Why Cats Groom Themselves?:Self-Grooming Behaviour In Cats
Why And How Does A Cat Groom – Explained with its behaviour
If it seems like your favorite feline spends most of his waking hours grooming himself, you are probably right. Cats typically spend anywhere from 15 to 50 percent of their time grooming themselves, and this is considered normal behavior for them. It’s also important to realize that grooming fulfills more than one function in their lives. Understanding Why Cats Groom
Grooming does more than keep the cat looking good. This activity maintains healthy skin by stimulating the production of sebum, an oily secretion produced by sebaceous glands at the base of each hair. Licking spreads sebum over the hair coat to lubricate and protect the fur and make it shine. It also removes loose hair and prevents mats, and removes dirt and parasites like fleas.
Grooming is also a barometer for feline health. An unthrifty appearance can signal illness in a cat, and older cats with arthritis or obese cats may be unable to pretzel themselves enough to stay pristine. Emotional or physical illnesses may also trigger excessive grooming behavior such as licking a specific area bald, either because of pain or anxiety.If your elderly or sick kitty is not grooming regularly, gently brushing its coat may help it to feel a bit better as well as preventing painful matted fur. If there are already large knots, it is best to have a professional assist you in removing them to avoid any injuries to the cat’s skin.
Finally, Cats can’t sweat to cool themselves and they rely on the evaporation of saliva spread on the fur through grooming to keep cool. While dogs pant to cool off, a cat that is panting (open mouth breathing) is very concerning and should be examined by a veterinarian.
Cats are fun and fascinating animals with many unique behaviors. One habit that deserves some extra attention is their grooming behavior.
It is not uncommon to hear or think, “Cats don’t need to be bathed. They take care of that themselves.” Though they do mostly manage to maintain their own cleanliness, there are still times that cats may need a bath or shave. In fact, some breeds, like the Bengal, enjoy being bathed.
Cats are well-equipped for grooming. They are flexible, which allows them to reach most areas of their bodies. A cat’s tongue consists of many small barbs or papillae made of keratin, which are facing backwards on the tongue. Keratin is the same substance that makes up hair and nails. The barbs on the cat’s tongue are useful in removing hair and foreign bodies. In healthy, particularly short-haired cats, that hair is swallowed and usually passes without any issues. Cats may use their paws as combs or even as washcloths as they may lick their paws and use them to scrub their faces.A cat sleeps for 14 hours and the next best activity it involves itself in is self-grooming; the grooming patterns reflect various behaviours of a cat. A change in cat grooming pattern reflects overall health of the cat, it shows any illness, depression, and most of all a clear indication of parasites or secondary medical conditions.
During initial days of their life, kittens are dependent on the queen for grooming; she licks to condition their coat, and to stimulate urination and defecation. This is continued till the young are able to move from their nest to eliminate. There are certain motor skills and reflex that develop with time and kittens begin to groom; initially, it is not in an order, but in days ahead, they get on to copy their mother.
As kittens grow, they take on grooming more actively – 50 percent of their awake time, or 15 percent of a 24-hour period is spent grooming. However, this may vary among breeds, coats, and geographical distribution of cats.
Cats shed hair throughout the year; losses are heaviest just before the onset of summer and winter season. As the winter ends, winter hair fall; these are much denser compared to the summer coat. This may vary on geographical distribution, but is common in most breeds.
An all-time indoor cat shows a strange pattern of hair thinning between eye and ear as compared to the other body parts; during seasonal shedding, this area may go bald, however, it regrows. This pattern of shedding is found in Indian domestic short hair, Siamese, Egyptian Mau, and Bengals. Cats with longer hair must be brushed to remove loose hair to keep their coat unmatted and avoid accumulation of dander.
Cats Groom Themselves for Several Reasons
Grooming actually serves many purposes in cats. They first learn this behavior from their mother. Mother cats perform this function to help keep kittens clean and create a bond. By two weeks of age, kittens have learned to perform this chore on their own and can independently groom themselves by the time they are weaned.
Grooming Maintains Healthy Skin
Grooming helps to maintain healthy skin. Licking stimulates the production of sebum, an oily secretion produced by glands at the base of each hair. Sebum helps lubricate and waterproof the fur, making it shine. Grooming also helps to reduce mats and remove loose hair, dirt and parasites like fleas. Grooming also can serve as a cooling mechanism on hot days. Cats can sweat but only through their paw pads; the evaporation of saliva after grooming can aid in cooling. In addition, well-groomed hair will fluff up and allow air circulation against the skin.
Social and Behavioral Purpose
Grooming serves a social and behavioral purpose. Even large cats like lions can be seen grooming each other. Allogrooming, or social grooming, not only creates bonding but also establishes a group scent, which is especially beneficial in the wild to establish and recognize a pack. Cats groom their humans for much of the same purpose.
Grooming Soothes Cats
Some cats will groom themselves when faced with a stressful situation such as the presence of an aggressive animal or after a fall. Some behaviorists feel this may be a displacement behavior that helps a cat deal with conflict; cats may experience a direct calming effect on the brain and neurologic impulses produced by the touch sensation. It may be likened to the tension relief some people feel from biting their fingernails.
Indicator of Health
Grooming behavior is an important indicator of health in our feline friends. Cats spend 30 to 50 percent of their day in grooming activities. A sick cat may stop or reduce grooming, resulting in a harsh or greasy hair coat, mats, staining on the fur or a foul smell. Other conditions such as parasites, allergies or behavioral issues may result in over-grooming. Arthritis and pain may result in over-grooming or decreased grooming. Pain in a joint may cause your cat to lick more frequently there. General arthritis may make it more difficult to reach certain areas to groom. A change in grooming behavior should prompt cat owners to consider a visit to the veterinarian.
All cats may need some assistance with grooming from time to time. Long-haired breeds will need additional brushing and help from their owners, so they do not develop mats or hair balls. Some short-haired breeds benefit from this as well. Many cats enjoy being brushed and see this as a social time.
The various grooming behaviors are important to a normal healthy cat. The lack of these behaviors can indicate depression or ill health. Their absence may also signal the potential for ectoparasite infestation or secondary conditions.
Grooming Functions
Newborn kittens depend on the dam for grooming, especially during the first few days of life. Her licking not only conditions their coats but also stimulates urination and defecation until the young are physically able to move to a special area to eliminate. This reflex control of eliminations keeps both the nest and the kittens clean. As motor skills mature, the kittens begin self-grooming, but it is incomplete and awkward at first.
As the cat matures, grooming becomes increasingly significant, until up to 50% of the awake time, or 15% of a 24-hour period, is spent performing some type of this behavior. Variations do exist, probably as a result of early experience, genetic factors, and hair coat, with long hair needing more attention.
Grooming serves several purposes, with the most important probably being maintenance of healthy skin. Body hygiene is apparently learned early, because kittens that are not well cared for develop into unkempt adults more often than those with normal histories. Although hair is shed by normal cats year-round, losses are heaviest in the spring, when the cat is ill, or when it is staying in dry indoor heat. The hair between the eye and ear is normally thinner than that on other parts of the body but during shedding may almost disappear. Siamese cats may appear to almost lose their mask.10 Removal of loose hair is necessary to keep the coat unmatted and free from dander. Grooming is also important to minimize ectoparasite infestations. In a flea-infested environment, prevention of oral grooming will result in twice the number of fleas and a scratch grooming frequency seven times higher than in a control group.
In hot weather, as much as one third of the cat’s evaporative cooling losses can be achieved by licking the skin and hair.Another function of grooming is that of an affiliative behavior between two cats. Last, it can relieve tension, as may occur after a reprimand from the owner, after an encounter with a very aggressive cat, or preceding a thunderstorm. Some evidence suggests static electricity may build in the cat’s fur, so licking would also tend to defuse the charge and the tension.
How Cats Groom
Every cat has her own grooming ritual. Some lick the chin, and whiskers first, followed by each shoulder and foreleg. She’ll then wash both flanks and hind legs, the genitals, and then her tail from tip to end. Not all cats groom from head to tail in one sitting however, and may break up these sessions throughout the day.
A cat uses a dampened forepaw to scrub face, head, and ears and re-dampens her paw by licking after every few swipes. She’ll switch paws depending on which side she’s washing.
Next, she may scratch with rear claws to clean and groom the neck and ears. She nibbles on the rear claws to keep them groomed, and both nibbles and claws an object to file her front claws into shape.
A cat’s tongue has numerous spines, or papillae, that make the tongue’s surface rough. You may notice this when a cat licks your skin and it feels like sandpaper. These papillae help grab onto the fur and comb through it, making grooming even more efficient.
Grooming Patterns:
Cats groom in different patterns that reflect their mood and activity.
Oral Grooming
Oral grooming happens mostly after meals. They spend considerable time to groom by licking around the oral area, and from caudal to the midcervical area. A cat can be seen in weird postures to reach out to farthest parts of its body in order to lick out any smell of the body and to teeth out the mats. Oral grooming can also happen just before the periods of nap or sleep.
It is high during summer or on hotter days as they keep their body cool by moistening the skin and hair. Most of the cat grooming is done with its tongue and teeth. Tongue of the cat has fine grooves pointing inwards forming a natural comb to brush through its thick fur.
Incisors of the cats are useful for pulling burrs and tangles out of the hair coat and are often used to clean between the toes. As would be expected, this type of grooming is most effective for the body caudal to the neck.
Paw Grooming
Paw of a cat is used as a tool to clean the area where tongue can’t reach out; most of all, the forepaws are used. The cat licks its paws several times and they are wiped across the neck, the back of the head and ears, and finally the face.
Scratching various parts of the body with a hindpaw begins about 18 days after birth. It removes fur from the body and this is considered to be normal. But if the cat scratches in excess, it’s a clear sign of parasites; these parasites may be microbial like ear mites or flea kind. It may be secondary to bacterial or fungal infection.
Mutual Grooming
Cats are solitary beings; they don’t show any social behaviour patterns as other species. They get along on certain occasions, mostly before the consent to mate. If two cats are kept together for their life; they get into cathood and show affection by licking or rubbing against each other. A female cat will groom other females and younger male cats, whereas an adult male cat will groom only female cats. A queen grooms and nurses the kitten when it is between 5 weeks and 4 months.
Mutual grooming can be extended to humans by licking them and accepting their petting. A bond is created between a human and a cat during such grooming session as this is the second best thing that cats like after their sleep and food. Due to such skills of their human masters, cats become very social and their bond gets stronger.
DR UDAY KUMAR, PET CONSULTANT,HAZIPUR
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