Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Many homeless and private owned cats are relinquished to cat shelters. Shelters are often a very stressful place for cats and their welfare may be endangered. Today it is common that cats are housed in groups at cat shelters and there are some perceived problems in housing cats in groups. The social structure of the cat is very complex and although cats are basically solitary they can be kept in groups under the right conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate how cats in groups interact with each other at a cat shelter. Observations took place at a cat shelter in Sweden during three weeks in April 2014. Social interactions were observed using continuous registration between cats who were kept in pair or groups in quarantine and in the area where cats are housed when they are waiting for adoption. A total of 30 cats were observed in different pairs and groups. The results shows that there occurred more social interactions in quarantine than in the cat shelter. Cats of different gender tended to interact more than cats of the same gender. The conclusion is that cats who have lived together for a long time do interact more with each other. Females are more likely to initiate positive behavior and males tend to be the receivers.