Description
Felines have played an important role in the lives and culture of humans for thousands of years. The purpose of this study is to investigate perceptions of felines and feline demographics to gain a better understanding of the relationship between cats and humans in the Northeast Arkansas (NEA) area in particular. For Study 1, data on phenotype and health conditions (n = 2,277 feline patients) were collected from patient files from three Northeast Arkansas veterinary clinics. For Study 2, an anonymous survey generated using Qualtrics titled “Purr-spectives: Feline Behavioral Perceptions Survey” was published through the College of Agriculture social media accounts (and made shareable) to gather personal opinions from cat owners (n = 627 respondents) on feline coat color and statistics on feline ownership. In Study 1, there were a total of up to six pattern-based phenotypes and 18 color-based phenotypes observed, and a total of 305 patient files with recorded health conditions, with 129 of those health conditions being unique. The most predominant phenotype from this study was the domestic shorthair solid black cat, and the most common health conditions were integumentary conditions. In Study 2, summary statistics were used. It was found that the majority of survey respondents reported owning more than five cats in their lives, and the most commonly owned color of cat was black. In conclusion, NEA is full of cat-lovers, and the domestic shorthair black cat is the most prevalent type of cat in the area. Although this study evaluated 2,277 patient files across three local clinics, this is only a small percentage of the feline population that exists in NEA, therefore more data is needed in order to draw more detailed and precise conclusions.
Publication Date
4-2026
Thesis Advisor
Jerica Rich
Thesis Committee
Hunter Burnett, Donald Kennedy, Carmen Williams
Degree Name
BS, Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation
2028
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Batchelor, Tiffany L., "Purr-spectives: Connections Between Feline Coat Color and Human Preferences and Perceptions in Northeast Arkansas" (2026). Honors Theses. 5.
https://arch.astate.edu/honors-thesis/5
