The Cat’s Territory Patrol

In order to obtain sufficient food sources, carnivorous animals all hold the instinct of the concept of territory, so they won′t hesitate to fight to protect their prey.

Since cats are used to being alone, their territories easily overlap with each other, so they tend to conflict with their kind.

Overlapping Common Territory

There are two types of cats’ territories, one is the private domain used for eating and sleeping, and the other is the public domain for hunting.

Since the public domain of cats often overlaps with nearby cats, if cats that know each other meet in the overlapping domains, they will greet each other.

If one cat meets a strange cat for the very first time, they may fight for the territory.

The Size of the Cat’s Territory

Compared with domestic cats, the territorial demand of wild cats is much greater.

Generally speaking, the patrolling area of wild male cats can reach more than 500,000 square meters, and female cats generally patrol one-tenth that of male cats. Stray cats in cities usually patrol 500–800 square meters of activity space, while domestic cats kept indoors only patrol about 25 square meters.

For cats living in different environments, the size of their territories could vary up to 20,000 times, which shows that cats are actually quite resilient in adapting to the environment.

Change According to the Level of Food Supply

Since it is a territory, cats need to patrol it frequently, after all, this is a major matter of keeping their stomachs full.

But if the territory is too large, the cat might get hungry after walking for too long, which is not very cost-effective. For this reason, cats have developed the habit of flexibly adjusting the size of their territory. As long as the food supply is sufficient, the territory can be reduced.

If it is a domestic cat, the cats will only do mild patrol symbolically, and then it would leisurely start to have its meal.

If it is in a public area with multiple cats, such as restaurants, markets, or parks, some cat lovers will feed it regularly at fixed areas, so these areas will be designated as activity circles by the cats, and friends who meet in this area will get along well and have their meals together happily.

However, this is only the case in this area. Once the cats meet in other places, they still have to follow the cats′ social rules!

Territory Competition for Urban Cats

Cats living in the wild rarely fight for food. After all, there is a lot of space, and they don’t need to invade other cats’ territories to secure enough food.

In crowded cities or neighboring suburbs, since too many of them have overlapping territories, the cats, especially male ones, often quarrel with each other and may even fight in serious cases.

The Cat’s Daily Patrol

One day, the protagonist, Blacky the stray cat, silently patrols the bike trail. This is the path Blacky usually patrols. Because there is an area on the bike trail where food appears regularly, Blacky must patrol it every day.

There are large bushes and two or three small ponds on both sides of the bike trail. In the early morning and dusk, all kinds of small insects, birds and mice will be active on this patrol path. In addition to these prey, what Blacky was concerned about the most was the scent left by other cats.

When Blacky continued to walk forward while paying attention to his surroundings, suddenly, a cat’s figure appeared from the right side.

“It should be Fat Tiger,” Blacky thought, following the smell spread by the wind. After all, this is also the activity area of Fat Tiger, and it would not be surprising if they meet each other here. But the thought of facing him is still a bit troublesome.

But Blacky liked this area very much, and didn’t want to destroy the peaceful atmosphere, so he decided to greet Fat Tiger.

“I hope this cat neighbor who lives in a human house will know the rules,” Blacky thought.

Fat Tiger is a domestic cat that sneaks out occasionally. Compared to Blacky the stray cat, Fat Tiger is obviously bigger in size. Strong as he looks on the outside, he isn’t as poised and courageous as he looks as he doesn′t go out often.

At this time, both cats already noticed each other, so they slowed down and approached each other slowly to a certain distance, and then they sat face to face.

The eyes of Blacky and Fat Tiger never net each other. Instead, they tacitly act nonchalant, looking around as if the two cats just happened to be in the same place.

Both Blacky and Fat Tiger were secretly observing each other from the corner of their eyes, but when the eyes of both sides gradually approached and even meet, they would quickly turn their heads away. This way of “communication” will last for a long time.

Suddenly, Fat Tiger slowly got up while Blacky turned his head.

Blacky noticed Fat Tiger’s movements, but Blacky was a stray cat with rich experience in patrolling in the wild. He maintained a sedate attitude, and continued to look in the same direction without turning his head back.

After Fat Tiger got up, he quietly and cautiously passed by Blacky’s side, and then quickly brushed pass him. It seems that the exchange just now was nothing but an unintended incident.

Humans who were observing the whole time must be confused!But in Blacky’s eyes, he was very satisfied with the “greeting” procedure just performed by Fat Tiger. Blacky believes that Fat Tiger is a good neighbor who abides by the rules.

In the world of cats, “staring” is a behavior of targeting the prey, and “staring right into another′s eyes” would be an expression that comes with intense hostility.

If there is no particular reason to pick a fight or conflict, but instead it just wants to express “I just happened to pass by here, and I will do no harm“, then it must strictly abide by the rule of “never staring into the other′s eyes”.

There are few exceptions, such as the intimate relationship between parent and child. Only then could the cat allow a long-term gaze into the eyes. At this time the long stare would be regarded as an expression of intimacy.

But for stray adult cats who are used to living alone, it only happens occasionally during the female cat’s estrus period.

Let’s take another look at the corner of the flowerbed far from the bike trail. A hiding tabby cat is quietly observing Blacky and Fat Tiger.

This is a stray cat that has never appeared on the bike trail.

The dirty tabby cat had just been abandoned and has been starving in other areas for a while. It has also fought several times with other cats.

The tabby cat noticed that there is food supply here, and it is very much in need of finding a territory where it can obtain a stable food source. With the previous experiences of frequently hitting walls in other areas, this time the tabby cat has learned to avoid Blacky. After all, this is his territory.

As a matter of fact, the tabby cat did not intend to cause any trouble. It hasn′t been long since it was abandoned, and it has been raised indoors since it was a kitten, with zero experience of getting along with older cats. Suddenly thrown into the wild, it is completely ignorant of the cats′ rules. Therefore it often communicates with other cats by the way it used to interact with humans.

When domestic cats stare at humans and meow for food, in the eyes of general cats, it is rather an expression of hostility.

Even if the cat fights are mostly merely bluffing, it is inevitable that there will still be times when the fights get severe. Because of this, cats which have just been abandoned often hide in the dark and lick their own wounds while starving.

When cats know each other′s existence, they pass through each other carefully and slowly. Only under occasions in order to compete for food sources, will the action to defend the territory be shown.

If domestic cats stare at humans and meow, humans will offer them food. Domestic cats will sniff, scratch, poke, and jab all over, since humans love it!

Because of such social differences, abandoned domestic cats often fail to survive this adaptation period and die before they adapt to the cat’s rules.

The Cats’ Fighting Process

The cat’s attacking skills are mainly attacking and biting the opponent′s neck. But in the face of opponents with similar sizes and strength, the cat can hardly use this killer move. Therefore, fights between cats are mainly based on a premise of avoiding injury, as long as their attack could make the opponent surrender.

In other words, even the strongest cat will be afraid that the opponent will resort to the final defense and cause injury to itself.

Generally speaking, if cats start to fight, cats with higher status will take the initiative to move closer to the opponent, straighten their feet, and the fur on their backs would stand up to enlarge their size.

Cats that want to attack actively will have their ears facing forward and make a lot of noises, meowing or clicking, and continue to move forward slowly.

Until it gets close to the opponent at about 1 meter away, the cat will turn its head while keeping its eyes on the opponent, threatening the opponent as if it is going to bite and attack its neck.

If the two sides assess each other to have equal strength, this mutual intimidation situation will be deadlocked for several minutes.

In order to avoid injury, most of them will retreat in extreme slow motions after continuous howling. At this moment, if one party accelerates backwards, it would mean admitting its fear, and the opponent is more likely to attack suddenly.

If one party attacks by biting the neck, the other party will twist its body and stretch out its paws to defend. When they jab each other’s front feet and even get entangled, the back feet will also join the battle. The scuffle on the scene fills the air with cat fur.

Due to the fierce battling situation, this fighting state will not last for too long, and the two sides will go back to staring at each other afterwards. If both sides are still unwilling to give up, they will approach each other to start fighting again. They will do so several times until one of them gives up lying on the ground.

When one party concedes defeat, the winner will not be too ruthless. The winner′s body will turn 90 degrees from the original face to face state and sniff. With such actions, it expresses its willingness to accept the opponent’s surrender and declares the end of the battle. In the end, the winner will leave slowly and calmly, and the loser will stay where they are, and will slip to a safe place to hide after a short while.

However, it isn′t that every time a cat fights, it will bite the opponent′s neck as a means of attack.

In a subtle fight, it is possible to only use the paws to attack, wave the front foot, and quickly jab the opponent’s head several times.

Of course, the most common way is the repeated howling of both sides, and finally backing up with each other and deciding not to fight anymore. Then they will turn their backs to each other, lick their paws to divert attention, and cool down the tension of just now.

The Habit of Burying Excrement

After observing the cat’s field patrol, you will notice that the cat does not bury excrement every time. Cats with higher status in particular often leave their excrement to be exposed after excretion.

Therefore, many experts believe that the reason cats are used to burying excrement is to cover up their odor and avoid unnecessary attacks.

Getting threatened by a large dog

When facing a large dog with bad intentions, the cat will fully straighten its feet and arch its back to form an inverted U-shape, and its fur will be upright, making its body look as large as possible.

If necessary, it will turn sideways to the dog, trying to make the dog feel that the cat in front of it is quite huge, and may not be easy to mess with, so it better not attack it recklessly.

The Patrol of a Domestic Cat’s Territory

Compared with stray cats that can easily own and patrol a 500-meter territory, the domestic cat’s territory is much smaller, usually within 50 square meters, even if it is only 25 square meters, the cat could live comfortably there too.

However, domestic cats that live indoors will not give up the opportunity to patrol. They will also “investigate” all the objects in the room, and all details such as location, smell, order, etc. will be repeatedly confirmed.

Due to the need of security, cats have to patrol repeatedly and thoroughly master the environment. Should there be any emergency, cats need to know where to hide, where to run, and where strange visitors may appear.

Although in the impression of domestic cats, they have never really encountered danger, but they still dare not let down their guards and remain alert at all times.

The Daily Patrol of Domestic Cats

Domestic cats′ mysterious ways of patrolling is always incomprehensible to humans. Here are a few common ways patrolling.

The cat will walk around the wall in an approximately circular curve and patrol the room once a day. The more domestic the cat is, the easier it is to maintain a fixed patrol path. There is a saying that the movement design of the human living room is usually clockwise, so cats also move clockwise as humans do.

In addition to walking along the wall, the cat will also change its patrol path as the sunlight moves. Sometimes it will deliberately stay in a sunny place, and sometimes it will avoid the sun.

Generally speaking, cats will avoid the sun when they are resting, and when patrolling, they will walk around the border of the sunlight, inclined towards the part where there is no sun.

Cats will use doors and windows as entrances and continue to patrol back and forth. Especially when the indoor space is relatively narrow, some cats will first walk from the door to the window, look out the window, stay for a while, and then walk back to the door to stay for another while. During the next patrol, it′ll walk from the door to the window to observe it again.

Anxious cats may patrol intensively in figure eight. When you find that the cat is patrolling very fast and there is a phenomenon of a cross in the path it walks in the figure of eight, you should look for the cause of the cat’s anxiety in your home!

It may be the addition of new cats, or visits by strangers, which may cause cats to feel anxious.

What is special is that, when there are strange visitors at home, the cat will patrol by closely following the owner. Cats will recognize where humans usually walk, and they would only walk to those few places.

On the contrary, when the cat is already familiar with the environment and has confirmed that the places where humans usually go are safe, then they can’t help patrolling places where humans don’t usually go.

If the home has an open-space storage room, the cat may also establish its own private territory when it isn′t patrolling. Occasionally you can find small things hidden by cats in these places.

When there are many cats in the house, one cat will patrol in a unique way. Generally speaking, older cats will patrol in a more peculiar way.

For example, if everyone patrols clockwise, it will patrol counterclockwise; it is also possible that everyone has finished patrolling briskly, but it stops time to time while walking, and it doesn′t complete a lap in 30 minutes, which makes people uncertain about whether it is patrolling or simply hanging around?

More:

What are You up to, Cat? 1: An in-depth introduction to everything about cats, from anatomy to behavior
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094QT46BP

What are You up to, Cat? 2: An in-depth introduction to everything about cats, from growth to moods
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095NXC848