Do cats make good therapy animals? The new trend showing felines may be more complicated than we realise

By Grace Carroll, Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast

Dogs are sociable, enthusiastic and widely used to comfort people in settings like hospitals, schools and care homes. But an increasingly popular alternative is emerging: therapy cats.

The term is often used loosely in the media and inconsistently within the scientific community. But in its strictest sense, animal-assisted therapy is a structured activity delivered by health professionals…

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