How would you know whether you are a beta or an alpha?
Introduction
Cats live amongst humans and are part of our everyday lives. We humans commonly have the misconception that cats are clean animals as they know how to groom and clean themselves, and even bury their own faeces to rid the smell. However, have we ever thought how this instinctive nature evolved?
A Cat's Instinct
It is a cat’s natural instinct to cover their faeces. Even in the wild, cats bury their poop without requring any form of training. However, there are cases where your kitty just refuses to cover its poop, and why is that so?
Why Cats Cover their Faeces
The reason for this behavior is the necessity to cover their trail and protect themselves from possible predation. This poop burying behavior observed in cats is not only for avoidance of predation; it is also due to the natural territorial behavior in cats. It is surprising that dominant felines in the wild do not cover up their fecal deposits but displays them prominently. It is similar to their urine markings and is another method of territorial marking. However, beta and gamma cats usually cover their feaces due to the hierarchical nature of a clan, and not covering it would mean a contest of position and authority. From these scent markings of pee and poop, cats from other clans would know where the border of their territory is.
The Home-Dwelling Cat
Then why does your home-dwelling cat possess this trait despite having no other cats around? In actual fact, the cat recognizes you as the owner of the house, and a dominant figure (the alpha character), and thus covers up its pee and poop after doing its business in fear of offending you. So if your cat happens to be one of those that refuse to cover its mess, it means that you are seen as its subordinate instead! (You loser!!)
Introduction of new cats into your house might trigger the display of this territorial behavior to show its dominance over the others. Sometimes there may be one or even two alpha felines. In such a situation, both cats will not cover its poop and may allow the other dominant to share its territorial space at different times of the day to avoid confrontation. So if you take some time to observe your cats, you might realize that their daily resting locations are of a periodic routine!
So, are you the alpha or the beta figure in your territory?
References:
http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/natural_cat_behavior/cats_view_of_territory.html
http://www.moggies.co.uk/behaviour.html
http://amby.com/cat_site/carter_4.html
http://bobmckee.com/Client%20Info/CatTerritory.html
http://www.perfectpaws.com/help2.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9352/behavior.html