The social behaviour of neutered domestic cats (Felis catus)

Abstract

This study assessed the existence and nature of sociality in three colonies of neutered domestic cats. All three colonies exhibited a social structure whereby cats recognised individuals, or at least individual status, and reacted accordingly. In two colonies the overall flow of interactions was most clearly represented by the flow of head rubbing, and in the third group by the flow of aggression. Interaction within each group was higher between dyads that were present together less often. Head rubbing may reinforce social structure, flowing from subordinate towards more dominant individuals, particularly when cats return to their communal core area. Cluster analysis, of the probabilities that two behaviour patterns were performed by one individual within a single interaction, was used to produce an objective method for categorising behaviour. Many patterns clustered similarly in all three colonies, particularly with respect to two clusters - these were termed Affiliative and Approach /Sit categories. Analysis of the sequencing of behaviour patterns between cats during interactions revealed the importance of the tail-raised posture in cat communication. Its close association with head rubbing suggests it may be an appeasement display indicating a subordinate cat's intention to rub on a more dominant individual. The use of the tail raised posture and head rubbing by cats towards a familiar human was investigated experimentally. Contact from the human increased the tail- raised response and head rubbing on the person and on an inanimate object. The presence of more than one cat created competition between the cats for attention. The results are discussed in relation to the possible effects of neutering on heritable aspects of cat behaviour and the welfare aspects of neutering,

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record

ASCII CitationAtomBibTeXData Cite XMLDublin CoreDublin CoreEP3 XMLEndNoteHTML CitationHTML CitationHTML ListJSONMETSMODSMPEG-21 DIDLOpenURL ContextObjectOpenURL ContextObject in SpanRDF+N-TriplesRDF+N3RDF+XMLRIOXX2 XMLReferReference ManagerSimple Metadata