We’ve all heard stories about cats getting lost and then finding their way home across hundreds of miles. The latest one is Rainbow, who escaped during a camping trip to Yellowstone. His family searched for days before reluctantly returning to their home in Salinas, CA without him. While Rainbow didn’t make it all the way home on his own — he was found and ID’d by his microchip in Roseville, CA, about 200 miles from Salinas — he had traveled 800 miles in the right direction.
What is behind this kind of amazing homing instinct? And if your cat got lost on a road trip, or during a natural disaster, would they know how to come home?
The truth is, no one knows for sure how the feline homing instinct functions. For all the studies that have been done about cats, almost none have been done about this. The most significant one was in Germany, back in 1954. Two researchers placed cats in a circular maze with 6 exits. The cats with homes within a distance of 3.1 miles found the exit in the direction of their homes 60 percent of the time.
While the mystery persists, there are several reasons why cats may know how to find their way home.
Cats are very territorial creatures.
Many cats are attached to their home ground, maybe even more than their humans, and they instinctively gravitate to it. Many of the stories of cats returning home involve them repeatedly returning to their old home after a move.
Cats can use the earth’s geomagnetic fields to help with their sense of direction.
This would make sense, since many other animal species use this to find their way around. Sadly, this instinct has been lost in humans.
Cats are extremely observant creatures.
Sounds, smells, the direction of the sun, landmarks — they take note of all these. Even in a carrier in car, cats are aware of some homing signals.
Here’s an example. When we’ve been on a trip to a cat show, and my human gets near our home, I act differently. I relax in the carrier and stop complaining, if I’ve been fussing. And sometimes on errands or therapy cat visits, she lets me out of the carrier for the last couple of blocks as a treat. And I know all the streets surrounding my home. My favorite part is when she hits the garage door opener a little ways down from the house. Often I’ll stand on my hind legs and look out the window as we drive into the garage.
And of course, I know exactly where all the doors are that lead into my home. When I’m done being outside on my leash, I automatically head for one of them without having to be told.
Cats use their somatosensory system.
This is a complex part of the nervous system that processes all the information gathered from different areas of your body. It helps us perceive all our bodily sensations. And it helps you figure out how you fit spatially in your surroundings. This could help with the homing instinct.
Of course not all cats have a highly developed homing sense. If your cat has lived indoors all their life, they may become disoriented if they get out and wind up lost. So make sure your cat is microchipped, and keep their info current. Rainbow had lost much of his body weight and would not have made those last 200 miles if he hadn’t been chipped.
Also make sure your cat is happy at home with these tips to ensure they don’t want to wander or run away.
- Enjoy daily playtime routines with your cat.
- Create vertical space with cat trees or shelving to broaden your cat’s interior territory.
- Give them good window views of the outside with perches or furniture.
- If they’re so inclined, and you have the patience, harness and leash train them so they learn the area surrounding your home.
- And spay and neuter your cat. This should be a non-negotiable.
I hope your stays safe at home and never gets lost!
Have you ever had a cat display their homing instinct? Or know of one? Let’s discuss in the comments.
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