MEDIA ALERT: DENVER/February 12, 2025 — Stress and inflammation lead to lower measures of cognitive ability in cats, according to a new publication from a Morris Animal Foundation-funded researcher team. The paper, published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, provides new insights into the factors contributing to cognitive decline in cats and describes behaviors that could be early signs of disease.
“What is unique about our findings is linking factors such as stress and inflammation to cognitive changes in cats,” said Dr. Federica Pirrone, Associate Professor at the University of Milan, and one of the paper’s authors. “We identified factors that might predict cognitive changes in aging cats while they are still healthy. This finding is important because if an owner notices marked behavior changes it might be too late to intervene effectively.”
The researchers used a citizen science approach to study cats in their home environment. The project examined the relationship between cognitive functions, stress, and the inflammatory markers interleukin (IL)-1β in 44 healthy, privately owned pet cats (7–14 years of age). The team tested two parameters of cognitive ability: spatial memory and social cognition.
Spatial memory refers to a cat’s ability to remember the location of a food-baited container. The cat observes their owner placing a treat in one of five containers, and then the owner notes if the cat can recall where the treat was placed.
To measure social cognition, the researchers observed a cat’s behavior when confronted with an unsolvable problem – how to retrieve a treat from a sealed container. A specific behavior, gaze alternation, is considered an indicator of social cognition. A cat will alternate their gaze between the object and the caregiver, and this is a strategy cats use to communicate with their caregiver. The test suggests the cat understands the problem and is seeking attention from their caretaker. This is called referential communication or social referencing.
The team found that stress and increased levels of the inflammatory marker IL-1ß predicted reduced social referencing, particularly in older cats. Spatial memory was positively correlated with social cognition, which validates the results and aligns with expected outcomes.
“Even if your cat still looks great, aging processes are changing who they are and the way in which they interact with their environment and with you. Cat caregivers should pay attention to this and not wait until signs of disease, whether it's physical or behavioral, become very noticeable,” added Dr. Carlo Siracusa, Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania, and a co-author of the publication.
The team hopes their findings will raise awareness among veterinarians about healthy aging in cats and that veterinary care teams will incorporate questions about behavior as part of routine exams in older cats. The takeaway lesson for cat owners is that subtle behavior changes in older cats should not be excused as “normal” and they should seek veterinary care if their cat’s behavior changes.
About Morris Animal Foundation
Morris Animal Foundation's mission is to bridge science and resources to advance the health of animals. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Denver, it is one of the largest nonprofit animal health research organizations in the world, funding $167 million in more than 3,000 critical animal health studies to date across a broad range of species. Learn more at morrisanimalfoundation.org.
Media Contact: Lindsey Washington
