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==Home Range==

==Home Range==

The home range is the main area of territory that encompasses the resources that the cat needs for survival, inducing latrine locations, resting sites and hunting areas. 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. The territory may be formed from a patchwork of spaces that the cat can only access by traversing areas that are not its own territory. A cat may regularly pass close to, or through, another cat's territory in order to access parts of its own territory. Claw and urine marks are therefore used not only to signal the boundary of a territorial space but also the timing of the resident cat's presence in a particular location. In this way, cats can maintain distance form each other in time and space and thus avoid conflict. In an outdoor space this works well, because his works well when there is enough space for the different types of odour marks to be deposited in a meaningful way that allows the cats to avoid potential competitors.  

The home range is the main area of territory that encompasses the resources that the cat needs for survival, inducing latrine locations, resting sites and hunting areas. 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. The territory may be formed from a patchwork of spaces that the cat can only access by traversing areas that are not its own territory. A cat may regularly pass close to, or through, another cat's territory in order to access parts of its own territory. Claw and urine marks are therefore used not only to signal the boundary of a territorial space but also the timing of the resident cat's presence in a particular location. In this way, cats can maintain distance from each other in time and space and thus avoid conflict. In an outdoor space this works well, as there is enough space for the different types of odour marks to be deposited in a meaningful way that allows the cats to avoid potential competitors. It does not work effectively inside a domestic home, where space is limited and physical barriers such as windows limit perception of deposited scent marks.

The size of the territorial range of cats (home range) varies between feral and pet cats, male and female cats and neutered and entire cats. Although evidence regarding the absolute size of home ranges is inconsistent between studies performed in different countries and habitats, intact male home ranges are, on average, three times larger than intact female home ranges <ref>Liberg, O., Sandell, M., Pontier, D., Natoli, E. (2000) Density, spatial organization and reproductive tactics in the domestic cat and other felids. Pp. 119-148 In: D. C. Turner and P. Bateson (eds.). ''The Domestic Cat: the biology of its behavior''. 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.</ref>. The same author found that pet females in Sweden had home ranges of around 30-40 hectares and rarely roamed further than 600m from their homes<ref>Liberg, O. (1980) Spacing patterns in a population of rural free roaming domestic cats. ''Oikos''. 38, 336-349.</ref>, and feral females had home ranges that were about four times larger than those of pet females<ref>Liberg, O. (1984) Home range and territoriality in free ranging house cats. Acta Zoologica Fennica. 171, 283-285.</ref>. It appears that '''male home range size is determined by the availability of reproductive opportunities''', whilst that of '''females is governed by the availability of food'''. Range size has been found to vary between 0.1 hectare in a Japanese fishing village to 170 hectares in the Australian bush<ref name="Bradshaw">Bradshaw, J.W.S (1992) The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat. ''CABI'', Oxford, UK.</ref>, indicating that cats do not have a specific need to maintain a large territory, only to hold sufficient territory to satisfy specific survival needs.

The size of the territorial range of cats (home range) varies between feral and pet cats, male and female cats and neutered and entire cats. Although evidence regarding the absolute size of home ranges is inconsistent between studies performed in different countries and habitats, intact male home ranges are, on average, three times larger than intact female home ranges <ref>Liberg, O., Sandell, M., Pontier, D., Natoli, E. (2000) Density, spatial organization and reproductive tactics in the domestic cat and other felids. Pp. 119-148 In: D. C. Turner and P. Bateson (eds.). ''The Domestic Cat: the biology of its behavior''. 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.</ref>. The same author found that pet females in Sweden had home ranges of around 30-40 hectares and rarely roamed further than 600m from their homes<ref>Liberg, O. (1980) Spacing patterns in a population of rural free roaming domestic cats. ''Oikos''. 38, 336-349.</ref>, and feral females had home ranges that were about four times larger than those of pet females<ref>Liberg, O. (1984) Home range and territoriality in free ranging house cats. Acta Zoologica Fennica. 171, 283-285.</ref>. It appears that '''male home range size is determined by the availability of reproductive opportunities''', whilst that of '''females is governed by the availability of food'''. Range size has been found to vary between 0.1 hectare in a Japanese fishing village to 170 hectares in the Australian bush<ref name="Bradshaw">Bradshaw, J.W.S (1992) The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat. ''CABI'', Oxford, UK.</ref>, indicating that cats do not have a specific need to maintain a large territory, only to hold sufficient territory to satisfy specific survival needs.