Cat culture, human culture: An ethnographic study of a cat shelter

This study explores the value of traditional ethnographic methods in sociol ogy for the study of human-animal and animal-animal interactions and cultur e. It argues that some measure of human-animal intersubjectivity is possibl e and that the method of participant observation is best suited to achieve this. Applying ethnographic methods to human-cat and cat-cat relationships in a no-kill cat shelter, the study presents initial findings; it concludes that the social structure of the shelter is the product of interaction bot h between, humans and cats and cats and cats and that the observed structur e represents, to a large degree, choices made by the cats. The study also c oncludes that, within the cat community of the shelter a distinctive cat cu lture has emerged, which represents the cats' adaptation to the particular conditions of shelter life. Specifically, the shelter allows for the emerge nce of higher order needs and goals that stress affection, friendship, and social cohesion among the cats rather than territoriality and conflict. The study further argues that traditional animal researchers have mistaken the relative equality of cat colonies for a lack of social structure, as oppos ed to a different structure from that found in sharply ranked nonhuman anim al communities.