Understanding Cat Marking
One of the unique behaviors of cats is the way they mark their territories, which is fittingly referred to as cat marking. Cats mark their territory through different ways such as spraying, head rubbing, and scratching. Whatever method cats use, the goal is the same – to leave their scent on the surface they are marking. Animal experts say that cats mark areas they perceive to be their territories in order to avoid confronting or fighting other cats face to face, which can end up in a fight. Cats do recognize marking done by other cats, and they safely keep out of the place that another cat has already marked.
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The most common method of cat marking is by spraying. If you observe that your cat is spraying urine in different parts of the house, the first thing you have to do is have your cat checked for possible urinary problems. When your cat checks out healthy, then you can safely assume that its behavior of spraying urine on various surfaces in your house is its way of marking its territory. Cats usually spray when they sense a threat to their domain, such as the presence of other cats or animals in the neighborhood. Spraying allows them to leave their scent in the area, thus marking that area to be theirs.
Head rubbing is another demonstration of cat marking. You will notice that cats love to rub their faces or the top of their heads on your legs and on furniture and other things in your house. Cat marking by head rubbing indicates that the cat is contented. This behavior is similar to what cats will normally do in the wild to mark their nests.
When a cat rubs its head on a person, this is usually an expression that they are comfortable with him or her. Cats often mark people using their forehead while they mark objects using the sides of their heads. When a cat is not yet that comfortable with a person, it will rub its head on the nearest object. From there, it will continue to rub its way slowly toward the person until it reaches him or her.
Scratching is another way by which cats mark their territories. Cats have sweat glands located on the pads of their paws. When they scratch an object, they leave their scent on it, thus marking it. Aside from leaving their scent, they leave the more obvious scratch marks as a sign of their ownership. The size or height of scratch marks is an indication to other cats of how big the resident cat is. Higher scratch marks will convey the message that the resident cat is big and will keep the smaller ones at bay.
Cats also scratch to clean their claws. This behavior can be distinguished from cat marking by the location of the scratch marks. When cats scratch to clean their paws, they often do so on the same location. This means they use the same surface again and again, and you will see numerous cat scratches on one area. On the other hand, when they scratch to mark their territory, the scratch marks will appear on different areas, particularly near windows and doors.