The easy takeaway from the research on fostering and loneliness is “cats make lonely people feel better.” True, and not very surprising. The finding worth sitting with is subtler and more useful: when researchers removed the cost and commitment of owning a cat, and simply let isolated older adults try one for a few months, nearly every single participant kept the cat anyway. The barrier, it turns out, was never the desire. It was the deposit, the vet bills, and the fear of a permanent yes.
That is the part with real implications, because barriers are fixable. So let us start with what actually moved the needle, then get to why winter makes any of this matter more.
The finding hiding in the headline
Researchers at the University of Georgia and Brenau University set out to measure how fostering a cat affects loneliness in older adults. The feasibility study, led by Dr. Sherry Sanderson and published in 2023 in the Journals of Gerontology: Series B, was funded by the nonprofit Human Animal Bond Research Institute and drew its cats from a local humane society and a campus cat program. Twenty-nine people over 60, all living alone without assistance, took part.
Each volunteer was paired with a cat and asked to foster for at least four months, with the option to adopt. Before the trial, participants filled out surveys measuring loneliness, physical health, mental health, and self-efficacy, with follow-ups at one month, four months, and up to a year for anyone who kept their cat.
Six of the 29 did not reach the four-month mark. But of the 23 who did, an astonishing 95.7 percent adopted their cat once the trial ended. Researchers recorded significant improvements in loneliness and mental health after four months, along with positive bumps in physical health. The adoption rate is the tell. These were not people who wanted a cat for a season; they were people who wanted a cat, full stop, and needed the financial and psychological on-ramp that fostering provided.
“The barrier for a lot of people, older adults especially, was never love. It was cost and the weight of a permanent commitment,” says Nina Vasquez, a Pet Times contributor. “Take those away for four months and you find out most of them wanted the cat all along. That is a program you can build.”
A foster coordinator at a Maine animal refuge echoed the financial point: the biggest advantage of fostering over adopting outright is the lack of financial strain. And while the study focused on people over 60, she is confident the mental boost reaches every age. For families with kids, fostering can teach children the commitment pet parenthood requires. For younger adults who crave a cat’s company but cannot swing the cost, it is close to a perfect alternative.
Why winter makes it matter more
It is never a bad time to start fostering, but as the temperature drops and the days shorten, it may be one of the most useful. The U.S. Surgeon General has declared loneliness a public health crisis, warning that its health toll rivals smoking. Seasonal depression affects roughly five percent of the population, and its symptoms can be heavy enough to interfere with everyday functioning. Fostering a cat will not single-handedly cure the winter blues, but it can take the edge off.
For a lot of people, especially those living alone, a bouncy kitten or a lap-loving senior can be the difference between a home that feels empty and one that feels alive. The Maine coordinator pointed to former volunteers who leaned on a foster cat’s company through their hardest stretches, including grief, redirecting attention and love onto an animal to find meaning in the middle of profound sadness. She recalled fosters facing cancer diagnoses who found the experience deeply rewarding, knowing their time might be short but that they still had so much love to give. Fostering, as she put it, lets someone channel their own pain into turning an animal’s life from isolation into one full of love.
And it works in both directions
You do not have to be navigating illness or tragedy to benefit, and you are not the only one who does. Every foster opens space in a local shelter, which means another animal’s life can be saved, and the cat you take in finally gets somewhere to settle, grow, and come into their own.
“Watching an under-socialized kitten go from fearful and reactive to curling up in your lap brings our fosters real pride,” the coordinator explained. “Being part of your community and knowing you are making a difference for a shelter and an animal is a genuinely powerful feeling.”
Opening your home to an animal who probably will not stay forever is a hard thing to sign up for. But the bittersweet ache of finding your foster their permanent home is more than worth it. By spending real time with them and passing along what you learn about their personality, you help the rescue match them with the right family. As the coordinator put it, by fostering just one animal, you could end up saving the lives of many more.
Could a doctor one day prescribe a cat?
The results were striking enough that researchers have floated a real question: could physicians eventually prescribe a foster cat to isolated older patients as part of a loneliness-reduction plan? It is not as far-fetched as it sounds. The headline numbers, a significant drop in loneliness and a nearly 96 percent adoption rate among finishers, keep anchoring the conversation about pets, mental health, and the value of programs that lower the practical barriers to fostering. The study’s lasting lesson is not that cats help. It is that the help is already there, waiting behind a cost most people could not clear on their own.
References
- Sanderson, S. L., et al. “The Impact of Cat Fostering on Older Adult Well-Being and Loneliness: A Feasibility Study.” The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2023. https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/79/1/gbad140/7280453
- “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.” Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, 2023. https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/connection/index.html
- “New Research Indicates Shelter Cat Fostering Reduces Loneliness in Older Adults Living Alone.” Human Animal Bond Research Institute. https://habri.org/pressroom/20231115
