Domestic cats and passive submission

Behavior of Single Cats and Groups in the Home

“…13 Tactile signals are seen in many species and may include social rubbing, lying in contact, or allogrooming, although some of these behaviors have been documented only in captivity. 13,14…”

Clusters in social behaviour of female domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) living in confinement

“…van den Bos, unpublished data). Whether they are truly submissive behavioural patterns (de Boer 1977;Feldman 1994;Macdonald et al 1987) remains to be proven however (cf. van den Bos 1995a,b,d;van den Bos & de Cock Buning 1994a,b;Leyhausen 1979).…”

“…Offensive behaviour and defensive behaviour are shown by high-ranking and low-ranking individuals respectively in groups living in confinement, where the ranking system is based on the outcome of naturally occurring conflicts (van den Bos & de Cock Buning 1994a,b). Social rubbing, lordosis (van den Bos & de Cock Buning 1994a,b;Bradshaw 1992;Macdonald et al 1987) and rolling in front of partner (Feldman 1994) are more likely to be shown by low-ranking than by high-ranking cats (cf. van den Bos, unpublished data).…”

“…Still, these studies have already revealed insight into such varying topics as dominance hierarchies and the existence of dominance and submissive behaviours (e.g. van den Bos & de Cock Buning 1994a,b;van den Bos 1995 a,b,d;Feldman 1994;Natoli.& De Vito 1991;Macdonald et al 1987;Podberscek et al 1991), the role of allogrooming (van den Bos 1995c) and cooperation between females in raising their offspring (Macdonald et al 1987). Yet, an important aspect still unknown is how and which behavioural patterns collectively play a role in maintaining group cohesion or in regulating relationships between females in groups either under free-ranging or confined conditions.…”

“…At the same time there has been a growing interest in social behaviour of cats under confined conditions (e.g. van den Bos & de Cock Buning 1994a,b;van den Bos 1995a,b,c,d;Brown 1993;Feldman 1994;Podberscek et al 1991;Smith et al 1994), partly because of questions concerning the welfare of cats in groups under these conditions and partly because studies under confined conditions contribute to understanding cat social behaviour under free-ranging conditions (see van den Bos & de Cock Buning 1994a). Leyhausen (1979) was among the first to publish a comprehensive and insightful study on social behaviour of domestic cats (in confinement).…”