KNOW THE NATURE OF OUR CAT TO CREATE A UNIQUE FEELING
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Knowing our cat means understanding his solitary and group habits, his needs, his behaviors and his communication: vocal and bodily. It is necessary to observe in nature (without the presence of man), how he behaves, how he interacts with other cats, what he loves, what he wants to avoid and what he fears.
The cat (male or female) in nature, if it has to hunt to eat, needs a large territory and is a solitary animal. It lives from 1 to 3 specimens per square kilometer. It does not want competition for food and shelters.
If, on the other hand, he has the opportunity to live near a source of food (a port, a restaurant, a landfill, or facilitated by human help) and is able to feed constantly, he can live in very large groups. They can reach a density of about a hundred individuals per square kilometer and in the city they can reach 2000 units per square kilometer.
In addition to food, the presence of shelter is very important for determining the feline population density. Females have more of this need to give birth and raise their babies because they need protected areas and hiding places.
What determines the population density in our loved ones
FEMALE CATS: Food and shelter
The cat does not need a large territory, she looks for a place where she can easily find shelter and find food for her and her kittens regularly. The size of her territory depends on the distribution of food.
MALE CATS: Food and females.
The territory of the sexually active adult cat varies according to the season of the year and the fertile females present. It is usually three times that of the female. A cat that is not yet sexually active has similar territory to the female.
The groups of cats that live in communities in the presence of food sources are composed of cats and their young (males and females). Females can remain in the group even as adults. Often they are relatives and their close and genetic coexistence leads them to protect and take care of their own babies as well as the puppies of other mothers cats. Foreign female cats, which are not part of the group, are chased away.
Male cats are also removed from the group and before they can mate they will have to raise and unseat the more experienced and aggressive "boss" cats. Adult male cats lead mainly solitary lives.
HOW THEY COMMUNICATE
Cats have their own communication system. They send different signals according to the various situations in which they find themselves. Understanding them is very useful for us to understand them and have a healthy and peaceful relationship with them. Let's not forget that the domestic cat is a close relative of the wild cat, only it has chosen to live with humans and in groups with other cats.
The domestic cat, having no food problems, can live in a group in close contact with one another. He must accept and tolerate the presence of other cats and for this reason he has developed a communication system to avoid conflicts and to protect himself from quarrels and violent confrontations. He has developed signals to communicate over both long and short distances.
For a wild and lonely cat, communication is mainly focused on pushing away its rivals, leaving its own smell, spraying urine, communicates clearly with this olfactory message to keep away from its territory. They will never seek conflict, being able to avoid it. They will try to scare the rival to avoid direct confrontation which can lead to injuries and even serious infections.
As a group, harmony between cats is preserved through threat and compromise. But the clashes will never be too aggressive and violent because it does not suit anyone.
Cats have an individual smell that identifies them and have a group marker that equates them to their group. Small cats that do not have this sign of recognition are excluded.
The cat does not like to live in a group, but for convenience it adapts. Not having developed a spirit of collaboration and social, he will always remain an individual in his own right who will relate to the other according to his own imprinting and character: sociable, mild, aggressive, dominant or abusive. It will be a group of independent individuals who tolerate each other (more or less depending on character) and mind their own business.
Cats use olfactory signals such as feces, urine and glandular secretions to communicate (state of fertility or mark the territory). During the mating season they emit meows which are used by females to recall the male and for males to ward off rivals. Mothers with puppies have a separate language that we will see later.
DISTANCE COMMUNICATION
We must premise that the cat has an exceptional sense of smell and is equipped with a special organ called: "Jacobson's organ". The cat with movements made with the lip and tongue, with short breaths pushes the air into the organ which is able to encode, analyze and recognize infinite smells. The cat will lift its upper lip and hold its mouth slightly open (Flehemen's reaction). It is also found in deer and horses.
The cat lives in a world made of smells and for this reason they are fundamental for their communication.
FERORMONE: in nature there are animals that react to chemical substances emanating from other living beings of the same species. Pheromone is one of them. The term derives from the Greek "Pheros" far and "horman" to excite. Cats release them through glands found on the muzzle, back, paws, and tail. Pheromones are very important for communicating sexual messages. They leave them along usual paths through scratches (in case the pheromones are wiped by the rain the visual message of the scratch remains) and odorous cues. They are used to control the territory and divide the areas accessible by other cats and prohibited areas.
We can also note that after a passage of a cat, the others retrace the highlights, remarking the territory and we will notice the Flehmen reaction.
URINE: by spraying urine or burying it under the ground, the cat communicates whether it wants to reveal its presence or hide it. A mother cat will tend to hide the urine under the ground to erase the traces of her and to secure her kittens from adult male cats who would kill them to make the cat return to heat or to eliminate a lineage that is not its own.
On the contrary, if a cat wants to signal her presence, it sprays the urine on a vertical wall and lets its smell expand. Together with urine, it releases secretions from the anal glands. To spray The cat will stand up, move its hind legs up and down and vibrate its tail. The strong smell is due to bacteria that deteriorate and decompose it
MIAGOLII: they are sound calls that are used by the cats to attract the males, the male cats to signal their presence to the females and to keep away the rivals in love. They are issued during the mating period or during battles between males to win the favors of females.
COMMUNICATION IN SIGHT CONTACT
In wild cats it is used only by the mother cat and her kittens. In domestic cats it is very common. They communicate their needs and wants using a series of olfactory and visual signals.
GET YOUR NAILS
has three main functions:
a) file your nails, shorten and sharpen them
b) leave a visual sign of one's presence
c) leave an olfactory message with secretions from the glands located between the pads.
The dominant cat tends to get its nails to mark its territory visually and to leave its own scent.
SMELLS: Cats have glands on their skin (chin, mouth, temples, forehead and tail) that produce personal and unique secretions. Cats release them by rubbing on objects, plants, trees, etc. which are part of their territory. When cats rub each other and with us humans they want to exchange their smell to get to know and recognize each other within the group and to establish the easily identifiable collective market.
The individual's odor is mainly found on the head, while the collective odor is emanated from the tail and hips.
VISUAL SIGNALS:
They are all those possible signals to be seen at close range using the message of the body.
- GORGEOUS CAT WITH STRAIGHT HAIR AND SIDE POSITION: shows hostility, fear, aggression
- CAT CROCHED WITH EARS DOWN: submission.
- CAT WITH HIGH TAIL: friendly approach
- MUTUAL RUBBING: serves to calm and reassure the other cat, to greet and instill confidence.
- MUTUAL CLEANING: a way to impose yourself on the other cat. Usually it is the dominant cat who conducts the cleaning work which can lead to forms of aggression, such as licking that can turn into a bite.
- ROLLING the wild cat rolls as a sexual invitation to mate, the domestic cat as a sign of submission.
THE GAME
Kittens begin the social activity of play from the third week of life, during the weaning period. Playing is a real life gym for puppies who learn to relate, hunt, hide and fight.
There are two main types of games:
a) The game of predation
The mother cat to teach hunting to the little ones, she plays with them. She hunts and eats prey in front of them and makes distinctive sounds to get their attention. The predatory game grows up to eight weeks of life. When kittens learn to prey and eat mice, they reduce play because predatory activity almost completely replaces it.
b) The game of struggle
In most cases it starts with an ambush and ends with a chase. They begin by facing each other from a distance, with the back and tail arched, and then fight hand to hand, sometimes assuming a vertical posture, lifting up on the hind legs. The fighting game is used to learn how to practice the art of fighting that will serve as adults to drive out rivals and conquer the cat.
c) The solitaire game
Kittens (even adult cats) love to chase small, rolling objects and hitting suspended and swinging objects. They stage ambushes against imaginary enemies (in front of a mirror or against their own shadow). This game is also aimed at developing and refining hunting techniques.
In conclusion, our domestic cat, having no problems with food and shelter, has adapted to living in a group and has been able to develop communication over a short distance, unlike the distant relative the wild cat.
Now knowing its history and its evolution from wild cat to domestic cat, its needs and its character, we can understand all its attitudes, behavior and needs and we can create a perfect feeling with our little companion in life and adventures.