Is your cat left or right pawed?

Cats are deft, dexterous experts with their paws, so much so that you may have been forgiven for assuming your cat was ambidextrous, but a new study has shown that cats can show a left / right preference when using their paws. The research published in Animal Behaviour was conducted in the pet’s homes, with owners noting down data over the course of several months including which paw was used first when stepping down stairs, reaching for food, or stepping into the litter tray. The cats were also observed in a food reaching experiment, where their paw preference was noted over 50 tries.

The researchers noted that female cats have a preference for using their right paw, and male cats for using their left paw. The reasons for this are unexplained, but the results may be affected by the fact that all the cats used in the study were neutered.