right or left pawed?

My daughter is doing a science project and she needs your help. She's trying to find out if cats have brain dominance - if they prefer left or right paw. We need more cats to test on.

If you want to help do this - roll a little piece of paper towel and tie it with a long string. Put it in front of your cat's face and check what paw they use to grab it. Do ten tries and post your results! If possible include your cats age and gender. Thank you very much.

I would be very happy to help.

Snow- Female-16 months

1. right paw
2. right paw
3. right paw
4. left paw
5. right paw
6. left paw
7. right paw
8. right paw
9. (she's starting to get mad now) left paw
10. Went after my hand instead of the paper. I gottan good scratch outta that. But it was her right paw

7/10 Right Paw

I don't really think that all cats do have a preference though. Snow does like to lay on her right side most often though.

My cat just stares at me and eventually walks away, apparently bored by having something that doesn't smell of food dangled in front of her face. Sorry, she just won't play.

Male, 7 months

1 R
2 R
3 L
4 R
5 R
6 L
7 R
8 L
9 R
10 L

I'm not sure whether this cat is left or right pawed because I've only had him for a week, but I did have a cat that was definitely left pawed. He used his left paw more often than not, always slept with it protected underneath his chest. It's an interesting subject that I've always wondered about.

It's funny, but I recently heard that the majority of cats are left pawed. I'll do the "experiment" some time this week when I get a chance but in the mean time I'd guess that Wickett is right pawed cuz that's the one he drinks his water with. Anyway, I'll be back after I've teased them.

Interesting study. It was kind of tricky trying to work with one cat at a time, but here's what I came up with.
L=left, R=right B=both

Cali, female, 12 weeks: L L R R L L B B B L (maybe she's too young to have a preference)

Iris, female, 12 weeks: R R R L R R L R L R (7/3 right over left)

Lion, male, 12 weeks: B B B B B B L B B R (does this make him undecided or ambidexterous?)

Goldy, female, not sure of her age, ?11-12 months?, mother to the 3 kittens: L L L R B L L L L L (definitely a southpaw)

Shareena, female 19.5 months: L L R L, then got disgusted and quit playing. I have noticed that she tends to swat at the other cats with her left paw

Miss Patchwillow, female, 19.5 months: just sat and looked at me like I was crazy, never lifted a paw

Alan and he is a 2 year old male

1. Left
2. Left
3. Left
4. Left
5. Left
6. Right
7. Left
8. Left
9. Right
10. Left

Mine is definately a lefty!!

I think Riley is more left-pawed, but I will try to experiment tonight with both my boys and see

Peppy (aka Peppermint Patty) did the following.

1-5 Right

6-9 Left

10 Both

This appeared to be boxing moves to me...

Marcy (Peppermint Patty's sidekick in Peanuts) 9 yrs old

1-15 Left

Guess she is a southpaw... And I don't even like boxing!!! : )

Fun!! Marie in NC

Arwen:

1-R
2-R
3-R
4-L
5-R
6-L
7-Both paws! (Then stopped for a minute)
8-R
9-L
10-L

I think she is a righty by far!

Pretty interesting, looks like kittens use both and adults tend to have a preferred hand, err, paw! Just like humans, don't you think?

We'll combine statistics and post it here when we have enough. Thanks everyone and we need some more reports!

Originally Posted by minymoka

My daughter is doing a science project and she needs your help. She's trying to find out if cats have brain dominance - if they prefer left or right paw. We need more cats to test on.

If you want to help do this - roll a little piece of paper towel and tie it with a long string. Put it in front of your cat's face and check what paw they use to grab it. Do ten tries and post your results! If possible include your cats age and gender. Thank you very much.

Click to expand...

My just jumps at it with both paws. He's 4 and he's male.

We were able to get a few results for you!

Grabat - 8 year old female
1) Left paw
2) Left paw
3) Left paw
4) Left paw
5) Left paw
6) Left paw
7) Left paw
8) Left paw
9) Left paw
10) Right paw


Gonzo - 5 year old male
1) Left paw
2) Right paw
3) Right paw
4) Left paw
5) Right paw
6) Left paw
7) Right paw
8) Right paw
9) Right paw
10) Right paw


Peanut - 4 month old male
1) Both paws at the same time,
2) Right paw
3) Right paw
4) Right paw
5) Left paw
6) Right paw
7) Left paw
8) Left paw
9) Right paw
10) Left paw


Spooky Bear - 2 year old male
1) Right paw
2) Right paw
3) Right paw
4) Left paw
5) Right paw
6) Right paw
7) Left paw
8) Left paw
9) Right paw
10) Right paw


Woodward - 1 year old male
1) Right paw
2) Left paw
3) Left paw
4) Right paw
5) Right paw
6) Left paw
7) Left paw
8) Right paw
9) Left paw
10) Left paw


Garfield - 2 year old male
1) Right paw
2) Right paw
3) Left paw
4) Right paw
5) Right paw
6) Left paw
7) Left paw
8) Left paw
9) Left paw
10) Left paw

The rest of them just weren't interested in the experiment, LOL.

Okay, so Miss Patchwillow wouldn't play the game earlier. However, I did catch her whacking Goldy on the head 8 times in a row, all with the left paw. She probably would have gotten in a couple more if I hadn't intervened. Don't know if you can count that in your study.

Hennessy did:

R(ight)
R
R
R
M(outh)
M
M
R
B(oth)
B

I can say from experience he is VERY right-pawed.

Hi All, just wanted to share the combined results from two forums with you.

Total cats participated: 36. Thanks to the cats and the owners!

Adults: right - 38%, left - 43%, no preference - 19%.
Kittens: right - 10%, left - 0%, no preference - 90%.

Obviously, there's no dominant right-handiness in cats as there's in humans. But most of adult cats (80%) do have a preferred paw. Kittens, according to the results, do not. Gender probably does not matter.

wow what a cool experiment! Thanks for sharing the results with us!

Originally Posted by GoldyCat

Okay, so Miss Patchwillow wouldn't play the game earlier. However, I did catch her whacking Goldy on the head 8 times in a row, all with the left paw. She probably would have gotten in a couple more if I hadn't intervened. Don't know if you can count that in your study.

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