Study of 106 Cats Finds Most Allogrooming Targets Head and Neck, with 20% on Ears

The Independent reported that Morgane Van Belle, a researcher at Ghent University in Belgium, analyzed videos of 106 cats to examine allogrooming behavior. The study reviewed four behavioral groups: communication and interaction, postures and movements, ear positions, and tail movements.

Twenty percent of allogrooming occurred on the ears, prompting the recipient cats to rotate their ears backwards.

Eighty-seven percent of the grooming took place on the head and neck. Video footage came from 53 households and included 64 male and 42 female cats. Cats leaned over one another during grooming sessions.

The cat being groomed turned its ears backwards, shook its head, and in some cases bit. Signs of cooperative interaction appeared in 13 out of 53 pairs. Van Belle stated that cat research is about 20 years behind dog research and that cats use subtle methods to resolve conflict.

She added that the animals could instead walk over and swat another cat to obtain a blanket or sunny spot. The researcher said the observations showed cats resolve conflict in an elegant manner. Van Belle was prompted to conduct the work after observing her own two cats compete over a sunny spot.

The study contradicted earlier research that suggested grooming carries malicious intent and was published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science Journal.