Cat Welfare Week

Today’s domestic cat has evolved from the African Wildcat, a successful and agile, solitary hunter. This wild ancestor lived alone and spent around eight hours a day engaged in lone hunting activities for small prey animals, maintaining a large territory, and primarily using scent to identify its own area and keep other cats out of that area. It avoided conflict where possible, and as a relatively small animal, ran away, hid and watched from a height during stressful times.

 

History of the domestic cat

 

The slow process of domestication over a few thousand years has resulted in today’s domestic cat, now the UK’s most popular pet with eight million domestic cats living in the UK, but which retains many of the traits and needs associated with its wildcat ancestor.

In contrast, the pet dog’s distant ancestor, the wolf, lived with others in a pack and was a social hunter, with clear visual communication signals, used to ensure the co-ordinated successful hunting activity for larger prey animals.

 

Domestic cat behaviour

 

Descending from such different environments and lifestyles goes some way to explain the different behaviours of the dog and cat and why cats are not small dogs.  Signs of stress in cats are not always obvious to a more social species like us, because their behaviours are often demonstrated in different and subtle ways as perfected by their ancestors, allowing them to thrive in their wild environments.

Cat Welfare Week is dedicated to raising awareness of the factors that cause feline stress and reminding owners what actions and traits are simply normal behaviour and which could be an indication of compromised welfare