color coded areas by cat: yellow (Scribbles); red (Coriander)...
October 29, 2023 9:03 AM Subscribe
How do cats use space? Part 3: Looking at relationships (with Dr. Delgado's cats). Part 2: Multiple & separated key resources. Part 1: In the original study "the density of cats was much higher than that observed in studies of outdoor cats (113,000 cats/km2)." Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado has also shared research on can kittens do math and the Feline Grimace Scale, a tool that can quickly identify pain in most cats.
*Chef's purr*
posted by y2karl at 10:24 AM on October 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 10:24 AM on October 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
my cats are somewhere really inscrutable on the Friend-Foe spectrum
posted by supermedusa at 12:26 PM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 12:26 PM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
We live in a shared, connected duplex, and we have two cats, and each cat has chosen one of us to be with. The girl cat, the most recent addition to the household, will wander the property more freely than the boy cat, who at around seventeen years old has NEVER been a brave kitty and has always had a rather small world that he is content with. I actually wish I could figure out how to encourage my boy cat to enjoy more than the living room for hanging out in, the kitchen for eating, and the bathroom which he poops in and probably doesn't enjoy. We have a lot of house outside of that, but he finds every other room scary and foreign.
I've never had cats that were friendly with each other, but I do dream of living with at least a pair that get along with each other.
posted by hippybear at 12:57 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've never had cats that were friendly with each other, but I do dream of living with at least a pair that get along with each other.
posted by hippybear at 12:57 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
the Feline Grimace Scale
The post by Dr. Delgado that is linked in the OP offers a very readable research summary on cat facial expressions. I am also impressed that they managed to take so many photos of cats willing to stare "mug shot" style directly into the camera. That had to be one of the hardest parts of the research.
posted by Avelwood at 1:20 PM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
The post by Dr. Delgado that is linked in the OP offers a very readable research summary on cat facial expressions. I am also impressed that they managed to take so many photos of cats willing to stare "mug shot" style directly into the camera. That had to be one of the hardest parts of the research.
posted by Avelwood at 1:20 PM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I read "How do cats use space?" THIS is the first thing to come to mind...
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 1:26 PM on October 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 1:26 PM on October 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
This is useful, as we've just moved into a much bigger space and I can plan out separated resource areas and how the cats interact. Of course, we're all going to be racing to get as much basement space before the drums and brewing equipment arrive, but I liked this quote: "Jackson Galaxy said in our book Total Cat Mojo: “You have just come face-to-face with the fact that cats aren’t the only territorial animal in your home.” "
And now we're taking in another cat, apparently our family thing is 4 cats minimum/new house/first year. Yay!
posted by winesong at 3:29 PM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
And now we're taking in another cat, apparently our family thing is 4 cats minimum/new house/first year. Yay!
posted by winesong at 3:29 PM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
If asked to rank my cats' hierarchy, I would have said it was something like:
1. Cool chill dude who is practically a dog, alpha & doesn't have to work for it. Unaffected by the opinions of others.
2. Jerk cat with zero chill, wants to be alpha but isn't cool enough so he's turned to a life of crime (stealing food). Acts aloof while following favored human around 24/7.
3. Adorable smol girl: smolness & cute mews hide the fact that she'll aggressively groom you to death on purpose. Also will just straight up whack children in the face for existing
4. Retired street cat, extremely twitchy, nervous, & shy, screams to be petted. Has literally climbed walls in flight mode
5. Humans (adult)
63. Humans (children)
Chill dude, always seeming to have the primetime best spots, obviously claimed the couch in front of the bay window years ago. Nervous cat had exiled herself to a dark backroom, much to our dismay. She would emerge at mealtimes and would sometimes stick around for a few minutes afterwards, but reacted to the smallest attention from the other cats with "I am being murdered" screeches while vigorously fleeing.
I finally did a thorough clean out of the dark backroom, knowing she'd be horribly traumatized & dreading what worse hiding spot she'd decide to live in, but it absolutely had to be done.
And she did run. To THE COUCH. To chill dude's spot! She lives there now! It is her exclusive space!
I'm beyond delighted, and eternally grateful that chill dude has given up the couch. But also, very puzzled. They don't even time-share! It's just hers now! (Come to think, we don't even use it. Just the love seat. Unless we sit on her couch on purpose to pet & make much of her...)
The linked pieces (LOVE this kind of thing) do mention the interesting bit of info that males tend to use more space more freely than females. My smol bossy girl has more favorite spots than nervous cat, but still markedly less than the boys. The boys have frequently-used spots but seem generally less particular, or perhaps just have more options? Maybe chill dude just never cared about the couch as much as one would guess from the amount of time he used to spend on it.
The hierarchy I've imagined for them is probably less of a strict hierarchy and more of a complex bunch of relationships, like that nice multi-set venn diagram. I have more questions now than I started with.
Such as: why on earth have I bought large expensive cat trees with enough perches for five cats each when science shows each tree will typically only hold one cat?!
Given that each furniture will be used by only one cat at a time, what is the most space-efficient furniture that is large enough to be considered a furniture by a cat?
Why do I still really want to buy them excessively large cat trees?
posted by Baethan at 7:48 AM on October 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
1. Cool chill dude who is practically a dog, alpha & doesn't have to work for it. Unaffected by the opinions of others.
2. Jerk cat with zero chill, wants to be alpha but isn't cool enough so he's turned to a life of crime (stealing food). Acts aloof while following favored human around 24/7.
3. Adorable smol girl: smolness & cute mews hide the fact that she'll aggressively groom you to death on purpose. Also will just straight up whack children in the face for existing
4. Retired street cat, extremely twitchy, nervous, & shy, screams to be petted. Has literally climbed walls in flight mode
5. Humans (adult)
63. Humans (children)
Chill dude, always seeming to have the primetime best spots, obviously claimed the couch in front of the bay window years ago. Nervous cat had exiled herself to a dark backroom, much to our dismay. She would emerge at mealtimes and would sometimes stick around for a few minutes afterwards, but reacted to the smallest attention from the other cats with "I am being murdered" screeches while vigorously fleeing.
I finally did a thorough clean out of the dark backroom, knowing she'd be horribly traumatized & dreading what worse hiding spot she'd decide to live in, but it absolutely had to be done.
And she did run. To THE COUCH. To chill dude's spot! She lives there now! It is her exclusive space!
I'm beyond delighted, and eternally grateful that chill dude has given up the couch. But also, very puzzled. They don't even time-share! It's just hers now! (Come to think, we don't even use it. Just the love seat. Unless we sit on her couch on purpose to pet & make much of her...)
The linked pieces (LOVE this kind of thing) do mention the interesting bit of info that males tend to use more space more freely than females. My smol bossy girl has more favorite spots than nervous cat, but still markedly less than the boys. The boys have frequently-used spots but seem generally less particular, or perhaps just have more options? Maybe chill dude just never cared about the couch as much as one would guess from the amount of time he used to spend on it.
The hierarchy I've imagined for them is probably less of a strict hierarchy and more of a complex bunch of relationships, like that nice multi-set venn diagram. I have more questions now than I started with.
Such as: why on earth have I bought large expensive cat trees with enough perches for five cats each when science shows each tree will typically only hold one cat?!
Given that each furniture will be used by only one cat at a time, what is the most space-efficient furniture that is large enough to be considered a furniture by a cat?
Why do I still really want to buy them excessively large cat trees?
posted by Baethan at 7:48 AM on October 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Toxoplasmosis?
posted by y2karl at 10:17 AM on October 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 10:17 AM on October 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by janell at 10:10 AM on October 29, 2023 [3 favorites]