I noticed her preference because if I lie on my left-hand side, she is a very happy little spoon and uses my arm as a pillow.
If I lie on my right-hand side, kitty is confused. She will take extra preparatory rotations hoping that one more turn will be enough for the problematic situation to resolve. After some hard stares, maybe an annoyed huff, she will reluctantly curl-up as a face-to-face non-spoon.
He'll work out some kind of arrangement if I'm laying on my left side and he can't lay on his left, but if I'm lying on my back it's always to the right.
It makes you wonder about cat-person compatibility based on the person's preference for how to lie down and the cat's preference.
OK, but what does your cat do?
I'll keep an eye on them and see if they have a preference that I'd missed. It won't be all that useful -- if nothing else, the specific preferred sleeping places of my house could have more to do with my layout than any underlying mechanism in the cat. But I'd kinda like to know if there has been something staring me in the face all this time and I just didn't put it together.
https://blog.dimview.org/math/2017/07/28/cat-chirality.html
Though his dataset is only a single cat he fails to reject the null hypothesis. But you can use the included graphics to plot the chirality of your own pet.
With my dog, the only thing I've noticed is that no matter which chirality he initially choses, he seems to need to switch it up after a while.
408 videos, showing bias towards leftward pose. They claim to have removed the mirrored videos from their samples.
I wonder how you’d structure a proper study on this. Probably obtain a random selection of cat owners (slaves?) first.
(I first learned this because I was researching why when I meditated on my right side I would sometimes have hallucinogenic visions, but not on my left side - it was a surprise to come across this fact about the Buddha)
Reading this study made me realize that cats are actually very good at finding balance.
(Anecdotal, but +1.)
On the other hand, she's one of a bonded pair and I'll sometimes see her and her sister sleeping curled next to each other with more varied chirality. Maybe a trusted friend outweighs this effect?
Publishing in cell gets you a tenure track.
But, they suggest this is because "Upon awakening, a leftward sleeping position would provide a fast left visual field view of objects", which seems suspect. When my cats sleep on their left, it's their left eye that's obscured by their paw, and their right eye that has a better field of view!
Clearly, there is a contradiction. What's mystifying is that the authors seemingly spent lots of time on this exact directionality concept, yet put this contradiction in.
Look at this picture to see how the image from both eyes is processed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_system#/media/File:Huma...
(this is for human visual system, but it's the same for a cat I guess?)
The important thing is not the left/right eye, but the left/right side of both eyes.
Maybe they never intended for a broad audience, but the paper would be way more accessible if they had included a description like you have here. It was a frustrating read about a well-liked subject, I'm sure I'm not the only one that felt that way.
Does YouTube provide a way to search and download videos for such research purposes? Or does one have to use some tool that works around YouTube’s mechanisms that prevent downloading?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splooting
My tuxedo cat Napoleon is much more dignified, presenting a distinguished catloaf, while crossing his front paws with aristocratic grace.
Step 2 (Optional and not recommended): Become snooty about how to prepare your poultry for being smoked.
Which paw on top!? Clearly of significant scientific interest.
