22 Jul 2026
New quality of life assessment tool for cats developed by Waltham Petcare Science Institute, in collaboration with Mars Veterinary Health, Royal Canin and the University of Bristol.
Chris Simpson
Job Title
New tool launched to help clinicians and cat owners assess feline quality of life.
Researchers have developed and validated a new tool to help clinicians and cat owners assess feline quality of life (FelQoL).
Scholars from the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, in collaboration with Mars Veterinary Health, Royal Canin and the University of Bristol, developed a questionnaire owners can complete to measure their cats’ happiness and well-being.
The researchers hope the tool can facilitate better communication between veterinary professionals and owners about their cats’ needs, and instigate more intentional veterinary consultations when well-being decreases, even without obvious illness or injury.
A two-part study, published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery and described as the most comprehensive of its kind, involved scholars collecting responses from 1,324 UK and US cat owners to develop the FelQoL questionnaire.
The tool comprises 37 questions requiring the owner to evaluate how well an adjective or action describes their cat on a scale from one to seven, covering seven domains: active, talkative, satisfied, relaxed, mobile, appetite and sociable.
It is designed for quick completion and is said to have taken most respondents less than 10 minutes to complete.
The active and satisfied domains are said to have differed significantly between breeds, with longhair cats scoring low for both (mean 4.0 and 5.5, respectively). Siamese cats scored high for active (mean 4.4) and Maine coon cats scored high for satisfied (mean 5.7).
The authors found a strong and statistically significant decrease in the active, mobile and sociable domains with increasing age, as well as statistically significant decreases in the active and mobile domains for owner-reported dental, digestive, endocrine or kidney problems and obesity.
Kidney issues were also associated with significant decreases in the social domain, but the other domains did not show statistically significant changes associated with the medical conditions that were considered.
The presence of places to perch are said to have resulted in statistically significant increases for the active and mobile domains, while a “weak but highly statistically significant correlation” was found between owner QoL and the overall QoL of their cats.
Co-author Janet Patterson-Kane, global veterinary science partner at Mars Science and Diagnostics, said the researchers are exploring options for making FelQoL accessible for cat owners.
She said: “Integration into practice would require pet owners to complete the questionnaire and exploring that assessment in the veterinary visit.
“This could be a very powerful tool – especially when tracked over periods of time – and particularly useful for senior pets.
“We know that many owners only take their cats to the vet when they think something is wrong.
“As cats are good at hiding illness or injury, and owners are not necessarily particularly expert in assessing behaviour, this results in a lot of disease and pain going unchecked. Establishing a baseline when your cat is healthy is really useful.”
Dr Patterson-Kane added: “The notion that cats can be difficult to read is well known.
“That’s why the FelQoL is such an important development for veterinary professionals and pet owners alike.
“This science-backed, practical tool could help better identify cats’ welfare needs and improve their day to day quality of life.”