# Understanding Australian Cat Caregiver Motivations and Reactions to Behaviour-Change Messaging on Cat Containment: Insights for Campaign Design

## TL;DR

The study explores why cat owners in Australia resist keeping their cats indoors and how to design better campaigns to encourage safer cat management.

## Contribution

Identifies how cat caregivers' beliefs and emotional responses shape resistance to containment and suggests effective messaging strategies.

## Key findings

- Caregivers believe their cats can manage themselves outdoors, downplaying risks.
- Fear-based or moralizing messages are rejected, while practical, positive messages are better received.
- Established roaming habits are hardest to change, suggesting early intervention is more effective.

## Abstract

Keeping pet cats safely at home is increasingly promoted in Australia to protect cats, wildlife, and communities, yet many cat caregivers are reluctant to change established outdoor routines. This study explored how people who allow their cats to roam think about their cats’ needs, safety, and overall wellbeing, and how they respond to different public messages about keeping cats at home. We held online group discussions with 22 cat caregivers in New South Wales who currently allow outdoor access but were not strongly opposed to change. Participants often believed their cats could look after themselves outdoors and downplayed risks such as injury, disease, or getting lost. These beliefs were shaped by how the cat was acquired, how long it had roamed outdoors, and ideas about cats’ independence and happiness. Messages that focused on blame, fear, or moral judgment made people feel guilty or defensive and were usually rejected. In contrast, practical and positive messages showing how cats can live happy, active, and safe lives at home were better received. The findings suggest that changing roaming habits is hardest once routines are established. Efforts to encourage safer cat management are likely to be more effective if they focus on support, clear solutions, and early decision points such as adoption.

Domestic cat containment has become an increasing focus of companion animal management in Australia, yet uptake among caregivers who allow their cats to roam remains limited. This study explored how caregivers with established outdoor routines but no strong opposition to containment perceive their cats, interpret risk, and respond to different campaign framings. Four online focus groups were conducted in New South Wales with 22 cat caregivers who allowed their cats outdoor access. Thematic analysis indicated that containment decisions, as interpreted through the analytic process, were shaped by how cats were acquired, prior outdoor experience, beliefs about how cats exercise agency, and beliefs about what factors contribute to feline welfare. Caregivers frequently minimised risk and believed their cats could manage themselves outdoors, reinforcing resistance to change. Reactions to the two tested campaign concepts indicated that messages perceived as moralising or fear-based elicited guilt and avoidance. In contrast, caregivers preferred solution-focused messages showing how cats could thrive safely at home. The findings suggest that once roaming behaviours are established, emotional and habitual barriers make voluntary change difficult. Effective interventions should combine motivational framing with clear, achievable actions and target owners at early decision points, particularly adoption, when new habits and expectations about cat management are more readily established.