Cats are fundamentally solitary territorial animals whose welfare in multi-cat households depends entirely on resource provision and spatial management that most owners underestimate.
Multi-cat household welfare suffers from owner underestimation of the social stress that cats experience when forced to share territory. The social structures that make group living natural for dogs do not translate to cats, whose wild ancestors are primarily solitary. Cats can form social bonds and live happily in pairs or small groups with compatible individuals, but this compatibility cannot be assumed and must be managed. The chronic low-level stress of resource competition, territory guarding, and unavoidable social contact with incompatible housemates accumulates into welfare harm that may not manifest as obvious aggression but shows in stress-related health problems including feline idiopathic cystitis, over-grooming, and reduced social interaction. Resource provision that eliminates competition and spatial design that allows cats to avoid each other when they choose are the practical foundations of multi-cat welfare.