A new study by an international team of animal behaviour specialists suggests that cats who reluctantly allow their owners to stroke them could be more stressed out than moggies who carefully avoid being petted.

某國際動物行為研究組織最近發(fā)布的研究結果表示，那些被動的讓主人撫摸它們的喵星人，比盡量避免被撫摸的喵星人更容易產生焦慮。

The surprise conclusion arose in a study conducted by researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and University of Veterinary Medicine, Austria, which aimed to better understand how cats cope with living alongside humans and other felines in a single household.

這個驚人的結論來自一項由英國林肯大學、巴西圣保羅大學、澳大利大獸醫(yī)大學共同合作的研究項目，該項目旨在更好的了解貓是如何處理與身邊的人類、以及同居一室的其他貓的關系的。

Although many people consider cats to be solitary creatures, the collaborative research, published in the Journal Physiology and Behavior and presented to an international audience in Portugal in September 2013, revealed that cats can live happily together in groups, and that the number of cats is not necessarily a problem.

這項研究結果已經登載在美國權威雜志《生理學與行為》上，在2013年9月于葡萄牙舉行的全球第十四屆歐洲進化生物學協會上，研究者向各國學者宣布了這項研究成果。該研究成果還表明，盡管許多人認為貓是喜歡獨居的動物，然而事實上，許多貓可以和諧的群居在一起，貓群的數量并不會給它們帶來困擾。

Evidence was also found to suggest that the owner's urge to pet their cat may be a stressful experience.

研究者們還找到證據證明，特別喜歡撫摸寵物的主人可能會給寵物造成焦慮。

Professor Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at the University of Lincoln, said: "We chose stable households to look into this question and were quite surprised by the results. Despite typically living on their own in the wild, we have known for some time that cats come together when resources like food are concentrated in a single area, for example when people feed strays. However, it might be that they do this out of need and it is still stressful for them, because they are not a naturally social species.

林肯大學的獸醫(yī)行為醫(yī)學專業(yè)教授、丹尼爾 米爾斯教授說，“我們選擇了那些穩(wěn)定的家庭還進行此項研究，研究結果的確出乎意料。眾所周知，貓在野外會自力更生，我們也已經知道，當食物等生活資源在一個地區(qū)相對集中時，貓會聚眾在一起，例如當人們喂養(yǎng)流浪貓群的時候。但是，也許它們這樣做是出于需要迫不得已，而且它們仍會對群居感到焦慮。因為它們生性就不是群居動物。

He added: "It seems that those cats on whom the owner imposes him or herself are the ones we need to be most concerned about. The results also reinforce the importance of ensuring that you give all individuals control over their environment, so if you have several cats you should give them the choice of sharing or having their own special areas to eat, drink and go to the toilet."

他補充說，“似乎那些被主人強行撫弄的貓才是最值得我們關注的。我們的研究結果也提醒主人們，要保證家里的每只貓都能掌控周邊環(huán)境。所以如果你家里有多只貓，你應該尊重它們單獨或共享的各種區(qū)域，比如飲食的區(qū)域、或者排泄的區(qū)域。”