Predicting the Conservation Behaviour of Cat Owners: Involvement, Attitudes and Approach-Avoidance Conflict

Cats, including companion cats, inflict extensive harm on wildlife. Using a national survey of 2000 households in New Zealand, we investigated the influence of involvement (an indicator of motivation) on the willingness of cat owners to keep their cats indoors at night. We found that respondents’ intentions to protect wildlife, and the frequency with which respondents with cats kept them indoors at night, was influenced by their involvement with cat welfare and their involvement with protecting wildlife, in addition to their attitudes and subjective norms. We also found that keeping cats indoors at night could be characterised as involving approach-avoidance conflict. Our findings have implications for efforts to increase the adoption by cat owners of keeping cats inside at night regarding the attentiveness of cat owners to promotional activities. Our findings suggest that such activities will not be particularly effective in the absence of cat-friendly, inexpensive, practical, and easily maintained devices that enable cats to be kept inside. Importantly, when the adoption of keeping cats inside at night is appropriately characterised as approach-avoidance conflict, our results suggest that promotional activities seeking to persuade cat owners that pet cats cause much greater harm to wildlife than they might believe are most likely to have a limited and likely temporary effect and may even be counterproductive.