Comparison of Locomotor and Feeding Rhythms between Indoor and Outdoor Cats Living in Captivity

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Domestic cats are adaptable to various housing conditions, from living in apartments to roaming through hectares of nature. Yet, few studies have been able to determine how the environment they live in affects their daily activity and feeding patterns. To better understand this impact, we used advanced telemetry technologies to compare the daily rhythms of locomotor activity and the feeding of cats living in two housing conditions: an indoor room and a large outdoor enclosure receiving weather fluctuations. Both populations moved and ate more at twilight and when humans were present. Outdoor individuals covered more distance and consumed more food than the indoor ones. However, the indoor cats ate more frequently, were more impacted by human interactions and showed more rhythmic behaviours than outdoor cats, possibly because of fewer distractions. Besides, the outdoor cats were more active at night than the indoor cats, perhaps because their exploratory behaviour is promoted in such environments. This study demonstrates how, on one hand, twilight peaks make the cat still suitable for outdoor life, and on the other hand, integrating human proximity makes it tolerate indoor life. Such observations should be considered in cat housing procedures to better fit to their lifestyle. ABSTRACT: The plastic nature of cat behaviour allows this “friendly symbiont” of humans to adapt to various housing conditions. Beyond daylight, one could wonder if other environmental factors affect its patterns. Yet, how its activity and feeding rhythms are impacted by its environment is rarely studied in standardised conditions between populations. We compared the behaviour of cats living in a 29 m(2) indoor room and cats living in a 1145 m(2) outdoor enclosure, tracking them simultaneously in summer for 21 days, with advanced technologies. Both populations received daylight but weather fluctuations only occurred outdoors. Bimodality was detected in the activity and feeding rhythms of both groups, while twilight triggered crepuscular peaks. Daily, the outdoor population covered more distance (4.29 ± 0.27 km; p < 0.001) and consumed more food (67.44 ± 2.65 g; p < 0.05) than the indoor population (2.33 ± 0.17 km, 57.75 ± 2.85 g, respectively), but displayed less rhythmic behaviours, assumedly because of rhythm disruptors met only in outdoor conditions. Finally, outdoor housing seemed to promote the exploratory behaviour of the cats at night, while indoor housing increased both meal frequency (p = 0.063) and the impact of human interactions on the feeding rhythms of the cats.