ArticlePeerJ2021
Exploring women's oxytocin responses to interactions with their pet cats.
Article in PeerJ, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring Cat-Human Interaction as a Psychosocial Resource in Autism and ADHD: Risks, Engagement, and Well-Being.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social bonding between humans, animals, and robots: Dogs outperform AIBOs, their robotic replicas, as social companions.PloS one · 2025Article
- Effects of Interactions with Cats in Domestic Environment on the Psychological and Physiological State of Their Owners: Associations among Cortisol, Oxytocin, Heart Rate Variability, and Emotions.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- The Role of Empathic Concern and Gender on Interspecific Contagious Yawning in Humans.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Oxytocin levels and self-reported anxiety during interactions between humans and cows.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Oxytocin: Narrative Expert Review of Current Perspectives on the Relationship with Other Neurotransmitters and the Impact on the Main Psychiatric Disorders.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Review
- Family Member, Best Friend, Child or 'Just' a Pet, Owners' Relationship Perceptions and Consequences for Their Cats.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundExtensive research has evaluated the involvement of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) in human social behaviors, including parent-infant relationships. Studies have investigated OT's connection to human attachment to nonhuman animals, with the majority of the literature focusing on domestic dogs (
methodsWe investigated changes in salivary OT levels in 30 U.S. women of reproductive age before and after two conditions: reading a book (control) and interacting with their pet cat. Participant and cat behavioral patterns during the cat interaction condition were also quantified to determine if differences in women's OT concentrations were associated with specific human and cat behaviors.
resultsOur results revealed no changes in women's OT levels during the cat interaction, relative to the control condition, and pre-cat interaction OT levels. However, differences in women's OT concentrations were correlated with some human-cat interactions ( DISCUSSION: This study is the first to explore women's OT in response to interactions with their pet cat and has identified distinct human and cat behaviors that influence OT release in humans.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.