Understanding your cat’s behaviour

Cat behaviour is captivating. Mysterious, they intrigue ethologists and cat lovers alike. These small carnivores express a rich range of body and sound signals. They navigate their world in complex and subtle ways.

Deciphering feline communication

Communications in cats are based around the four usual sensory channels: acoustic, visual, olfactory and tactile. With a range of audible frequencies from 20 to 100,000 Hertz, cats perceive a wide spectrum of sounds. However, the kitten’s vocal repertoire is initially limited, and it takes around six to eight months for it to master all the vocalizations specific to its species.

Types of vocalizations include purring, meowing (associated with reproduction), calling (expressing an intense emotional state), growling, hissing (continuous emission of air with the mouth open) and teeth chattering. Although cats use these vocalizations to interact with each other, their meaning often remains mysterious, especially in the case of purring. Cats may purr at pleasant times, such as during petting or nursing. However, purring can also occur in situations of stress or pain.

Mimics and postures

As hunters, cats have a well-developed visual sense, sensitive to contrasts and movements. Its visual perception remains effective even in low light, enabling it to see as clearly as a human with up to six times less light. In the absence of light, cats guide themselves mainly by touch, using their vibrissae in particular.

Cats have a rich repertoire of gestures, including facial mimics and body postures. Ear movements and variations in pupil diameter are important indicators of a cat’s emotional state. Recognising these subtle signs is essential to understanding their emotions and anticipating aggressive behaviour.

Games, which are essential during the socialisation period, help cats to learn postures and communication rituals. These social games begin around the third or fifth week and last until the twelfth or fourteenth week, and include various postures such as belly-up, stand-up, side-step, stalking, rearing and confrontation. Individual play, on the other hand, begins around the seventh week and persists into adulthood, being dominated by predatory behaviour.

In attack and defence situations, the cat’s postures vary. In the offensive position, the cat’s back is arched, its limbs tense, its tail stiff, and it may emit vocalisations such as the “feulement”. In the defensive position, the cat is crouching or lying down, with its ears pressed to its sides and its eyes miosis or mydriasis. Certain postures can also be mixed, combining offensive and defensive elements. These aggressive postures serve as a basis for describing the cat’s aggressive behaviour in different situations.

Pheromones and markings

Cats have 67 million olfactory cells covering 20 cm². Their olfactory capacities surpass those of humans, although they are still inferior to those of dogs. They use olfaction for communication, notably via pheromones. The vomeronasal organ plays a central role in this process. Located in the nasal cavity, it contains nerve and hair cells. It connects to the accessory olfactory bulb and the limbic system, but not to the cortex. As a result, its perception is less precise than that of the main olfactory system.

Pheromones, volatile substances emitted by one individual and perceived by another of the same species, induce specific reactions. They are detected only by the vomeronasal organ, thanks to the flehmen behaviour that transports air to this organ. The pheromones are transported through a layer of mucus to reach the receptors, thanks to binding proteins.

The production of pheromones involves various glands in the body, such as the jugal, perioral and podal glands and the perianal complex. Each gland contributes to chemical communication. Cats mark their territory and situations using specific methods: facial marking, urinary marking, scratching and alarm marking. Facial pheromones (F2, F3, F4) play a key role in facial marking, affecting cats’ social interactions and emotional states.

Notion of territories

The cat, a territorial animal, structures its space into specific zones, marked by visual signs (such as urine spots and scratching) and/or olfactory signs (pheromones), each with a specific function.

• Activity fields: These zones encompass all the cat’s activities, including play, predation and social interaction, which may be shared by several cats. Outdoors, these areas are often demarcated by urine marking, a less common practice for indoor cats.
• Isolation field: Area dedicated to rest and refuge, generally located high up and out of the way, marked by scratching to indicate an unshared space. A cat can have several of these fields.
• Elimination field: Personal field for elimination, located in a quiet area and marked by scratching, with a soft floor to encourage this activity.
• Aggression field: Defines the space which provokes the cat’s aggression if penetrated by an intruder, its size varying according to the cat’s emotional state. This field is not specifically marked, reflecting the variable nature of the cat’s defensive reactions.

Understanding these zones makes it possible to prevent aggressive behaviour, by respecting the cat’s personal space and shared areas, while avoiding overpopulation in confined spaces to limit intraspecific aggression.

Predation

Predation is a normal behaviour in the cat’s repertoire, distinct from aggressive reactions in terms of the stimuli, postures, integrating mechanisms and neurotransmitters involved. However, it can become problematic when it targets inappropriate prey such as a child or another domestic animal. There are three main phases to this behaviour.

• Appetitive phase: The mere sight or sound of prey can activate predatory behaviour, regardless of hunger. Depending on the proximity of the prey, the cat will adopt an approach – moving cautiously towards its target before coming to a halt – or a stalking posture, where it remains crouched and ready to pounce, keeping its body close to the ground.
• Consumption phase: The cat pounces, seizes the prey with its claws and bites with aquiet, unemotional bite, in contrast to the emotionally charged bites of aggressive behaviour.
• Stopping phase: After capturing its prey, the cat may eat it or, more often, leave it dead. This behaviour illustrates that the cat is hunting to hunt, not necessarily to feed.

Relationship to food

Cats are natural nibblers, eating ten to twenty small meals a day, consuming ten to twenty grams per meal. Two meals a day are not enough to meet a cat’s natural needs. Self-service feeding is therefore preferable. However, this method is suitable for an active cat that has not been sterilised, as long as its weight is monitored regularly. For a sterilised or indoor cat, this approach increases the risk of overweight and is therefore not recommended.

After sterilisation, a cat’s energy requirements drop by around 20%. They may lose their ability to regulate their food intake naturally . It is crucial to offer a controlled quantity of food, adjusted to the animal’s energy requirements, but leaving access free to respect its natural eating rhythm.