Taking the best care of your cat
We love our cats, but they’re definitely a law unto themselves sometimes! While we enjoy the independent nature of our cats, some of their less pleasant behaviours may be because something is wrong.
Cats can display unwanted behaviours for many reasons. It could be due to illness, stress, lack of socialisation as a kitten, or simply because they live in multi-cat households where too few resources are provided.
Cats don’t usually get on well with other cats, other than perhaps littermates. As more solitary animals, sometimes if they have to live with other cats it can make them really stressed
Our 2018 PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) Report showed just how many cats are living together (not always in harmony!):
- 8 million cats (43%) are living in multi-cat households.
- 14% of cats – around 6 million – live with another cat they don’t always get along with
- And 6% of cats live with more than one cat but some aren’t keen on each other.
It’s possible for cats to learn to tolerate, or even enjoy, the company of other cats. This usually needs careful introductions and enough resources (food and water bowls, beds, scratching posts, litter trays) to go around. They also need to have space to avoid each other if they need to!
Ideally, though, most cats prefer to live alone with owners or a littermate they have grown up and bonded with.