The cat breed which is the most affectionate is the Ragdoll, a cat breed from California ‘manufactured’ during the heyday of the creation of new breeds. At the other end of the spectrum and low on affection is the well-known, wild cat hybrid, the Bengal. I have seen this personally. Also the wild cat component of the Bengal, the Asian leopard cat is a small, untameable and difficult to handle cat. That said, the Bengal is incredible popular so this perceived lack of affection cannot be that bad.

I have answered the question and therefore will briefly comment on the answer. Obviously there are many non-purebred cats who are incredibly affectionate. The point should be made in their interests.

The information above comes from a study which I have referred to in two articles. Eighty veterinary clinics specialising in cats were interviewed on the telephone for 30 minutes on the premise that the clients of purebred cats would have passed on information to their veterinarian. Thus, veterinarians become knowledgeable about certain traits and characteristics with respect to the purebred cats.

You can read about both the Ragdoll and the Bengal on this website in some detail. The International Cat Association (TICA) breed standard for the Bengal cat states:

“Temperament must be unchallenging; any sign of definite challenge shall disqualify. The cat may exhibit fear, seek to flee, or generally complain aloud but may not threaten to harm.”

We can see, therefore, that the association is aware of the potential for a Bengal cat to be less than friendly because they are a wild cat hybrid and that wildness comes through sometimes. This ‘warning’ of disqualification at competition will not be found on the standards for non-wild cat hybrids.

The point that I am making is that it is no surprise to me that the Bengal cat is at the other end of the spectrum to the most affectionate breed as concluded by this study. The same would apply to all wild cat hybrids such as the Savannah.

I would suggest, by the way, that other cat breeds will be as affectionate as the Ragdoll and alternative conclusions may be drawn from different studies or better still from anecdotal evidence by which I mean cat owners’ first-hand experience.

Aggression Towards Human Family Members

This is associated with affection and therefore I mention it here. Unsurprisingly, the Bengal cat comes out worst under this heading while the Ragdoll has the lowest aggression towards human family members.