Helping Shelters Understand How Cats Are Coping

Cats can find animal shelters very stressful, especially when they first arrive. Shelters therefore need good ways to check how cats are coping and whether their welfare is being protected. Many existing tools rely on people judging a cat’s behaviour, which can be subjective. They may also miss some signs of how a cat is feeling, including both positive and negative emotional states.To help address this, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® developed a new tool called the Psychological Quality of Life (PQOL) assessment. This study tested whether the PQOL could be used reliably to assess cats during their first days in a shelter.

Researchers assessed 50 cats who had been surrendered to a shelter in Texas. They used both the PQOL and the Cat Stress Score, which is an existing validated tool. Two trained raters assessed each cat twice a day, every other day, usually on the second, fourth, and sixth days after arrival. The researchers then checked whether the two raters gave similar scores and whether each rater was consistent over time.

The results showed that the PQOL and Cat Stress Score were strongly linked, meaning the two tools gave broadly similar results. Both tools were generally reliable, although the Cat Stress Score showed slightly stronger agreement between raters than the overall PQOL score. The reliability of individual PQOL items varied, and scores were also affected by the day of observation.

Overall, the study suggests that the PQOL may be a useful way to monitor the welfare of cats in shelters. However, more research is needed to test it in different shelters and over longer periods, beyond the initial acclimation period. The findings also suggest that raters may become more consistent as they become more familiar with the tool and with the cats they are assessing.

Read the full paper here: Lamon TK, Slater MR, Daigle CL, Meneses XCA, Budke CM (2026) A comparative analysis of the cat stress score and the novel psychological quality of life assessment tool for cats in a shelter setting. Appl Anim Beh Sci 297:106925. 10.1016/j.applanim.2026.106925