' videos in the analyses involving age. The remaining demographic variables were analyzed across 31 individuals. We found that only the frequency of vocalizations was significantly associated with a demographic factor. Specifically, cats exhibited a marginally higher frequency of vocalizations when interacting with male caregivers (W = 44, Bonferroni adjusted p = 0.05).
Following this, we constructed a linear model with caregiver sex as the primary predictor. The analysis revealed that, even after accounting for cat sex, pedigree status and number of cats in the household, cats exhibited significantly higher vocalization rates in the presence of male caregivers (Table 3; Estimate = 2.39, 95% CI [0.60, 4.18], t = 2.75, p = 0.011). Accounting for these factors allowed us to isolate the specific influence of caregiver sex on vocalization frequency. This effect remained robust when the model was re-estimated to include age as a demographic variable, excluding individuals who did not report their cats' age (Estimate = 2.39, 95% CI [0.27, 4.52], t = 2.21, p = 0.04).

TABLE 3.
Summary of the linear regression models on cat vocalization.

Coefficient
Estimate (95% CI)

Age excluded (ncats = 31)

Intercept
2.64 [0.56, 4.73]
2.49
0.02

Caregiver (male)

2.44 [0.68, 4.19]

2.72

0.01

Cat (male)
−0.61 [−2.38, 1.15]
−0.7
0.50

Pedigree status (pure)
−0.77 [−2.84, 1.30]
−0.7
0.47

Number of cats in household (single)
−0.38 [−2.47, 1.70]
−0.4
0.72

Age included (ncats = 26)

Intercept
1.19 [−1.55, 3.93]
0.85
0.40

Caregiver (male)

2.39 [0.27, 4.52]

2.21

0.04

Cat (male)
−0.28 [−2.33, 1.77]
−0.27
0.79

Pedigree status (pure)
−0.65 [−2.88, 1.58]
−0.57
0.57

Number of cats in household (single)
−0.60 [−2.83, 1.63]
−0.52
0.61

Age
0.02 [0.00, 0.05]
1.77
0.09

Note: The first model excludes age as a predictor, while the second includes it, resulting in a smaller sample size (n = 26). Unstandardized coefficients are reported with 95% confidence intervals in brackets. p-value < 0.05 are considered statistically significant (highlighted in bold).

4 Discussion

4.1 Cats Vocalized More Toward Male Caregivers
Among all the demographic factors examined, the only significant finding was that cats used vocal communication more frequently when greeting male caregivers. Female caregivers are generally more verbally interactive, more skilled at interpreting feline vocalizations (Turner 2021; Prato-Previde et al. 2020), and more likely to mimic the vocalizations of their cats (Pongrácz and Szapu 2018). It is therefore possible that male caregivers require more explicit vocalizations to notice and respond to the needs of their cats, which in turn reinforces cats' tendency to use more directed and frequent vocal behavior to attract their attention.
We also suspect that the geographical and cultural factors may have influenced interaction patterns, given that all our participants were residing in Türkiye. Recent studies have shown that cultural differences can influence cat-human communication patterns and feline behaviors such as time spent near humans as well as the degree of caregiving and attachment (Palmer and Thomas 2023; Vitale et al. 2024). In Türkiye, for instance, societal gender roles may influence interaction dynamics based on emotional restriction (Tekke et al. 2020), as male caregivers might engage less frequently in verbal behaviors compared to female caregivers. This difference could prompt cats to use vocal signals more actively to elicit responses from male caregivers. Therefore, differences in vocal patterns toward caregivers might reflect cultural differences in human-animal interactions unique to this region. However, this interpretation remains speculative and warrants further exploration in future research.

4.2 Distinct Correlational Patterns Among Greeting-Related Measures
Our findings revealed that cats engage in multimodal greeting behaviors as expected (de Mouzon and Leboucher 2023). The significant positive relationship between tail-up posture, owner-directed approach behavior, and rubbing actions was generally consistent with earlier descriptions of a naturally occurring greeting syndrome, barring vocalization (Moore and Stuttard 1979). Moreover, this result is consistent with recent research showing that allorubbing toward the owner after a brief separation is one of the major components of greeting behavior in domestic cats (Behnke et al. 2021).
A second behavioral pattern, comprising yawning, body shaking, self-scratching, and self-licking, appeared to represent displacement or self-directed behaviors. Suggested to function as coping mechanisms, these behaviors enable animals to manage arousal or stress by redirecting their energy into alternative, often species-typical behaviors (Delius 1967; Bain 2022). Cats are known to form attachments to their caregivers (Vitale et al. 2019; Chen et al. 2025) and may display separation-related behaviors as a result (Kerman et al. 2023). Displacement behaviors, therefore, may not only serve a self-regulatory function for the animal but also act as subtle social cues that elicit caregiver attention or interaction.
Finally, some measures showed no correlation with the other behavioral variables. For instance, food-related behaviors such as visiting the food bowl and eating appeared to be largely independent of the social behavior clusters, suggesting that food motivation is not the primary driver of behavior in the context of greeting. The same can be said for vocalization, which failed to correlate with any of the other measures in our dataset. Considering the importance of vocalization, this might reflect a general need for social interaction rather than a behavior elicited by a single emotional or motivational state.

4.3 Limitations
We acknowledge that our sample size limits the generalizability of our findings on cat greeting behaviors. Although the number of cats included is comparable to that of a previous experimental study on cat–human interactions (Mertens and Turner 1988), further replication with larger cohorts is necessary to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of interspecific greeting behavior in the domestic cat.
Another limitation was our inability to control for the exact duration of the caregivers' absence from home or the cats' hunger levels at the time of their return. Although the precise duration of the home-away period was not recorded, most participants appeared to have filmed their videos upon returning home from work, suggesting that the cats had been alone for most of the day. Foraging behavior was not observed in all cases, and it is common for Turkish cat owners to provide food ad libitum (pers. obs.). Therefore, we assumed that the feeding regime was unlikely to have a substantial effect on greeting behavior. Similarly, we did not consider the demographic information of other people in the household. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the value of incorporating these measures in future studies.
Additionally, the singular geographical location of Türkiye for all participating cats means our results might reflect specific cultural or environmental dynamics. To understand the full scope of factors influencing feline greeting behavior, cross-cultural studies with increased sample sizes are essential.

5 Conclusions
Greeting behavior in cats toward their caregivers constitutes a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that defies straightforward explanation. These behaviors encompass a range of elements—some closely interconnected, others more independent—and the influence of demographic factors remains challenging to capture, even outside a survey framework. We believe that our pilot study provides a valuable foundation for future research, in which larger sample sizes and the inclusion of additional variables (e.g., caregiver behavior and other demographic factors) measured through direct behavioral observations may reveal further subtleties in feline behavioral patterns and offer deeper insights into the social lives of domestic cats.

Author Contributions
Yasemin Salgırlı Demirbaş: conceptualization, methodology, validation, project administration, supervision, formal analysis, investigation, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing, data curation, visualization, funding acquisition. Kaan Kerman: visualization, project administration, supervision, formal analysis, validation, investigation, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing, methodology, software, data curation, conceptualization. Durmuş Atılgan: writing – review and editing, methodology, investigation. Melis Ünler: data curation, writing – review and editing, methodology, investigation. Tolga Yildirim: data curation, investigation, methodology. Selenay Şimşek: data curation, investigation, methodology.

Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the TÜBİTAK–2209-A Program for Supporting Research Projects of University Students. We thank all anonymous participants for contributing video recordings of their cats.

Ethics Statement
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Ankara University (approval date: March 17, 2022; decision number: 03/12), and the Bilkent University Ethics Board (reference number: 521).

Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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The domestic cat (Felis catus) provides a valuable model system for investigating greeting behavior, particularly in the context of interspecific interactions with humans. In this study, we examined how cats (n = 31) greet their human caregivers in their natural home environments. Using 22 behavioral measures, we explored how these behaviors related to one another during 100-s greeting sessions. We also tested whether demographic factors such as caregiver sex, cat sex, age, and ownership status influenced the frequency or duration of greetings. Our results revealed that cats vocalized more frequently toward male caregivers, suggesting that a possible influence of non-verbal communication played a role in these interspecific interactions. We identified two interrelated behavioral patterns: affiliative and displacement-like behaviors, suggesting that cats engage in both warm, social exchanges and behaviors associated with stress or frustration during greeting sessions. Overall, our research contributes to a better understanding of the complex social dynamics between domestic cats and their human companions.