In keeping with our longstanding policy of keeping tabs on the parallel universe of pet foods, the FFB spotlights the 2025 list of Canadian Cities with the Happiest Cats – according to Whiskas’ new Cat Happiness Scale…
Whiskas cat food partnered with experts from Waltham Petcare Science Institute (WPSI) to identify the top behaviours associated with cat happiness, and then uncovered cities where they are most frequently displayed by Canadian cats on social media.
The Scale
For purposes of the survey… Only non-commercial, non-AI, and naturally captured content was included. This social media content was coded using a custom scorecard informed by the Waltham Pet Science Institute’s SHINE™ framework, focusing on key cat happiness indicators. The results provide a ranking of 10 Canadian cities based on highest percentage of positive happy cat behav-iours.
The rankings
Leading the list of cities that are home to Canada’s happiest cats is Hamilton, Canada’s new happy cat capital. The full list of top 10 cities for happiest cats (in descending order) goes like this: Hamilton (ON), Laval (QC), Ottawa (ON), Vancouver (BC), Quebec City (QC), Markham (ON), Winnipeg (MB), Mon-treal (QC), Kitchener (ON) and Gatineau (QC).
Sharing the love
Many felines in shelters may need a little more happiness. That is why WHISKAS also supports select animal shelters across the country by fulfilling items from their Wish Lists, ranging from cat food, toys and products to general supplies the shelter needs.
Understatement of the week…
“Cats have a reputation for being aloof and difficult to understand. However, they are excellent pets with unique personalities,” says Dr. Tammie King, Senior Research Manager, WPSI, qualifying easily as the FFB’s ‘understatement of the week’.
“For all cat parents who wonder about how to read their cats, you’re not alone. Overall, people tend to find it difficult to interpret their cat’s body language and emotional state,” King continues. “With the Cat Happiness Scale, derived from the scientific understanding of cat behaviour, we love the op-portunity to help Canadian cat parents better understand their pets, and ultimately strengthen the human-cat bond.”
My take
So… If this Cat Happiness Scale is so scientific, so comprehensive, so much fun and so darned useful for ‘cat parents’… Where’s the link to it? No joy on that account in the official news release. Nothing at the Whiskas official webpage. No independent website comes up, even under the most intense and inspired Googling.
We’re going to lodge some cogent inquiries and keep on Googling. And we’ll share whatever – if any – luck we have on this confounding conundrum as the results come in…
~ Maggie J.