Colleen Grablick reports Cats aren’t jerks. They’re just misunderstood (‘Feline researchers say many cats are quite social. Yours might even want to learn a few tricks):
Monique Udell is the director of the Human-Animal Interaction Lab at Oregon State University, which has been investigating the social potential of domestic cats. According to Udell, cats actually have a “flexible” social structure, meaning they can exist successfully on their own or in groups, depending on early life experiences (such as whether they were exposed to humans as babies) and their environment.
“What we’re finding is that when we give them the same kinds of opportunities or challenges that we regularly give dogs, that oftentimes cats not only can engage in high levels of social behavior, but many cats actually prefer social interaction,” Udell says.
Of course, no one — cat or human — wants to be around others all the time. Leslie Sinn, a veterinary behaviorist in Ashburn, Va., says domestic cats, just like their wild ancestors, navigate conflict by dispersal; they remove themselves from an uncomfortable situation as protection. “That’s often where we run into issues in our home, because there’s limited movement that can take place in order to be able to avoid conflict,” she says.