Test Article TA-3
Chronological record of sessions with the loaned test article, comprising intake, baseline audit, garment trials, escape attempts, refusal events, and the return of the article to its policyholder. Prepared to accompany report HIB-MAT-2026-0147.
Distribution: the Client; Institute records (Nuneaton); the Division's ethics file. Annex C (referenced herein) is not issued. This log is issued because eleven months of trial activity should produce a record, and the Division does not keep records for no reason.
How the record is kept.
This annex records every scheduled session with Test Article TA-3 between intake on 14 July 2025 and return on 30 June 2026. Entries are made at the time, in the session book, by the member of the Division present. The book is not amended retrospectively except to add a reference number, and the Division has added a great many reference numbers.
A session is defined as any scheduled period of trial activity to which the subject was invited. This definition matters, because several sessions consisted of the subject declining the invitation, and the Division is committed to recording those in full rather than allowing the trial to appear more productive than it was.
Apparatus is recorded by item and specification. Where apparatus was not used — which is frequent — the Division records that the apparatus was not used, rather than omitting it and giving the impression that it had not been prepared.
Sixteen sessions, one of which was a session.
Sessions are numbered in order of invitation, not of occurrence. On six occasions the two differ. The sessions are recorded below without editorial comment, except where the Division has decided that the absence of comment would be misread as an absence of awareness.
| Session | Date | Apparatus | Observation | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
A-001 | 14 Jul 2025 | Transport carrier; digital scales (spec. WGH-2) | Intake. TA-3 declined to leave the carrier. Mass determined by subtraction of the empty carrier: 4.2 kg. | Intake complete. Subject uncooperative (observation, not finding). |
A-002 | 16 Jul 2025 | FLIR T840 thermographic camera; restraint sleeve (unused) | Baseline thermography. Core sustained at 38.6 °C; heat shed via the pinnae and paw pads, the only surfaces of note. | Baseline profile captured. Source: HIB-MAT-IMG-0041. Figure 1 of the parent report. |
A-003 | 21 Jul 2025 | Handling gloves (spec. GLO-14) | Handling protocol assessment. TA-3 declined the gloves. | Glove use abandoned. Handling to proceed barehanded, with caution. |
A-004 | 04 Aug 2025 | Garment NOM-UC-1 (size 3, preliminary fit) | Fitting permitted for 40 seconds. The garment was then removed by the subject using the dorsal closure, which had not been demonstrated to the subject. | Garment recovered intact. First recorded instance of Risk R1. Mitigation per Annex C unavailable (not issued). |
A-005 | 11 Aug 2025 | Thermal rig; garment NOM-UC-1 (unfitted) | Passive thermal cutoff verified: engages at 41 °C as specified. TA-3 observed the rig from approximately 3 m, and left. | Cutoff specification confirmed. |
A-006 | 08 Sep 2025 | Enclosure thermal survey | Above 26 °C ambient, the enclosure reads within 2 °C of the cutoff threshold. TA-3 declined to enter the enclosure at 27.5 °C. | Deployments limited to ambient at or below 26 °C. The subject's awareness of the threshold is not established and is not assumed. |
A-007 | 06 Oct 2025 | Holding pen, 1.2 m; feed bowl | Escape attempt (first). TA-3 cleared the pen during a welfare check, using the feed bowl as an intermediate stage. Recovered in the Division's tea room at 14:20. | Pen height raised to 1.5 m; feed bowl relocated. Reference made to HIB-MAT-2023-0022 (wildebeest, 1.4 m fence, recovered 11 km). |
A-008 | 17 Nov 2025 | Garment NOM-UC-1 (size 3); treat tray (protocol withdrawn) | Refusal event (first sustained). TA-3 declined to enter the fitting room for 3 h 40 m. When the door was opened from the other side, TA-3 entered, examined the garment, and lay on it. | Session abandoned. Garment laundered. Treat protocol not re-introduced. |
A-009 | 15 Dec 2025 | Holding pen, 1.5 m; window, opening 12 cm | Escape attempt (second). TA-3 located on the roof of the annexe. The route used is not established. The window was found closed. | Pen ceiling installed. Subject continues to satisfy Criterion 2 (locomotion) during periods when it is not being tested for it. |
A-010 | 20 Jan 2026 | Mineral-wool jacket (prototype); titanium lattice (sample) | Rev 2.0 fit-out trials. The prototype jacket was presented. TA-3 examined it for 11 seconds and left the room. The jacket, at 4.2 kg, remained. | Fit-out abandoned. Rev 2.0 configuration assessed by modelling only; the subject was not fitted. Issued 22 Jan 2026; rejected by the Client (“no longer functions as a cat”). |
A-011 | 09 Feb 2026 | FLIR T840 with monitor feed; trial enclosure | Thermal monitoring episode. TA-3 approached the thermal monitor displaying its own false-colour feed and studied it for 11 minutes, moving its head to compare, and on three occasions attempting to look behind the monitor. | The Division's interpretation: TA-3 believed the image to be another cat, and was engaged in the preliminary stages of a social negotiation. The negotiation was not concluded. TA-3 has not approached the monitor since. |
A-012 | 23 Mar 2026 | — (session not attended) | TA-3 declined the scheduled session. The session was rescheduled. TA-3 declined the rescheduled session. The rescheduled session was not rescheduled again. | Ethics review opened 11 Mar 2026. The subject's attendance record, which the review requested, has been provided in full. |
A-013 | 14 Apr 2026 | Garment NOM-UC-1 (size 2) | Garment trial. Fitting achieved. TA-3 wore the garment, standing entirely still, for 22 seconds, and then removed it. | Longest continuous fit to date. Recorded as progress. It is not much progress. |
A-014 | 05 May 2026 | Trial enclosure (interior surfaces netted) | Escape attempt (third). TA-3 located the single point of human access and waited at it during a changeover. The changeover was aborted. | Enclosure access revised to two-person protocol. The Division is aware that the subject is learning. Mitigations are updated accordingly. |
A-015 | 26 May 2026 | Digital scales (spec. WGH-2); camera (unused) | Pre-return verification. Mass: 4.4 kg, an increase of 0.2 kg over intake, attributed to the trial diet. TA-3 declined to be photographed. | Weight recorded. Photography declined. The Division's imagery of the subject remains limited to thermography and one unobserved capture. |
A-016 | 12 Jun 2026 | Garment NOM-UC-1 (size 2) | Garment trial (final). Fitting achieved. TA-3 stood still for 40 seconds and permitted removal by the Division. | First session in which the garment was removed by the Division rather than by the subject. Risk R1 mitigated for the duration of one session. Annex C remains not issued. |
One capture, from a session the subject attended.
What the log records that the report could not.
The parent report records the subject as uncooperative. The log below is issued to establish that the record is more complex than that, and that the Division is aware of the difference.
The subject has removed the trial garment on eight occasions, each by the dorsal closure. The closure is not defective. The subject has located the interface. See also Annex C, which is not issued.
The subject's escape attempts number three, against holding infrastructure revised on each occasion. On no occasion was the subject recaptured; on each occasion it was collected. The Division considers the distinction behavioural, and material.
The behaviour recorded at intake as “uncooperative” in the presence of imaging apparatus is, on review, more accurately described as “unconvinced.” The subject does not refuse the camera. It declines to be the only cat in the room.
The loan, concluded.
TA-3 was returned to the policyholder on 30 June 2026, unmodified, in a carrier it declined to enter and which had to be lowered over it. The policyholder has confirmed receipt of the animal. The policyholder has not confirmed the animal's demeanour, and the Division has not asked.
The Division's standing status for TA-3 is: loaned; returned; no further sessions scheduled. Should the Client proceed with the interim recommendation at §7.1 of the parent report, the garment is available in four sizes and the fitting instructions are available in one. The Division's advice on fitting — offered informally, and not as Annex C, which remains not issued — is to have the treats ready. This sentence is not Annex C.
The Division wishes to record, for the avoidance of doubt, that the trial produced one configuration of a cat that does not catch fire, one configuration of a cat that is not a cat, and one animal that is both a cat and unharmed. The Division considers the third the only configuration worth the paper it will not be written on.