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| | ==Diagnosis== | | ==Diagnosis== |
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| | + | [[Feline Communication Behaviour#Marking|Marking]] forms a part of normal cat behaviour, it only becomes problematic to owners when inappropriate surfaces and methods are chosen by the cat. Scent is used to identify [[Feline Territorial Behaviour|territories]] as well as individuals. It is therefore important to establish the motivation of the behaviour to be able to resolve the issue successful in the eyes of the owner. |
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| | Diagnosis involves several steps: | | Diagnosis involves several steps: |
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| | * Assess health status of all group members. | | * Assess health status of all group members. |
| | * [[Housesoiling - Cat#Using a House Plan|Map the location of resources and the progression of urine and faecal marks within the home]]. | | * [[Housesoiling - Cat#Using a House Plan|Map the location of resources and the progression of urine and faecal marks within the home]]. |
| − | * Assess the structure of the social group within the home, to identify potential conflict. | + | * Assess the [[Feline Social Structure|structure of the social group]] within the home, to identify potential conflict. |
| − | * Identify specific situations in which marking occurs. | + | * Identify specific situations in which [[Feline Communication Behaviour#Marking|marking]] occurs. |
| | * Detail the cat’s behaviour before, during and after incidents. | | * Detail the cat’s behaviour before, during and after incidents. |
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| − | COMMUNICATION?TERRITORY
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| − | The function of marking behaviour is to identify the significance of certain locations to the ‘sender’ and ‘receiver’ of the mark. Scent marks, therefore, act both as a memento of previous experience in a location as well as a signal to others. When a cat encounters the facial and flank marks on inanimate objects in the core part of the territory, they signify that this location has been safe in the past and when a cat leaves another face or flank mark, it is relabelling that place as safe based upon its current experience. The odours that cats share when allogrooming and allorubbing help to identify the group so that these and the core territory odours are a memento of previous interactions. Other odour marks are intended to enable cats to maintain distance from one another. Both claw marks and urine spray marks contain pheromone chemical signals that are intended to signal to cats outside the social group that they are entering an area that is also occupied by other cats. The home range that surrounds the core territory is quite large and is intensely defended. Beyond this home range, the wider territory controlled by the cat or cat group may be very large. Feral and wild cats may hold territories that are more than 1-2 square miles. However, it is clear that cats may need to pass through areas of each other’s territory and the boundaries are not absolute. Claw and urine
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| − | marks are therefore intended to warn other cats to avoid certain locations at certain times so that they do not come into conflict with each other. This works well when there is a large enough territory for the different types of odour marks to be deposited in a meaningful way that allows the cats to avoid potential enemies and remain close to their affiliates. Natural social groups are made of related female cats and juveniles, with adult males and surplus females being displaced from the group at maturity. Intact males will range over much larger territories, visiting different groups of females to mate.
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