The cute cat purring on your lap could actually be a neurotic, controlling wreck, according to university researchers – but contrary to some reports they probably don’t want to kill you.

Academics at the University of Edinburgh claim that domestic cats share neurotic personality traits with lions and other larger, wilder felines. The researchers looked at character traits among domestic cats housed in shelters. Working in conjunction with New York’s Bronx zoo, they compared the moggies with captive African lions, snow leopards, clouded leopards and Scottish wildcats.

Characteristics were “strikingly similar” across the species, they found. Domestic cats and lions both showed traits of neuroticism – they were fearful of people, suspicious and insecure. They both also showed “dominance” and “impulsiveness” traits.

Commenting on the study US forensic psychologist Dr Max Watchel, who was not involved in the study, told the BBC that cats are “little aggressive predators” that are “anxious and very non-self assured. They want to be in charge of the house,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. He added: “They could turn on you at any time.”

But the lead researcher on the Edinburgh study, Marieke Gartner, says there are limits to moggies’ aggression. To suggest your cat actually wants to kill you would be “a pretty far stretch”, Dr Gartner told CNET.

“Cats don’t want to bump you off,” she said. “But people often don’t know how to treat them and then are surprised by their behaviour.”

However, Gartner’s results might have been different if she had studied animals in the wild rather than those in zoos, and cats living in homes rather than those in shelters. The neurotic behavioural traits detected by her team could be a result of the animals’ artificial, captive environment.

“Larger animals are at a disadvantage in captive settings due to the inherently smaller amount of space they have,” the Edinburgh report said. “Similarly, the larger their natural range, the more captivity inhibits them from performing natural behaviours.”

The paper suggested the personality of animals in captivity or conservation programmes could be assessed to help improve their physical and mental wellbeing.

Animal Madness, a book published last year by US science writer Dr Laurel Braitman, contains examples of psychotic behaviours exhibited by captive animals such as Gus, a polar bear that lived in Central Park Zoo, New York.

Where not to visit if you love animals Show all 9 1 /9 Where not to visit if you love animals Where not to visit if you love animals Monkey shows Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Marine parks Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Tiger shows Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them “safe” for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Donkey rides Sunning on the beach is great for humans – we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Swimming with dolphins Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Canned hunting Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Running of the Bulls Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Horse-drawn carriages City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Zoos The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further. EPA

Gus, who died in 2013, compulsively swam in a figure of eight pattern for up to 12 hours a day and stalked children through the glass in his underwater pool until zoo staff put barriers up. Experts concluded that he was bored and depressed and he was given anti-depressants and a Jacuzzi in his pool in an effort to cheer him up.