Methods of scent marking in the domestic cat

Abstract

Carnivores use various scent-marking methods. Semi-feral domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) were observed to use the same means as their wild counterparts. Adult males performed most urine spray marking. Cats scratched tree bark, producing a visual mark, and probably used trees both as markers and for claw sharpening. Most scratching trees were located along frequently used paths rather than along territorial boundaries or scattered randomly throughout a home range. Bark consistency affected the tree species that were scratched, with soft bark preferred. Although deposition of faeces and urine was recorded, there was no clear evidence for their use as territorial markers; cats primarily eliminated away from the core area of the home range. Most faeces were buried, although exposed deposits were also observed. Cats also rubbed against objects, probably using glandular secretions from the face and tail areas to scent mark. Males rubbed objects more than females, and males scent marked more. Individual males may use different means of scent marking. Scent marking in this study supports the idea that cats do not defend territories, instead patrolling and reinforcing marks throughout a looser home range. The suggestion has been made that different forms of marking may serve separate signalling functions.

Development and application of CatFACS: Are human cat adopters influenced by cat facial expressions?

“…It is also possible that rubbing has all of these functions at different proximate and ultimate levels (Tinbergen, 1963). Some authors have noted a distinction between scent marking rub and social rub (Johnson, 1973;Peters and Mech, 1975;Feldman, 1994;Bel et al, 1995;Blumstein and Henderson, 1996;Weiss et al, 2015). However, given the experimental setup of this study, social rub (also called bunting or allorubbing) is a more appropriate contextualization of the behaviour, since it was focused on the human-cat interaction.…”

The influence of body region, handler familiarity and order of region handled on the domestic cat's response to being stroked

“…cattle, Boivin et al, 1998;rats, Davis et al, 1997). Furthermore, while Soennichsen and Chamove (2002) randomised the order of body areas touched, examination of feline rubbing has revealed that cats rub against objects and other individuals in a set order starting at the head and facial region and, in the case of allo-rubbing, often finishing at the tail (Feldman, 1994;Crowell-Davies, 2003). It is unknown whether such an order is important in human-cat interactions.…”

What’s inside your cat’s head? A review of cat (Felis silvestris catus) cognition research past, present and future

“…For example, olfaction appears to play an important role from birth, being especially important in the early days of the mother-kitten relationship (Ewer 1959;Mermet et al 2007;Raihani et al 2009;Arteaga et al 2013). Olfactory cues remain important throughout a cat's life, providing social information about conspecifics (Verberne and de Boer 1976;Verberne 1976;Natoli 1985), defining home ranges (Feldman 1994), and influencing the human-cat relationship (Pageat and Gaultier 2003;Ellis and Wells 2010;Mills et al 2011). Auditory and visual developments progress more slowly.…”