A Preference of Paw

August 28, 2025

Cats CAN Be Right or Left-Pawed

Jane Stiner

Every now and then I hear or read something about cats that takes me by surprise. Recently, I came across the discovery that cats are “laterally biased,” which means they tend to favor one paw over another. This preference varies from feline to feline, much like humans who are born right or left-handed.

Here is what we know so far about cats being laterally biased: In a 2018 study in Animal Behaviour,¹ forty-four cats (24 male, 20 female) of various ages and breeds were tested in a low- stress environment (e.g., at home); all were spayed or neutered. Human participants were asked to observe and track their cat’s behaviors when it came to their paw usage. The tests were how the cats reached for food, how they stepped over things, and how they went up and down stairs. The result was the discovery that most cats favored one side of their body over the other. In this case, it was either their right or left paw. This is similar to how humans favor one side of the body to step, reach for things to see, and even to chew.

Now that researchers had proved that cats have a lateral bias, felines join the larger group of the laterally- biased species which includes humans, apes, dogs, horses, and even whales.

The results of an additional study published in Smithsonian Magazine in 2018² identified another discovery: Most male cats favored their left paw, while most females were more likely to use their right paw. Additionally, a percentage of both male and female cats were found to be ambilateral, meaning they use both their right and left paws. Similar to ambidextrous humans, cats possess this ability. The research also identified that this lateral bias in kittens developed between the ages of six months to one year.

The gender difference is very interesting, but more research will be needed to further evaluate the considerations that this gender difference could also be an indicator of temperament or even personality.

With all of this information on lateral and gender bias swirling in my head, I decided to try to determine whether my three cats at home fit the profile. Two of my cats are females, the third a male. All are spayed and neutered Birmans over ten years of age. I used three separate tests, and observed their behaviors over a period of several weeks:

1. Treat Test: which, if any, paw was primarily used to reach for a treat
2. Toy Test: which paw was primarily used to bat/swat at a flying toy or laser pointer
3. Stepping test: which foot was used to step in or out of a litter box

I charted daily observations with the following results:

• Poppy (female): did all three tasks leading with her right paw. I even noted that when she bops me on the arm for attention, it is always with her right paw. I feel she is strongly right- pawed.
• Dandy (male): led with his left paw on all three activities.
• Jewel (female): seemed to rotate paws for the tasks, but used her right paw more often than her left.

I then turned to some friends who all had similar results, even though no cats other than Jewel were ambilateral. By this time, I had done more investigating to learn more about this phenomenon. Researchers have now found that the “strength” of the pawedness may correlate with certain cat temperaments … a topic for another story!

 

 

References

1. McDowell, L. J., Wells, D. L., & Hepper, P. G. (2018). Lateralization of spontaneous behaviours in the domestic cat, Felis silvestris. Animal Behaviour, 135, 37–43. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347217303640
2. Brigit Katz, Cats Can Be Right or Left-Pawed: A new study has found that ‘lateral bias’ in cats may be linked to gender. Smithsonian Magazine, January 24, 2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cats-can-be-right-or-left-pawed-180967930/
3. Ocklenburg, S., Isparta, S., Peterburs, J., & Papadatou-Pastou, M. (2019). Paw preferences in cats and dogs: Meta-analysis. Laterality, 24(6), 647–677. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2019.1578228