Being sensitive to the connection that cats have to their home range

by Michael Broad · July 16, 2021

This is a video which shows us how a workplace employee (or business owner, not sure which) was delightfully sensitive to the connection that a stray cat had to his ‘home range’. All species of cat have a home range, which is the place they consider their home and which varies tremendously in size depending on the species. For stray cats it might be 5 acres and for snow leopards it might be 500 square kilometres! There are some articles on the home range at the base of the page.

‘It is like he wanted our help’. Paul a stray cat makes friends with workers at an outside facility and makes it his home with human cooperation. Screenshot.

A stray cat that they named Paul hovered around this workplace which is largely outside. It looks semi-industrial. An ideal place for a stray to make a home.

The employee become connected to the cat. They made friends and a deep bond was created as you can tell from the video. This is a really nice bloke. He is very sensitive to Paul’s needs. Even to the point where he lets Paul retain his workplace as his home. He wanted to take him to his home but he felt that Paul was unhappy there so he took him back and made a little den for him.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Comment: the reason why Paul was out of sorts at this guy’s home was because he was wrenched from his home range. He would have got used to his new home range – the man’s home – in due course. There is an argument that it might have been better if he persisted until Paul had settled in his new place.

But it worked out well because the workers love Paul to be around, brightening up the workplace as cats (or dogs) always do. They invariably add to the ambience of a workplace. You see it all the time. Companion animals in workplaces make people smile. The workers are happier and they work better. Paul is basically a working cat as he cheers up the employees. The Apple corporation allows dogs into a part of the mega-office block. The realise their value to productivity.

The moral that we take from Paul’s story is to be sensitive to a cat’s needs by respecting the cat. We don’t force our will on domestic and feral cats. We respect their desires and what motivates them and work these into our lives. It is the only way to humanely and decently interact with cats and indeed any companion animal.

There is a rather extreme argument that states that when a cat owner moves home, they should allow the purchaser of their home to adopt their cat! In this way the cat remains in his ‘home’ – home range. The problem is that they’ll have to get used to a new human companion. What’s worse for the cat: a new home range or new companion?

SOME MORE ON THE HOME RANGE: