Feline Temperament Profile Instructions
Feline Temperament Profile was originally developed to evaluate cats for placement in or as visitors to nursing homes. Thus some of the items may be more than you need. The ones that will assess how easily people can interact with (#1, 2, 3, & 8) and handle the cat (#4 6, & 7)—potentially in a rough way (#9) may be the most valuable. The cat’s playfulness with the toy (#5) may also indicate how relaxed or outgoing the cat is and may help break the ice with the cat. Startle response (#10) may indicate reactivity of cats, however, our population of cats showed little variability to this question. The table on the next page describes whether items were categorized as Acceptable or Questionable.
Each time a response occurs it gets a 1 in the blank next to the response. (Some responses, like eye contact occur in several phases of the test.) Then you add together all the Acceptable scores for one subtotal and all the Questionable scores for another subtotal. The maximum Acceptable score is 39 and the maximum Questionable score is 34.
In our study, cats with Acceptable scores > 20 were outgoing and easy keepers. Cats with Acceptable scores 10-19 were shy and needed to be given time to work things out for themselves. Cats with Acceptable scores 10 would rather not interact with people.
Cats with Questionable scores 2 were not likely to react with aggression to situations. Cats with Questionable scores 2-4 were fairly even tempered but were more likely to react defensively than the first group. Cats with Questionable scores > 4 were not very tolerant of human interaction.
Our results were from a small number of similar cats, so you might find a wider range of scores and develop you own idea of what scores translate into in terms of acceptability. In particular, cats in other situations might show higher Questionable scores than our cats due to greater variation in backgrounds. You could initially try the test on some known cats and have those scores help you set guidelines.
Scoring of responses on the feline temperament profile.
General Responses to Tester (all)
Eye contact / Acceptable
Avoids eye contact / Questionable
Approaches/circles tester / Acceptable
Sniffs/licks / Acceptable
Rubs/bumps head/body against tester / Acceptable
Rolls / Acceptable
Retreats/withdraws / Questionable
Watches/no approach / Questionable
Vocalization: meow/purr/chirrups / Acceptable
Vocalization: hisses/growls / Questionable
Strikes/attempts to strike / Questionable
Bites/attempts to bite / Questionable
Initial fear then relaxes / Acceptable
Allows stroking / Acceptable
Call cat, cat approaches tester / Acceptable
With Toy (# 5)
Comes back for stroking / Acceptable
Watches toy / Acceptable
Chases toy / Acceptable
Ignores toy / Questionable
Attends to something else / Questionable
Holding Cat (# 6)
Relaxes / Acceptable
Extends paw affectionately / Acceptable
Struggles to escape / Questionable
Stroking Cat (# 7)
Stands up to smell face/paw on neck / Acceptable
Sits on lap tensely / Questionable
Jumps off / Questionable
Threatens or becomes aggressive / Questionable
Calling Cat (# 8)
Jumps up / Acceptable
Eye contact but stays on floor / Acceptable
Stands on hind legs/makes contact / Acceptable
Ignores calls and you / Questionable
Moves away fearfully / Questionable
Pull Tail (# 9)
No reaction / Acceptable
Struggles to escape / Questionable
Loud Noise (# 10)
Startles, relaxes quickly / Acceptable
Ignores noise / Acceptable
Does not appear to hear the noise / Acceptable
Startles, runs to hide / Questionable
Startles, then defensive or aggressive / Questionable