Ragdoll and RagaMuffin Breeders Club Middle-Earth, NCHK member

Are cats really solitary animals ? Mikel Delgado, PhD, a behavioral consultant and American cat behavioral scientist, tries to answer this question. 

The answer is not clear-cut. Basically, it can be said that three key factors matter most:
    - individuality
    - the resources available in the environment
    - the sex of the cat

Free-living cats form colonies in which social bonds and relationships exist. However, it depends on the availability of resources such as food, water, warmth, shelter and adequate space. Cats living outdoors usually have the opportunity to avoid each other, whereas cats living indoors usually do not.
Yet, perhaps surprisingly, some cats prefer to be only cats and would not accept a second cat in the household, despite having plenty of resources. After all, humans are also a resource - a source of attention, providing food and other vital - i.e. primary behavioural reinforcers for the cat, and sometimes they are the source of conflict between cats.

The cat community is usually made up of related females and their offspring, which form matrilineal groups. The related cats get along, care for their offspring together, and their heat is controlled by pheromones so that the kittens of each female are born at approximately the same time. This is especially important so that one cat can take over the care of the other cat's kittens if necessary and the species survives. Foreign males are generally not welcome in these groups and group members are aggressive towards newcomers.

Male cats also aggregate into communities during the adolescent period of early adulthood, but here there are more fights, especially during the rutting season, of course. Older adult cats usually live a solitary life. In contrast, the position of castrates in a friendly group is very similar to that of related females.

Cats living in an apartment also share a common space, and matrilineal groups are also formed when several related female cats live together. Thus, not only do relationships of different intensities arise between cats in the apartment, but also the space that the cats share is divided. The position of the neuters of both sexes in a friendly group is very similar to that of the related females.

Space is divided:
    1. the space occupied by all, which contains key resources such as food, resting places and cat toilets
    2. the space that represents the core area of an individual cat or group of cats, the territory
This more intimate territory is shared only by cats that get along well together and defend it against others. Cats living outdoors share very similar behavior patterns.

The division of territory in the home or habitat of free-living cats is not immutable. If there is a change in a group of mutually friendly or related cats, such as the death of one of them, there is a shift in the use of shared and defended space. 

The same situation arises with any change in the household - death of an animal, birth of kittens, arrival of a new kitten or cat in the family, generally any change, including a change caused by the relocation of furniture in the space. This is why it is a good idea for owners to draw a plan of their apartment or house and plot the available resources and think about whether all cats really have the same access to them or whether they have to cross another cat's territory to get these resources as well. Especially for fearful and nervous cats, a situation where resources are blocked or located in such a way that they have to reach them by crossing 'hostile territory' is a highly stressful situation and they may develop excretion problems (uncleanliness).

So what are the preferred behaviors that give the owner the opportunity to understand the complex warp of relationships ? 

Friendly cats:
    - Spend time close to each other
    - care for each other and rub each other - scent sharing (allogrooming)
    - greeting each other with a tail-up posture
    - playing together
    - one cat makes a 'pillow' for the other, the cats share a bed

Scientists have found that cats don't spend time together randomly, but that cats actually choose other cats to be with. The so-called group scent that results from communal grooming and sharing of beds, pillows, scratching posts and food bowls is the basis of social cohesion in a group.
In and out of the group, good communication is very important.

Cats communicate with each other: 
    - vocal expressions - vocalisation
    - visual signals
    - scent signals

For the first two modes of communication, the basic requirement for success is that the cats are at a distance from each other where they can see and hear each other, and where one acts as a transmitter and the other as a receiver. This, of course, carries with it possible risks of conflict and injury. Therefore, scent communication is preferable and safer for cats and can be compared to 'text messaging' in humans, allowing cats to avoid direct contact.

The need for cats to use multiple levels of space, and in particular the use of vertical space, is often discussed in the context of cohabitation. A 2017 study by researchers in South Korea reported that there is a direct link to urinary tract disease ( feline idiopathic cystitis) and the use of vertical space by cats living in a group home. This disease tends to be associated with stress. and the inability to avoid conflict.
Also, food intake is often not understood correctly. It is certainly not a social event for the cat. Cats get frustrated if they have to share a common bowl when eating, if they do not have enough space with each other when eating. The possibility of using cat food dispensers that work on the basis of a cat microchip reader is debatable.

Proper energy management is essential for the life of cats - the intake of energy, but also its expenditure, the ability to show natural behaviour and to get rid of accumulated energy through movement. Cats in a shared household and cats living in free-living communities play together. The condition is that the cat has the illusion of control over the environment - that it feels safe, and that it has enough food. Time of day is also crucial - cats are generally lively in the morning and evening at dusk. 
How to distinguish whether it is a game, i.e. playful, or real aggression ?

When playing together we can observe this behaviour :
    - the play may be more rough, but there is no vocalisation or only mild vocalisation
    - there are no injuries
    - the cats participate equally in the game - they take turns in lunging and lurking, they take turns in "chasing" the prey

These are all signs of normal, playful behaviour.
However, if the roles in the game are not alternated, vocalization (growling, hissing, sizzling) occurs, and one cat avoids or hides from the other, this is truly aggressive behavior that needs to be sensitively addressed with training, or seek professional help to prevent cat fights from escalating into hurtful fights or uncleanliness.

You should play with your cat and encourage its hunting behaviour. The most optimal time is before meals. If we have more than one cat in the household, it may be that the other cat does not seem interested in playing. But the truth is that we need to observe the body language of both cats, and keep an eye out to see if one cat is actually blocking the other's access to play or a toy. Body language can be very subtle. For example, one cat will casually walk over to the door, where it will settle down and start licking its fur. The other cat sits down a short distance away with its body curled up in a loaf position, tail curled around its body. The game will take place behind the door. What does this situation tell us? Who's blocking who?

I think you've all got the right answer - the cat at the door, licking itself.
So if there are situations like this at home, it's better to separate the cats and play with each of them separately. We should also organise a Treat Summit - a meeting with treats where each cat gets something good.

Despite the best efforts of the owners, according to surveys, there are about 1/3 of the cats who do not want to be friends and are comfortable with the position of an only cat.
For enrichment of the environment we can also use walks with the cat in the surroundings. Here we should be careful and avoid all lurking dangers (traffic, aggressive animals, sudden noises, parasites, infections). However, when we get home, it may happen that a fight breaks out between the cats. While most cats respond only with curiosity to the new scent of a returning cat, some cats have more sensitive scent centers in their brains than other cats. The olfactory centres in the brain are close to the emotional centres and so the smell can trigger very strong emotional reactions.

Cats living in large groups usually suppress aggressive behaviour - calmness in a group is essential for survival. On the other hand, if there are one or two cats at home and a strange cat comes into the group, the risk of aggression is many times higher. This is why the familiarisation phase should be done slowly and with great empathy on the part of the human. However, despite all efforts, it may happen that the cats do not "get along" with each other, and then it is necessary to decide what is the best solution for both cats in terms of the potential stress level.