It can be very difficult to understand the behavior of cats in groups if we apply the wrong pattern and expect them to follow it.
We will not understand the way cats regard us if we apply the wrong pattern.
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It can seem like cats want to be bossy, or dominant, or stubborn, or even defiant. But this is almost always a misconception. Cats really want only one thing.
Cats want their way.
Let’s be honest. Aren’t we like that too?
We are mistaken when we see cat conflict or cat misbehavior as the expression of dominance. Cats do not compete to be “top cat.”
Depending on the task, different cats can be looked up to for different skills. Cats become friends because they like to do the same things, together.
The behavior of cats in groups is fundamentally different from the ways of dogs and their pack behavior. Also, groups of cats in the home have a variegated mix of personalities that makes each group develop differently, based on the mix of traits in each cat.
But cats are not trying to be the boss of anything as a goal in itself. They can attempt to be the boss, but if we produce unprompted, they are just as happy. That is not the behavior of dominance.
It is the behavior of pragmatism.
Cats do vary in their ability to press their point, and their ability to express it. But every cat wants to be spoiled, and every cat will be more cooperative with us, and more sensitive to our happiness, when we treat them as equals.
They don’t want to be our boss. They don’t want to be bossed.
They want to live with friends who do nice things for each other.
That’s all they want.
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There’s more about multiple cats in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See more posts on the MULTIPLE CAT ADVANTAGE.
