Preventing resource competition and chronic stress in multi-cat households through environmental management.
Multi-cat resource management addresses one of the most pervasive and underrecognized chronic welfare problems in companion animal care. The social stress of resource competition in multi-cat households is silent but measurable in stress hormones, immune function, and health outcomes. The management solutions are well-evidenced and largely straightforward - more resources in more locations, more vertical space, individual feeding management - but require owner investment in environmental modification. The threshold for seeking professional behavioral assessment should be low when resource competition leads to overt aggression or apparent anxiety in individual cats whose quality of life is being compromised.