Although cats don't bark, they also defend their territory extremely steadfastly. They still decide who goes where.
My sofa, my house, my world
All men to their posts! take a defensive position! Show the enemy that he will meet fierce resistance here!
The cat was just sleeping peacefully in its bed, stretched all four legs in the air and only made occasional snoring noises. Now she stands on the window sill in a threatening posture that would terrify even her tall African relatives, and hisses at the black intruder walking through her territory.
Then a targeted attack from the ambush: she shoots through the cat flap at lightning speed and puts the stranger's garden walker to flight. Conclusion: mission accomplished, territory defended!
But in the middle of the night, eerie noises from the garden penetrate the bedroom. A fight. And what a. Apparently the brawlers have met again. Of course you can't close your eyes anymore. The noise is more reminiscent of a fight between two werewolves than the scuffle of two cute kittens.
An hour later, finally, the cat flap clattered to relieve us. With a few scratches, but otherwise doing well, the bully comes home and, exhausted, lets himself fall onto his cuddly pillow.
Territorial fights sometimes seem quite martial, especially in the case of unneutered tomcats. However, they are perfectly normal behavior. The cat divides its territory into three zones: The so-called core zone is the innermost area. Here you will find a feeding bowl , sleeping places and a toilet .
If a strange cat or dog dares to enter here, there will be trouble.
The home district, such as the garden with its resting places, is attached to the core zone. Friendly cats are tolerated, strange intruders are not.
The third area is called the home range. The cat no longer claims this alone and accordingly comes into conflict with conspecifics less often. Instead, she hunts mice and other prey here, whereby the neighboring cats often agree on a temporary right of way. In the case of indoor cats, all three territorial zones are within their own four walls, with the core zone then being a room, a corner or even just the basket.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a house or apartment and whether you’re invited or not: if strange cats or dogs have visited you should definitely clean them thoroughly afterwards, otherwise everything will suddenly smell strange. And we ourselves are rather skeptical when our partner smells of someone else's perfume or aftershave.
All this and much more...
I like that and that. And that too, it's all mine...
Mieze rubs her head back and forth on the armrest of the sofa with relish. Back and forth.
Here the area is marked! By rubbing its head against something or someone, the cat distributes the secretions of its cheek glands and marks the object or human as familiar. The whole thing is called face marking. We two-legged friends usually don't have a problem with that, because our nose isn't fine enough to perceive the scent. Different from the outside marking. Because outside, the cat marks its territory with urine. So Katzenpee is nothing more than the stinky national flag of the cat world.
From time to time it unfortunately happens that the home territory is also marked with urine - and this does not mean peeing in the flower pot, because that has just been chosen as a more attractive litter box.
But even if you, as your cat's servant, practice forbearance and patience every day: you absolutely have to take action against this behavior. But how? Scolding would be the wrong way, you have to get to the bottom of the cause. Maybe the cat feels threatened by a stranger (keyword: foreign aftershave or perfume). It is also possible that her own smell, which she distributes everywhere with tedious rubbing of her head, is repeatedly cleaned away and that she has to resort to harsher means.
