There is a 2013 study on this topic which concluded that domestic cats living in multi-cat homes are not more stressed because of their living arrangements. There may be some stressed cats in the group but the added stress is not in general caused by the fact that the cats are in a multi-cat home.

The multi-cat home. Montage: PoC. Pictures: public domain.

“GCM [fecal glucocortoid metabolites] did not significantly vary as a function of living style (single, double or group housing); highly stressed individuals were equally likely in the three groups…”

In fact younger cats in multi-cat homes had a lower stress levels on the basis of GCM. Cats who tolerated rather than liked petting tended to have higher GCM levels i.e. were more stressed. The topic of whether domestic cats like being petted is an interesting one. Not all cats do like it and cat owners should be aware of this.

Cats demand personal space like people

The study concluded that factors other than living in a multi-cat household play a role in creating stress such as the relationship with the people in the home and availability of resources such as food. This is a reference to the possibility of one cat bullying another over food and access to the litter tray. Also a failure to provide hiding places for timid cats can heighten stress levels in those cats.

The study was conducted because there is this grey area on how the essentially solitary domestic cat has evolved to become a rather sociable animal. There are many signs that the domestic cat does not behave like their wild cat ancestor such as mutual grooming and close, mutually supportive friendships being formed.

The study: Are cats (Felis catus) from multi-cat households more stressed? Evidence from assessment of fecal glucocorticoid metabolite analysis. Department of Medical Clinics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo [link].

SOME MORE ON STRESS….

Cat peeing because of new dog, new cat, or new baby

There are two clear, major possible reasons why a domestic cat might be peeing because there is either a new ...
Read More

Do overweight cats breathe faster?

An overweight cat might breathe faster because (1) they are overheating which is more likely if they are obese and ...
Read More

Dry cat food which calms cats

There is one, perhaps only one, dry cat food designed to calm down the cat who eats it. It is ...
Read More

Can stress cause anorexia in cats?

Stress can cause a cat to lose her appetite and if this happens the owner should do some detective work ...
Read More

Bald female tiger at Waccatee Zoo, USA in urgent need of help

This really is a very distressing story. It hurts to read about it. It makes me sick to the stomach ...
Read More

Why does my cat bite his tail?

Here's the deal: we really don't know why cats bite their tails in genuine anger and not in play. Cats ...
Read More

Ragdoll peeing by the front door. What can I do?

This is the current problem as described by Donna Fraser on Facebook (I have shortened her post a little to ...
Read More

How to get rid of the smell of cat pee from carpet?

It is relatively straightfoward nowadays to get rid of the smell of cat pee from carpet and underlay. Of course, ...
Read More

Veterinary clinics should have custom-made cat and dog music playing in the background

I'll focus on cats. Custom-made calming cat music played in veterinary clinics before and during their interaction with the veterinarian ...
Read More

Cat losing fur on tail

The first question is to ask if the cat is losing fur only on the tail or also on other ...
Read More