This month Dr. Jacqui writes about Cats' Social Behavior

As a group, felids are generally characterized as asocial in nature. This characterization is based on the fact that most adult felids, with the exception of the cheetahs, lions and female domestic cats, do not form any permanent social group.

Historical Perspective:

The domestic cat appears to be fairly flexible in its socialability. It is suspected that the variability in social contact between cats initially was a function of available food resources. Cats that hunted small prey tend to live alone with limited social interactions. Concentrated food sources brought free-ranging cats together. Historically these groupings have been characterized as simple aggregations. However recent research has elucidated non-random social interactions and structure within these groups of cats. This information is helpful in defining feline social organization as well as rebuking the myth that domestic cats are asocial creatures.

Female Cats:

Perhaps the most striking and influential social structure is that which exists between female cats. In free ranging domestic cats, there is a matriarchal society, with adult females forming lineages of related females and their offspring. A large group of cats (colony) may support several female lineages, with the largest lineages securing the best of the available resources. Within a lineage, there are usually amicable interactions between members, which are in direct contrast to the hostile interactions that are often seen toward outsider cats. Female cats within a lineage spend more time in close proximity with each other than compared to non-lineage members. Communal kitten care is noted within a lineage - related female cats will assist with birthing and will nurse kittens of a sister, mother or aunt, Paternal care of offspring is rare. Although lineages are fairly stable, they can change in composition. This will usually involve a split and may be secondary to influences such as lineage size or death of a matriarch.

Male Cats:

Free ranging male domestic cats have temporary attachments to the female lineages/colonies. The males may have loose relationships with several colonies, thus allowing them to spread their genetic material. When present, the males do receive a significantly larger proportion of attention from the female members.

Kittens:

As kittens, the offspring become automatically integrated into the female lineage. As kittens and juveniles, they tend to prefer affiliations within their littermates as opposed to kittens of a different age group or more distantly related members. The male cats will disperse as they mature usually between 1-2 years of age. However, unlike lions, the domestic cat does not form a male coalition, but instead the males disperse separately to establish new territories.

Common Tendencies:

• In our households, this information may suggest that closer relationships may exist between littermates in comparison to non-related cats.
• With social maturity, male cats may have a desire to disperse, thus creating social conflict between resident cats. Historical negative experiences with other cats (e.g. fights, harassment) are likely to render a cat less social with other cats.
• Related cats within a group show more affiliative (friendly) behaviors to each other than unrelated cats, perhaps supporting the idea that related cats can live together more harmoniously than unrelated cats.
• Male cats tend to have larger territorial ranges than female cats, on average three times as large. So male cats may require more space than female cats. However, it is important to note that most studies are done on cats with outdoor access and that both male and female cats demonstrate range overlap with other cats. A study on indoor only cats showed that males tended to have a larger range (4-5 rooms) than their female counterparts (3-3.6 rooms) in a 10-room house but that those cats tended to share favored spots on a rotational basis. A 2,000 square foot house with lots of feline provisions including feeding locations, vertical perches, litterbox sites may be able to successfully house four or five cats while a house with the same square footage but limited provisions may only be able to successfully accommodate two cats.