Identifying positive welfare states in cats goes beyond absence of illness to recognising the behavioural and physiological indicators of genuine feline flourishing.
Positive welfare assessment in cats requires moving beyond the absence of illness or visible suffering to recognising the indicators of genuine wellbeing. A cat that is healthy but spends most of its time hiding, rarely plays and rarely seeks social contact may not be suffering dramatically but is not thriving. Conversely, a cat that greets its owner enthusiastically, plays regularly, grooms thoroughly and seeks comfortable resting positions close to preferred humans is expressing positive welfare states. Learning to recognise these indicators transforms welfare monitoring from disease surveillance to quality of life assessment.