Identifying barriers to providing daily playtime for cats: A survey-based approach using COM-B analysis

Play behaviour is often considered a sign of good welfare in companion animals. To meet their pets’ environmental needs, owners are encouraged to provide opportunities for the expression of natural behaviours. Owners can provide cats with an outlet for hunting behaviour through interactive play, where they move a wand toy in a way that mimics prey. However, not all owners play this way regularly, or at all, with their cats. In this study, we implemented part of the Behaviour Change Wheel framework, specifically the COM-B model in relation to human behaviour change, via an online survey to assess barriers (in the areas of Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation) for owners playing with their cats with wand toys and to quantify and understand current owner-cat play behaviour. Forty-seven percent of owners reported playing with their cat regularly in a baseline survey of 1599 respondents from 47 countries. Using COM-B analysis, we identified several barriers to playing relating to capability, opportunity, and motivation. Specific examples included being too mentally or physically tired, forgetting to play with their cat, not having time due to work, not being able to make play a daily habit, life getting in the way and the perception that their cat seems to prefer other toys or activities to wand toys. Greater knowledge about play and identifying fewer barriers were associated with more frequent interactive wand toy play. Interventions to improve feline welfare should focus on helping cat owners overcome these identified capability, opportunity, and motivation barriers.