Research overview: scent marking and the expression of territorial behaviour in captive cats

Cats communicate and organise their world through scent, marking with urine spray, facial rubbing, scratching and other signals, and the ability to perform and perceive these behaviours matters for welfare. This overview surveys how captivity affects felid scent behaviour: the welfare value of allowing animals to deposit and encounter their own marks, the disruptive effect of frequent cleaning that erases scent landmarks, and how scent from neighbours or other species can stress or stimulate. It examines marking as both a normal behaviour to be facilitated and, in domestic cats, a stress-related problem when driven by social tension. It discusses scratching posts and surfaces. The synthesis frames respecting and supporting cats' olfactory and marking behaviour as an underappreciated component of felid welfare.