My Pet World: Conference explores cat behavior issues
ATLANTA, GA -- "Cats are not anti-social," says veterinary behaviorist Dr. Sharon Crowell-Davis, professor of behavior and anatomy at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, Athens, speaking at the 2015 International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants Feline Behavior Conference here April 11-12.
For starters, most outdoor cats live in groups with other cats. No one forces them to live together, she notes.
Crowell-Davis has studied feral cat colonies for many years, and says that in some ways the social structure of feral cats isn't so different from that of elephants. It's a matriarchal society, led by females. The larger group is often broken up with cliques that like to hang out together, which Crowell-Davis suggests is like "high school."
Since cats who pal around together do this day in and day out, clearly there's an effort made to be with friends (or "preferred associates" in feral cat lingo). Sometimes they groom one another, even intertwining their tails.
"When a hunter returns to the group, the greeting includes lots of sniffing and cheek rubbing, a similar greeting we receive when we return from a day at the office," Crowell-Davis notes.
Previously, it was thought that male cats never pal around, but that's false, Crowell-Davis said.
Mostly because their food is so small, little lizards and mice, for example, feral cats are solitary hunters.
"There just aren't enough calories in a single mouse to feed many cats," says Crowell-Davis. "But many of us suspect that every once in a while, they do hunt cooperatively like lions for very large prey, like squirrels. However, she concedes that cooperative hunting in cats has never been captured on video.
BRINGING AN OUTDOOR CAT INTO YOUR HOME
While many cats spend most of their time outside, they're not all truly feral, as New York City-based cat behavior consultant Beth Adelman explained at the conference.
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