@inproceedings{01J9P7NE93252MARZN990MSE5Q,
  abstract     = {{In domestic cats, allogrooming is a cooperative activity which strengthens social bonds (Bradshaw, 2016). However, Van den Bos (1998) questioned the friendly nature of the behaviour and suggested it is used to defuse aggression. 

The first step to unravel the function of allogrooming is to understand which behaviours it is associated with. We performed an observational study in multicat households, using a citizen science approach (Van Belle et al., 2024) to collect 53 home videos of 106 cats. Behavioural observations with ethogram were conducted by two observers independently (MVB and NGK). Allogrooming is associated with paw movements and bites (121 occurrences, 30/53 videos), oral behaviour (e.g. nose licking) (114 occurrences, 38/53 videos), and sniffing (95 occurrences, 30/53 videos). Cats initiating the interaction demonstrate more allogrooming (115 vs 48 occurrences) and sniffing (64 vs 31 occurrences), while the receiving cats show more instances of physical contact seeking (44 vs 29 occurrences) and vocalisations (18 vs 1 occurrence). Allogrooming was mostly directed towards the head-neck region (142/214 occurrences, 66.4%). Our results suggest a role for allogrooming in playful, agonistic, or intermediate interactions (Gajdoš-Kmecová et al., 2023), given its association with behaviours such as pawing or biting, and the focus on the cranial body region for directing grooming. Furthermore, the regular occurrence of vocalisations and potential displacement behaviours such as oral behaviour might signify tension in cats during close-contact interactions. 

Allogrooming thus has a complex function in feline social dynamics, which will be further explored using sequential analysis and presented at the conference.}},
  author       = {{Van Belle, Morgane and Moons, Christel and Mills, Daniel and Broeckx, Bart and Tuyttens, Frank and De Keuster, Tiny and Gajdoš Kmecová, Noema}},
  booktitle    = {{European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 6th annual meeting, Abstracts}},
  keywords     = {{domestic cat,social behaviour,allogrooming,communication}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Paris, France}},
  pages        = {{71--71}},
  title        = {{Unravelling feline social dynamics : a video-based observational study on allogrooming in domestic cats}},
  url          = {{https://evcbmaw.org/}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}