Do domestic cats have a hierarchy?

Within a social group of domestic cats there may be a single dominant male or female but there is little ranking below this individual (Linda P Case in The Cat, It's Behavior & Health). And, group-living cats "lack distinct dominance hierarchies" (Irene Rochlitz in The Welfare of Cats). On these two counts, domestic cats do not have a hierarchy. This is incomplete opposition to the article about domestic cat hierarchal structures on the catster.com website where they say that there is such a structure. I believe that they are incorrect. I have never read about such a genuine hierarchal structure in multi-cat homes and within cat colonies.

Domestic cats don't have hierarchies. Image: Pixabay.

To be clear, a hierarchy is a system in which members of an organisation or society are ranked according to relative status and authority. One dominant individual does not create a hierarchy. And a dominant cat is one which is typically the most aggressive in a social group. The simple quality of aggressiveness does not necessarily mean that the cat is dominant within the context of a hierarchy. The top individual in a hierarchy controls the group such as access to resources, resting places and opportunities to make. This type of "resource guarding" is not seen in cat social groups.

The wolf has a hierarchal system and social rankings which are functional and in which they cooperate during hunting and protection of their territory but this does not apply to cat groups.

Further, cats living in groups do not have signals for reducing conflict and neither do they have mechanisms for reconciliation. Although domestic cats have become quite sociable through adaptation, they are not naturally adapted to living in close proximity to each other. In multi-cat homes cats don't have an option and therefore they adapt but it is argued that if they were able to, they would live further apart.

For the domestic cat, a discussion on hierarchal structures or their absence touches upon harmony in multi-cat households. Studies indicate that the reasons for the development of feline behavioural problems (such as avoidance-related behaviours) are due to their relationships with other cats and humans.

The fact that there are stresses and sometimes antagonism within multi-cat households between cats supports the analysis that domestic cats do not have hierarchal structures because these structures are meant to avoid such incidents.