By Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado
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There have been several studies of feral cat colonies, their social interactions, how cats co-exist, and what factors (such as food availability) relate to the density of cat populations (e.g., greater number of resources increases the number of cats). cats living in a space). However, we have very little data on the other most common place domestic cats live: the human home.
THE only published research on space use in indoor cats was published in 1996, and since then, no follow-up studies on feline behavior have advanced our knowledge of how cats use space in the home! In fact, there is very little research on cat relationships in the home, especially that which is not based on surveys. We can only hope that this glaring oversight will be corrected in the near future, but in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at this older study, and how we can apply this research and what what else we know about the cat. behavior to assess what is happening in our own homes.
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The research, “A Game of Cat and House: Spatial Patterns and Behaviors of 14 Domestic Cats (Felis catus) at homeis in many ways what I would interpret as an anthropological study, since the authors, Penny Bernstein and Mickie Strack, observed the cats in one of their homes (Strack’s 14 cats). The researchers wanted to answer specific questions about the observed cats, including:
- Do indoor cats have an identifiable home range? An animal’s home range is the space it uses regularly. Although sometimes confused with territory, it is important to know the difference: territory is an area that an animal will defend. Although there are large individual differences, studies of feral cats and domestic cats suggest that male cats tend to have larger territories than female cats.
- Do individual cats have favorite spaces that they use? Could areas frequently or exclusively used by cats in the house be identified? Would these areas be shared or used only by certain cats?
- Did some cats control access to resources? Cats can prevent other people from using spaces in the home, either overtly or more subtly. Some cats may choose to leave a place rather than fight for it, and other cats may aggressively chase other cats away from resources.
- How does the density of indoor cats compare to that of outdoor cats? Previous studies have looked at cat densities outdoors, but the authors were curious how the indoor cats compared.
Research methods
The study took place in a single-story, 1,300-square-foot house with two humans. Strack observed the cats for about four hours a day, every day from January to April 1981. At the start of the observations, there were 14 cats in the house (7 males, 7 females) ranging in age from 4 months to 13 years old. . All cats were fed wet food once daily, with dry food and water freely available. There were two window perches and 4 litter boxes.
What did they find?
At the end of the study, the researchers were able to identify a home range for each cat, characterized by the number of rooms each cat regularly used. The kittens were the only ones to use every room in the house, and Lily, a 4-year-old cat, lived mostly on top of the fridge. A cat, Julius, also used most of the rooms in the house. After her death during the second month of sightings, Lily began to expand her territory. Male cats in the study consistently used more rooms than female cats, suggesting that, much like cats having access to the outdoors, sex has an effect on home range.
Most cats also clearly had favorite spots where they were most likely to be observed sleeping, resting or grooming. All of the cats in the study time-shared at least one place, meaning the space was used by multiple cats, but NOT at the same time. Some cats also used a favorite place together, but this was less common than time sharing. However, these favorite spots were rarely shared by more than 3 cats. Female cats were more predictable in their use of their favorite locations, with male cats more likely to move or be observed in different locations when observed.
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Apart from a few hisses and knocks, there was no overt aggression between the cats. But it turned out that some cats had “freer” access to resources than others, like in the case of Julius, who was observed in every room of the house. He has also been observed to move other cats from their favorite places several times a day. After Julius passed away, few other cats were seen displacing others, although one cat started marking her urine and some cats started fighting as Lily’s behavior changed.
The density of cats in this study was much higher than that observed in studies of outdoor cats (113,000 cats/km2). Other research has found cat densities as low as 1 cat/km2 up to 30,000 cats/km2). However, it is difficult to directly compare these two populations, as several elements could facilitate the coexistence of indoor cats at a higher density, including security against predation, neutering, and access to food and safe spaces.
The home report
From this study, we can see that indoor cats have distinct home ranges, and that their behavior is not independent of the cats they live with, the space they have, or the resources available to them. arrangement. Because we keep cats at much higher densities than they would naturally choose, we need to be aware of how we can make adjustments in the home to make it easier for them to co-exist! This is exactly what I will talk about in my next blog post!
To be continued…
References
Bernstein, PL and Strack, M. (1996). A Game of Cat and House: Spatial Patterns and Behaviors of 14 Domestic Cats (Felis catus) at home. Anthrozoans, 9(1), 25-39.
Bernstein, P. L. (2006). Behavior of single cats and groups at home. Feline internal medicine consultations675.