The 'sensitive' period in cats is earlier than in dogs, at 2-7 weeks. Play is first seen by week 3. It increases from 4-11 weeks, then decreases. By 8 weeks, almost all play is between pairs.

Sociality

A species is classified as social if members form long-term pair bonds, live in family groups, or live in larger groups with a relatively stable long-term membership. Cats do have social organisation. They live in 'colonies' when food resources allow. They show individual recognition and have preferred associates. The queens cooperatively rear young and there is communal nesting, midwifing, nursing, grooming and guarding. Research shows that 'preferred associates' allogroom more, allorub more and are in physical contact more than non-preferred associates. Preferred associates do not associate exclusively at specific sites of preferred resources, e.g., food or resting sites. Instead, they are often found together in a large number of sites and the association is random with regard to location. This fact rules out the hypothesis that they simply tend to go to the same resources at the same time of day, or are forming aggregations. The preferred associates can be: female-female pairs; male-male pairs; or male- female pairs. Also, multiple sets of preferred associates may effectively form trios or tetrads of cats that form a 'clique' within the larger group. Of a special note, intact males may be preferred associates, allorub, allogroom and rest together.

Cats do engage in solitary activity when they hunt. Their hunting technique involves quiet, slow stalking of prey with a sudden killing pounce that is most effectively done alone.

Allogrooming

As with horses, this is often done in an area that is difficult for the cat being groomed to reach, such as the top of the head and neck. By ad libitum reports, allogrooming occurs more when cats return to the colony after being gone for a while, presumably hunting. This may serve to exchange scent.

Physical Contact

This occurs even in hot, humid weather, so it serves another function than thermoregulation.

Affiliative Behaviours

Adult cats play, including free-living and feral cats which must hunt to survive. In the cat, the friendly greeting is the 'tail up'. Allorubbing is usually preceded by a tail-up approach by at least one cat, and is most likely if both cats approach tail up.

Polygamous Species

Cats have a mating pattern in which a single individual mates with more than one individual of the opposite sex. The males have two major strategies:

 They spend most of their time with a particular group, develop strong affiliative relationships with the queens in that group, and defend the kittens, or

 They migrate from group to group, seeking oestrous queens and maximise opportunities to mate with multiple queens

Dominance

Within the group, dominance hierarchies are formed. Dominance in the cat is signalled by ears up and rotated so the aperture is more lateral. They stand fully upright and in an extreme display the hindlimbs are extended and stiff. The base of the tail is elevated, with the remainder drooped. Submission or fear is signalled by ears down/back. The tail and head are down and the body is crouched. In the fearfully aggressive cat, the back is arched and the ears are back. The tail is arched or straight up. The cat may show its teeth and hiss and growl.

Human-Directed Aggression in the Cat

Categories include play, fear, petting intolerance, status related, redirected and sexual.

Play Aggression

This is the most common cause of aggression directed at people, especially in young cats. It is usually, but not necessarily directed to moving stimuli and it may be directed only to some members of the household. In play, the cat approaches the victim, crouches in wait, stalks, and chases--with tail twitching and a focused stare. The ears are forward, not back. Play aggression is often seen in the cat that was hand-raised as a kitten: it did not learn how to play appropriately. There may be a history of using hands or feet to play with the cat and there may be inadequate opportunity for acceptable play.

Fear Aggression

This is also a common cause of aggression directed at people. With fear, the cat's ears are back with the body and tail lowered. The cat tends to avoid the person or persons to whom aggression is directed. The aggression occurs when the cat is approached, reached for or groomed. There may be a history of poor socialisation or feral living. However, it can occur in any cat, any breed, in either sex (regardless of neuter status) and at any age.

Petting Intolerance

Petting intolerance can be seen if the owner initiates petting and/or after a certain amount of petting. The cat will turn around and 'attack'. This occurs in both males and females at any age and the cause is controversial. It may be status related. Cats primarily groom each other on the head and neck, so being groomed or petted on other parts of the body may contribute to this problem. The cat usually signals its 'displeasure' by twitching its tail and skin. Its ears are usually back and it may emit a low growl. Watching for these cues and stopping the petting before they occur is key.

Status (Dominance) Related

This type of aggression is uncommon in cats, but it does occur. The cat shows dominance displays to one or more persons in the household. It can be managed with medication, owner control of resources and appropriate punishment of ritual dominance displays.

Redirected Aggression

This occurs during interference in situations which have caused the cat to become aroused such as a cat fight, a household dog being aggressive to the cat, etc. It involves being denied access to a primary target. The resultant aggression is then redirected on to another target.

Sexual Aggression

The cat mounts the owner's limb, grabs the skin, initiates pelvic thrusting and growls. This is not common, but it does occur.

Intraspecies Aggression in the Cat--'Cat Fights'

Early history can play a very important role, as extensive social learning occurs from 2-16 weeks and beyond. Raising cats from 5-6 weeks onward with no contact with their own species can result in serious incompetence in social skills. Unless a cat owner intends to only ever have one cat at a time, they should probably always have multiple cats, so that social skills can be learned by the juvenile members of the household. Intercat aggression categories include introduction of a new cat, social/ status-related, fear, play and intermale.

Introduction of a New Cat

It is important to remember that cat societies are insular and strangers are not readily accepted. When a new cat is brought into the house, do not simply put it in the same room with the other cats and hope things will work out. Kittens and juveniles are generally easier to introduce than are adults. There should be gradual exposure with rewards for appropriate behaviour. Keep the new cat in a separate room from cats established in the household. Rotate the cat's location in the house so that they can be exposed to each other's scent. If possible, separate by glass (allows sight and sound) or screen (allows sight, sound and scent) door. Do not force interactions. Allow cats to approach/leave the door freely. If significant aggression occurs, use systematic desensitisation and counterconditioning

Social/Status-Related Aggression

This occurs in established relationships. The aggressor chases, growls and attacks other cats. It shows dominance postures and may hiss. The victim may respond with similar behaviour and respond with fear aggression or avoidance.

Fear Aggression

The cat hisses and growls at other cats when they come near or are seen, showing signs of fear: ears back, crouching, urinating. The cat usually hides rather than chasing and attacking, but may chase. When this occurs between cats that have historically got along well, it is usually initiated by classical conditioning. It could be the result of a redirected incident. The owner may not know what the event was that precipitated the relationship change. It may be that a cat has become fearful as a consequence of being 'bullied' by a dominant cat in the household, so the whole thing becomes a cycle...

Play Aggression

Bouts of wrestling play escalate. It could be normal behaviour. Questions to ask include:

 Is either cat being injured?

 Does one cat end or attempt to end the play bout when the intensity of play escalates?

 Does the other cat allow termination of play that is escalating in intensity?

If the answers are No--Yes--Yes, this is normal. It may be more of a problem with cats that were raised in social isolation from their own species and have not learned appropriate social behaviour.