Territoriality

In the wild cats are territorial. The male stakes out a territory as his food source. He will also protect the area for his female and his kittens. A male may even attack and kill young kittens sired by another male to eliminate competition.

Cats mark their territory by spraying concentrated urine. While usually associated with tomcats, whole females and some neutered males will exhibit spraying behavior. A cat will remark its territory if the previous scent markers have been washed away by weather or cleaning. The usual reason for a previously clean cat to begin urine marking indoors is a reaction to stress. Commonly the introduction of a new cat to the household will upset a cat. Feeling threatened or stressed by the presence of the strange cat, the resident feline will mark the home as 'his'.

 
The cat has glands that secrete scents in several areas of its body but especially concentrated around the sides and back of the head. When a cat rubs its head along your legs, it is marking you - sending a message that you belong to it. Similarly the cat will rub on furniture in the home. The outdoor cat will rub against walls, fences, bushes and trees.

Marking trees with its claws is another message a cat leaves to be interpreted by other felines.The higher the marks, the larger and more dominant the cat that made the marks, so a cat scratches as far up as it can when scratching on a tree. When the cat digs its it claws into the tree, it also leaves a scent message from glands between the paw pads.