I think this is quite a complicated question and I’ll try and tell you why. I’m mainly thinking of the full-time indoor cat scenario where there might be half a dozen cats living in the owner’s home. From the cats’ perspective, the house will be divided up into six ‘home ranges’ which overlap in a technical sense. Each domestic cat needs their own space which for them is their “home range”. It’ll be tiny compared to what it would normally be if they were allowed outside unsupervised.
Tenure of cat home range in multi-cat home
But domestic cats adapt although the issue of home range and how cats can defend it is a source of stress within the multi-cat home. And stress can result in agonistic behaviour between certain individual cats. You’ll find more of this aggressive behaviour in multi-cat homes than you would in a home where there might be two cats who get along.
In short, multi-cat homes are a source of potential aggression. And this is where the large, solid cat scratching post comes into the discussion. Domestic cats like to mark their territory on a cat scratching post. Yes, they also scratched the post to slough off the outer cuticle of the claw to reveal a fresh sharp one underneath but they also scratched a post to mark territory by depositing their scent from their paw pads onto the post. The scratching post brings many benefits to the cat.
And cats deposit this body odour onto the scratching post to tell other cats that this is their home range. But if multiple cats scratch the same post that objective is completely wiped out. It’ll be a constant struggle to try and dominate with no end to the process and no success as I understand it.
One scratching post per cat which is well positioned
It may be useful, therefore, if there is one scratching post her cat in a multi-cat home. Each scratching posts occupies a certain area in the home which each cat regards as their own. The cat can then use the post to signal to others though scent deposit that this is their space.
It may be a way of dividing up the home into certain regions with each region ‘belonging’ to one of the cats. It may not work out as cleanly as that partly because there will be a lot of overlap in the home ranges.
In fact, they may merge so much that it is impossible to distinguish each home range.
Each cat has their place
I live with one cat and don’t have any personal experience of living in a multi-cat home. However, it’s probably fair to say that each cat in such a home finds their space and occupies it. It may be a cat bed in the corner of a room or the top of a cat tree in the bedroom. Something like that. These cats have found a space of their own and the other cats probably respect it and leave them alone.
Perhaps, if you go along with the idea of one cat scratching post per cat in a multi-cat home, the post should be placed in the space I mention above.
This is a short post because I feel that I have answered the question in the title and don’t want to waffle and pad out the article. I can’t see the point of that.
