Maternal care and differences in the use of nests in the domestic cat

Abstract

Abstract. The domestic cat, Felis silvestris catus, exhibits several different forms of maternal behaviour, including solitary and communal care of offspring. Domestic cats, along with wild felid relatives, use covert nest sites in which to rear their young; multiple nest sites are used over the pre-weaning period. The presence of different maternal styles allows an examination of the functions of nest-moving. Two groups of semi-fetal cats, living in a large natural outdoor enclosure, were studied. Communal litters occupied twice as many nests as solitary litters over the first 6 weeks after birth. Kittens in communal litters also left the nest approximately 10 days earlier than kittens in solitary litters. After testing overall litter size with the number of nests occupied, the data showed little evidence that fouling of nests through an accumulation of elimination products, ectoparasites and food waste was responsible for increased moves. A more likely explanation is that frequent nest moves are employed to maintain nest covertness in the presence of possible predators and infanticide by conspecifics. Multiple carers may be better able to move nests efficiently and are therefore freed from the physical constraints affecting solitary mothers. Nest disturbance by several conspecific carers may be part of the explanation for nest moves, but probably does not account for the differences seen.