1
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,280
Horizon recently revealed
the secret life of cats.

2
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,640
50 cats in a Surrey village
were tracked for a week.

3
00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:15,800
Have you seen this one?
It's quite exciting.

4
00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:20,640
The experiment cast new light
on how they hunt, how they fight,

5
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:22,280
and how they live together.

6
00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,440
This film will focus on
the surprising stories

7
00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:30,600
of four of the cats.

8
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,520
Orlando, the hunter.

9
00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,520
It's bunny season. He will go on
a bunny-killing spree.

10
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,040
Obi, the runaway.

11
00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,080
I think cats do choose their owners,
yes.

12
00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,680
Hermes, the top cat.

13
00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:50,280
Ha! He's everywhere!

14
00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,760
And a fourth cat with no name.

15
00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,240
The cat that no-one seems to know.

16
00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,280
That's not Toby.

17
00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,720
One village, one week, four cats.

18
00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,000
Their diaries help us understand

19
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,240
the relationship
we have with our cats...

20
00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,280
and shed light on what your cat
really thinks about you.

21
00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:20,560
Tobes... He's purring.

22
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,600
TOBY PURRS

23
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,200
For one week this spring,
Horizon transformed

24
00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,120
the village of Shamley Green
into a giant laboratory.

25
00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,600
A unique experiment was carried out
with the Royal Veterinary College,

26
00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,320
in which 50 cats were fitted with
GPS collars

27
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,000
to track their every move.

28
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:52,800
That's nice. Excellent.

29
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,520
And some were given cameras
that would record

30
00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,560
their cat's-eye view of the world.

31
00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,120
The first of our cats is Orlando.

32
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,440
He may look like
any old pampered pussycat,

33
00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,520
but over the course of the week,

34
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:22,920
we discovered
where his real talents lie.

35
00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,440
Orlando is a very keen hunter.

36
00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:31,480
He much prefers wild food
to cat food.

37
00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,840
It's bunny season.
He will go on a bunny-killing spree.

38
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,800
Every other day
he fills up on bunnies.

39
00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:51,160
That keeps him going for a while.

40
00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:56,720
And it isn't just rabbits
that Orlando's partial to.

41
00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,720
He'll happily eat almost anything
he can catch.

42
00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,240
We actually have trained the cats
to keep away from the bird feeder.

43
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,480
When we first moved to our house
three years ago,

44
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:11,920
they just literally picked them off
the bird feeder

45
00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:13,440
like sweeties, day after day.

46
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,040
As cousins of tigers, leopards
and other large hunting cats,

47
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,680
it isn't surprising
that some of our pet cats

48
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:23,480
barely need us to feed them.

49
00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,760
As part of the experiment,
cat owners in the village

50
00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,400
have kept some of the prey
that their pets brought home.

51
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,480
CAT MEWS

52
00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,160
He walked in very nonchalantly,
looking very satisfied.

53
00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,680
So I went out
and had a look in his feeding place,

54
00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,600
and found...
All that was left was one eyeball.

55
00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,120
With four rabbits brought in
during the week,

56
00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,400
Orlando seems to be the village's
most successful hunter.

57
00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,880
This is just Orlando. His owner,
Emily, has come to the village hall.

58
00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,560
It's been temporarily taken over
by scientists who are analysing

59
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,200
the information streaming in
from the GPS traces and cat-cams.

60
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,040
So, he's been down
to your neighbour's. Yes.

61
00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,680
And he kind of hangs around here,
round the back of her house.

62
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,000
I don't know what there is there,
we haven't looked.

63
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,160
That's their house there. I think
there's a lot of rabbits down there,

64
00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:22,800
from when I've been to their house.

65
00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,440
It is a bit like having the takeaway
two doors down.

66
00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,600
He certainly brought a lot back.
Oh, he eats them.

67
00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,960
He doesn't eat cat food, basically.
He's a big hunter.

68
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,560
So he's our champion,
as you might have imagined.

69
00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,360
He loves, he just loves rabbits.

70
00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,320
There was one day just before
you came, he caught three in one day.

71
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,600
He ate the first one, the third one,
and the second one was a present.

72
00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,120
Orlando's cat-cam footage
suggests his favourite meal

73
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:52,840
doesn't always agree with him.

74
00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:55,080
This is our YouTube moment.

75
00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,120
Brace yourselves for this bit.

76
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:02,720
SHE LAUGHS

77
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,120
Urgh! He's being sick!
On our neighbours' garden!

78
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,760
What happens to cats
when they eat rabbit guts,

79
00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,320
doesn't always agree with them.

80
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:14,200
Cats are the most common carnivores
in Britain.

81
00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,920
They bring home tens of millions
of prey animals every year.

82
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,120
Though some cats survive
exclusively on pet food,

83
00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,920
many hunt all sorts of mammals,
amphibians,

84
00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:28,040
reptiles, birds and fish.

85
00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,480
As the experiment continues,
something unexpected has turned up.

86
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,000
A friend in Sweetwater Close
has seen him.

87
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,600
I say he, he looks like a boy cat.
Looks like a very tough cat.

88
00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,480
About a month ago, I reckon,
we had a cat visiting the house.

89
00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,640
You get up every morning, you can
smell that a cat had sprayed.

90
00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:54,080
So we knew we'd had somebody in.

91
00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:57,840
There's a big fluffy
black and white cat

92
00:05:57,840 --> 00:05:59,840
that I've seen on a few occasions,

93
00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:02,880
comes in through the cat flap,
has a big fight with our cats.

94
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:06,520
We started blocking up the
cat flap.

95
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,440
It just pushed everything
out of the way and came in.

96
00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,400
We seem to have quite
a lot of trouble with spraying

97
00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:17,320
and other unpleasant things. So our
cat's not terribly pleased about it.

98
00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,480
The question is, whose cat is this?

99
00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:24,060
Or is it a stray?

100
00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:29,520
If this is one of Britain's
2 million strays,

101
00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,360
it could be bringing all manner
of problems to Shamley Green.

102
00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,760
Oh, come on,
you're not frightened of me.

103
00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,800
The team are visiting Paulina
and her cat Toby

104
00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,640
to try and find out more about
the mystery cat.

105
00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:53,760
Hi, Paulina. Hi, Alex, how are you?

106
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:55,880
I'm all right, how are you? Fine.

107
00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,600
Good. I heard you had an intruder
last night? I did.

108
00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,560
I'd like to find out what it was.

109
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:02,200
Came in...

110
00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:04,080
scrabble, scrabble, scrabble.

111
00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:08,560
Cat rushed out of the sitting room,
out through the cat door.

112
00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,480
Toby went after him
but didn't go through the cat door.

113
00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:14,360
It all happened so quickly, I didn't
really get a chance... No worries.

114
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:16,680
We'll rig this up in the living room
and see

115
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,360
if we might be able to see
what he was doing.

116
00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:21,840
Alex is setting up
a series of cameras

117
00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,000
to try to get a glimpse of the cat.

118
00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,960
The camera works with a trigger
mechanism, so as soon as anything

119
00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:31,240
passes in front of it, it activates
and it records for 60 seconds.

120
00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,120
So we'll place it down
on the floor. OK.

121
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,760
And then see what kind of behaviour
we might be able to catch.

122
00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,360
Yeah, that's fine. Brilliant.

123
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,600
The next day, Paulina has come
to meet Dr Sarah Ellis

124
00:07:57,600 --> 00:07:59,840
to see if there is any news.

125
00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,800
OK, Paulina. So we think we've
spotted an intruder in your house.

126
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,760
So the footage we've got is
inside your house. Oh, right. Wow!

127
00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,120
At 3am, the camera is activated.

128
00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,160
And there's our culprit.
That's not Toby! Nope.

129
00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:22,600
When was this, last night? Yes. God!

130
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,320
It looks to me, they're a black
and white cat, definitely long hair.

131
00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,800
White paws. I don't recognise it.

132
00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,120
It's got quite distinctive
facial markings. It has, very.

133
00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,680
Well, that's definitely not
Obi next door.

134
00:08:38,680 --> 00:08:40,800
And it's definitely not Esme,
is it? No.

135
00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,240
But the mystery cat is doing more
than just turning up unannounced.

136
00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:51,280
There have been reports of fights
with other cats in the village.

137
00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,880
To try to restore peace, the team
have called in a pet detective.

138
00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:05,200
His mission is to find out
who the mystery cat belongs to

139
00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:06,560
or if it's a stray.

140
00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,120
If the intruder cat is definitely
a stray,

141
00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:15,720
there is a possibility

142
00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,760
it might be carrying a disease of
some sort, and that concerns us.

143
00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:22,560
Because if it's fighting with other
male cats in the village

144
00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:24,440
and mating with the female cats,

145
00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,280
those diseases could be passed on
relatively quickly.

146
00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:31,080
So we need to establish a little bit
more information about it,

147
00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,960
and the impact it's having
on the other cats in the village.

148
00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,120
Hello! I've come to speak to you
about this cat. Yeah.

149
00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,840
What I'd like to do now is
to get more detail from you.

150
00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:45,960
You'll be surprised how much
you know.

151
00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,000
Your cat flap,
is it open at all times? It is.

152
00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,440
Whereabouts in the house was this
cat? In my sitting room.

153
00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,800
And do you think it was your return
to your house

154
00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:56,640
which caused this cat to flee? Yes.

155
00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,800
Have you been putting
more food down than normal? No.

156
00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,440
Did you see which direction
it went into? No.

157
00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,520
Finding out where the cat is coming
from and where it's going to

158
00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:11,200
is essential to finding out
whether or not it's a stray.

159
00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:16,000
Initially, I'd like to put a small
field camera into your garden.

160
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,320
To me, what I want to establish is,

161
00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,120
are you at the end of the route,
halfway along its route,

162
00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:24,760
is it going through a pattern
of behaviour every evening?

163
00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,200
Or are you getting a visit
simply because

164
00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,040
Toby's out of the way
and there's food in the house?

165
00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:36,280
As with all detective work,
the key is information.

166
00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,280
Colin is putting up posters
of the intruder cat

167
00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:42,400
to try and find out
if anyone owns it.

168
00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,360
As evening draws in, he sets up
some motion-activated cameras

169
00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,800
in and around the Thompsons' house
where the cat has also been spotted.

170
00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:58,040
We're just going to lay these out
on the floor overnight,

171
00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,680
with a view to seeing what footage
we get of this cat.

172
00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:07,000
Where the cat comes from
is still a mystery.

173
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,760
The GPS and cat-cams are giving
the cat owners of Shamley Green

174
00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,800
a fresh insight into
what their pets do

175
00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,120
once they pass through their cat
flap and leave their homes behind.

176
00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,720
That's certainly true
in the case of Hermes.

177
00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,000
Hermes is a real character.

178
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,360
He definitely has staff,
rather than family.

179
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:39,080
He expects us to wait on him
hand and foot.

180
00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,840
Alison has been on Hermes' staff
for the past four years.

181
00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,640
But until now she's never had a
complete picture of her cat's life.

182
00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:51,480
He keeps the dogs in line,
keeps the children in line as well.

183
00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:53,720
But other than that,
we don't know an awful lot.

184
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,840
It seems he's hardly ever in, and
when he's in, he's very cuddly.

185
00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,360
Then he turns around, eats
and goes back out again.

186
00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,840
Hermes is very protective
of his garden in terms of territory.

187
00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:10,840
I've seen him getting quite angry
with cats

188
00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:13,680
at the bottom of our garden,
trying to keep them at bay.

189
00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,840
I don't know how far beyond that
it goes.

190
00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,200
I'd be fascinated to see
what he gets up to,

191
00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,200
whether he just pops three doors up
and sits on somebody's lap

192
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:29,840
and gets pampered, or whether he goes
out and about and roams around.

193
00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,560
Predicting Hermes' behaviour
is particularly difficult

194
00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:37,800
because he is not actually a HE
at all.

195
00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:39,800
Hermes is quite an interesting cat

196
00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:41,880
because Hermes is actually
a hermaphrodite.

197
00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,120
Neither male nor female,
has organs of both.

198
00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,160
We can't make any predictions
based on gender

199
00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:48,960
what that ranging behaviour
would be.

200
00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,080
But what we seem to see is Hermes
doing laps.

201
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,520
These routine patrols.
A big patrol loop.

202
00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:03,920
GPS data and Hermes' cat-cam
show that his protective instincts

203
00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,840
extend way beyond his back garden.

204
00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,000
Hermie ranged further
than any other cat this week.

205
00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,040
And I can see he's going to
a lot of back gardens,

206
00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,440
he's crossing different roads.
Generally getting around.

207
00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,440
About six hectares,
or 15 acres, what he's ranging over.

208
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:23,520
And he's really going
a long way every night,

209
00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,720
covering a great deal of distance.

210
00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,320
When he's roaming in
around these streets and in and out

211
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,480
of the gardens and so on, he's
presumably looking for other cats.

212
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,960
Checking out the neighbourhood
in general.

213
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:38,960
CAT MEOWS

214
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,880
Some areas he seems to go to, like
here, he's going to quite regularly.

215
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,080
Almost on a daily basis.

216
00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,920
But other areas, perhaps he only
checks out once every few days,

217
00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,920
just to see whether the local cat
activity has changed or not.

218
00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,480
It's time for Hermes' owners to find
out what he's really been up to.

219
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,920
That's definitely active. Crikey!

220
00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,600
He's everywhere! Oh, my word.

221
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:13,240
So as you can see, he's covering
quite a lot of ground. He is, yeah.

222
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,680
In fact
if you're adding all that together,

223
00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,640
he is our roamer of the week. Wow!

224
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:20,400
He's gone further than
any other cat,

225
00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,240
and that includes the cats
that we've been following

226
00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,680
right out in the outlying areas,
which you would think have

227
00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,960
plenty of space to roam around in,
they'd be all over the place. Yeah.

228
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,000
In fact, most of those have
stuck close to home

229
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,160
and Hermes has taken the prize.

230
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,240
It surprises me.
There's a lot of cats in our street,

231
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,960
you'd have thought
there'd be a reasonable amount

232
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:40,320
of territory battle.

233
00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:42,440
Yeah, he doesn't seem to be
restricted at all

234
00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:43,560
by that kind of thing.

235
00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:46,560
There are other cats moving around
in these areas,

236
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:50,640
pretty much at the same time he is.
He just doesn't seem to be bothered.

237
00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:52,640
So he's a very confident cat.

238
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,080
As roamer of the week,

239
00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:57,320
the result suggests
it's Hermes who's in charge.

240
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,200
He doesn't seem to be affected
by anybody else's territory,

241
00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:06,080
so yeah, he's...pretty cool, really,
apparently! Which is always nice.

242
00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:09,120
This is like going to
parents' evening for your children.

243
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:10,640
But for your cat.

244
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:12,960
He's obviously a little dude
enjoying himself,

245
00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:14,440
which is nice. Hermes, top cat!

246
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,280
The team have found the village's
top hunter and top roamer.

247
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:29,000
But there's still one cat
that's proving elusive.

248
00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,920
A few days ago, motion-sensitive
cameras were placed in and around

249
00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,480
the Thompsons' house to look for
signs of the intruder cat.

250
00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:42,840
They've got some results.

251
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:44,280
They've had an intruder.

252
00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,480
And we're really interested to see
if that intruder is the same intruder

253
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,160
that's been in
Paulina and Toby's house.

254
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,240
So he's definitely long-haired, as
was the intruder to Paulina's house.

255
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,320
And it's definitely the same cat.
Without a doubt.

256
00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:00,160
He's got quite a distinct
marking on his back inside leg,

257
00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,880
he's got a white flash,
you can just see it there.

258
00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,160
Oh, and he's going to spray.

259
00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,120
He's just urine sprayed
at the exit to the house.

260
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,200
This is suggestive that he may be
trying to claim this area as his own.

261
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,400
Cats tend to mark at
the entry/exit points,

262
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,120
at the boundary of what
they consider their own territory.

263
00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:23,280
That's really interesting,

264
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,840
this could be
a bit of a territorial dispute.

265
00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:31,400
Most cats that spray
are un-neutered tomcats.

266
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,040
As over 80% of pet cats
are neutered,

267
00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,760
the intruder here is very likely
to be a stray.

268
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,480
Not something that the Thompsons
would welcome.

269
00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:48,240
The Thompsons have two cats,
Harry and Midge. So this is Midge.

270
00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:51,880
She's definitely smelling
some of that area.

271
00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:55,000
And she's off out.

272
00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,880
But it may be related to the fact
that she's had

273
00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,680
an intruder in her home
who's scent-marking her home,

274
00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,680
and that can cause tension for cats
within their own home.

275
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:12,800
A visit to the Thompson family
uncovers some worrying news.

276
00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:14,840
Midge hasn't returned.

277
00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:16,720
How long has Midgy been missing?

278
00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:21,960
So, last seen Saturday evening.
So it's now Monday evening.

279
00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:24,000
So 48 hours.

280
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,680
Tell me about this visitor that
you've been having, this other cat?

281
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:33,200
When do you think he first
turned up? Five, six weeks ago.

282
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:38,680
OK. And what does it look like?
Big, fluffy, black and white.

283
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,040
Mum says that it really smells.

284
00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,120
Where we start now is by putting in
field cameras,

285
00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:49,000
so we can literally map its route
into the garden, where it goes.

286
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,640
And then the final stage is,
we'll introduce a cat trap,

287
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,920
which is a humane cage.
We put food into the cage,

288
00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,520
and we encourage the cat
to go into the cage.

289
00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:03,640
We have a facility within our office
to watch that video footage.

290
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,520
We will know when the cat's gone in.

291
00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,280
And we might give you a quick call
and, say, just check. Fantastic.

292
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,360
Midge appears to have been rattled
by the intruder.

293
00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:20,040
The question is whether or not
his family will be enough

294
00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:21,400
to lure him home.

295
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,120
Obi? Obi?

296
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,440
From the look of Obi's relationship
with Nina, you might think

297
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,080
they've been together ever since
he was a newborn kitten,

298
00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:35,280
over 10 years ago.

299
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:39,760
Actually, he's a runaway.

300
00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,440
I first noticed Obi eating bird food
in our garden.

301
00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,560
This was about three years ago.

302
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,720
And I started feeding him,
I probably shouldn't have.

303
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:55,320
But I felt quite sorry for him,
because he appeared to be hungry.

304
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,040
And then he just kept coming back.

305
00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:04,160
And I thought he was a stray, but
then I realised he had a collar on.

306
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,920
I then discovered that
he came from across the road.

307
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:11,320
After 10 years of living
across the road,

308
00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:14,720
Obi had started to become
less comfortable.

309
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,480
As he got older,
he wasn't a big fan of the children.

310
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,760
And there were four kids
running around.

311
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:22,440
And then obviously we got Amber,

312
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,280
and that was the last straw,
I think, for him.

313
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,320
He came in the gate one day,
saw the dog and the dog saw him,

314
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,320
and they sort of looked at
each other

315
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,440
and the dog went to go for him
and he just legged it,

316
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,400
and that was about it. There was
nothing I could really do about it.

317
00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:36,480
I had to just let him go.

318
00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:43,360
Some days, he literally is here
on that bed all day long.

319
00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:45,200
Life of Riley, isn't it?

320
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,880
I think cats do choose their owners,
yes, I do.

321
00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,240
We have a very quiet household.

322
00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,920
Just my partner and myself,
whereas Laura's was very noisy.

323
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:04,000
So, on reflection, maybe that's why
he came and stayed.

324
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,960
Obi's GPS data from the previous
night suggest that

325
00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,880
since he moved,
he's never looked back.

326
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,040
So, this is Obi, who has moved to
this house quite recently

327
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,480
from another house
of his own accord.

328
00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:18,680
I think it was
around this area here,

329
00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:21,760
so he is almost avoiding
that area completely. Yeah.

330
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,000
It's interesting that he's not
going back to where

331
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,000
he lived at all, there's no
attempts to go back in that area,

332
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,480
because he's not moved far, has he?

333
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:33,520
It is rather unusual, but if cats
find themselves in a household where

334
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:38,160
there is stuff that they can't deal
with, they do move spontaneously.

335
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:39,200
It's quite common.

336
00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,320
I was really upset.
Really, really upset.

337
00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:47,040
I was also angry at him
for a little bit as well,

338
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:51,160
because I thought, that's ten years
and he was a part of the family,

339
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,720
he was like one of my children.

340
00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,360
And seeing him now, I look
out the kitchen window and I see him

341
00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:00,760
over the road, following her around,
it is a bit upsetting.

342
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:05,080
But, you know, they're happy
together, so I'm glad he's happy.

343
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:13,080
Now, Obi has a new home
and a new owner...

344
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:15,360
...but is it for life?

345
00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:22,480
I think he's attached to me
and to my partner as well.

346
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,880
It all may be cupboard love.
I don't know!

347
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,880
But, yes, we do love him.

348
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:39,320
There's no doubt how we feel
about our cats,

349
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,120
but how attached are our cats to us?

350
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:44,600
Erm...

351
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,520
..probably quite attached
as long as I feed him.

352
00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,160
It's more than that.
They come because they want company,

353
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,800
they want to have that interaction,
they want to be stroked,

354
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:57,640
they want to be spoken to.

355
00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,440
He'll come up to me and like,
nuzzle against me

356
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:02,280
like he wants to be stroked.

357
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,720
He doesn't really do that with
Joel. No, or Dad. Or Dad.

358
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,600
Every cat owner wonders just how
much their cat loves them back.

359
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,600
Professor Daniel Mills
of the University of Lincoln

360
00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,200
is studying how attached
cats are to their owners.

361
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,280
We were interested in how do you
actually characterise

362
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:27,880
the relationship between a cat
and the owner?

363
00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:32,040
Owners invest a lot emotionally
in the cat relationship.

364
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:33,640
It doesn't mean the cat's investing

365
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:35,640
in the same sort
of emotional relationship.

366
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,320
So our research was really
aimed at trying to look to see

367
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,920
whether or not cats are making
that emotional commitment.

368
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,680
This is the strange situation room.
There's your chair.

369
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,040
Here are the toys.
You can set the baby...

370
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,120
Daniel's team adapted a famous
psychology experiment

371
00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:55,120
from the 1970s

372
00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,120
that was originally devised
to study the attachment

373
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,800
between parent and child.

374
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,800
'With mother as a secure base,
a child has confidence to go

375
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,160
'exploring into the furthest
corner of the room.'

376
00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:12,720
SCIENTIST: Time for stranger.

377
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,320
A stranger is
introduced into the room.

378
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,480
'The child doesn't know how to take
the stranger.

379
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:24,720
'He's going to mother.'

380
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,200
In the next part of the experiment,
the mother leaves

381
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:30,960
when the child is not looking.

382
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:39,720
The revelation of the experiment
was the reunion.

383
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,720
'The child shows nothing
but a dramatic desire to get

384
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,480
'to mother as quickly as possible
and cling.'

385
00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:50,360
Psychologists concluded that this
pattern of behaviour meant

386
00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:53,080
the child has a strong
attachment to its parent.

387
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:59,960
Daniel's team have reproduced
the experiment with dogs.

388
00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:04,360
While the dog is distracted,
the owner leaves.

389
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,720
This labrador cannot bear
to part from his owner.

390
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:19,480
Now comes the reunion.

391
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:29,240
It's just as enthusiastic as the one
between the child and his mother.

392
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,040
In the case of dogs
and in the case of children,

393
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,800
the attachment actually means
they see the individual as a source

394
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,920
of comfort, something that provides
joy and also a source of safety.

395
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:50,480
Daniel and his team then tried out
the experiment with cats.

396
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:55,640
They're about to find out how
attached this cat is to her owner.

397
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,880
So, the cat's been let out
of the basket and the owner

398
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:03,080
and the stranger are being asked
just to ignore the cat.

399
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,720
If the cat has this secure attachment
in the same way as children

400
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,400
and dogs do, then actually the cat
would tend to use

401
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,040
the owner as a point of reference
to explore the environment,

402
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,520
so they might go out and away
from them, but keep coming back.

403
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:21,360
In this case, the cat is interacting
a lot with the stranger.

404
00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:24,440
It suggests the cat is not
actually using the owner

405
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,520
as the point of reference.
It's making its own decisions.

406
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,480
The owner leaves
when the cat is distracted.

407
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,520
But what will happen
when the owner returns?

408
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,240
The cat is unmoved.

409
00:25:57,960 --> 00:25:59,520
What our research shows

410
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:03,600
so far is that the relationship
between a cat and an owner is not

411
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:05,240
what would be described

412
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,280
as a secure attachment-style
relationship.

413
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,920
Certainly owners believe that their
cats are very affectionate

414
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,800
towards them, but we are starting to
think the cat views the owner

415
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,040
more as the provider of resources
than of safety,

416
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,680
which is the key feature
of a secure attachment.

417
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,120
Daniel and his team have
studied 20 cats.

418
00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:31,200
Though they haven't yet completed
their analysis, the evidence

419
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:36,080
suggests that cats may not need us
as much as we'd like to believe.

420
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:38,120
Clearly, cat owners love cats.

421
00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:40,760
It's difficult to say
whether or not cats love back!

422
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,760
Back in Shamley Green, Colin has
concluded his investigation

423
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,440
into the intruder cat.
We're done here.

424
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,160
He's visiting Paulina
to share his results.

425
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,040
We've got lots of information

426
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,840
and we are certain that he
doesn't have an owner.

427
00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:05,560
And what we believe is, he is
coming in here three or four times

428
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:10,440
a day and sometimes he stays here,
maybe three or four hours at a time.

429
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,080
Good God! Have you seen any
interaction with him and Toby,

430
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,920
my cat? We've got footage
of the two cats together

431
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,800
and they seem to be acknowledging
each other, so it's almost as if

432
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,240
he's going off looking for trouble
elsewhere and then he comes back.

433
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,520
Gosh! What we would normally do
now is trap him,

434
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,800
get him to a vet's
and get him checked over.

435
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,400
He will be neutered,
so the best thing for him would be

436
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,440
to be re-released,
little bit less aggressive,

437
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,160
healthy and leading a normal life,
but obviously nobody would own him.

438
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:47,160
Just supposing I said that
I might try to adopt him,

439
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,440
how would we do that?

440
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,040
Erm, really all that would happen
there is,

441
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,520
instead of releasing him outside,

442
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,760
I would recommend that you keep him
indoors for a couple of weeks, so he

443
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,440
gets used to this as his home and
then give him a run of the garden.

444
00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,240
I think you'll find
that you will have...

445
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,160
Suddenly, he'll be here
all the time.

446
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,680
Yes, I should think he is anyway,
but you don't know about it!

447
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,600
Oh, gosh! He's already adopted you.

448
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,960
You're just making
the decision after him!

449
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:15,640
It isn't only Toby and Paulina

450
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,080
that have made their peace
with the newcomer.

451
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:21,320
Midge has also returned.

452
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,440
It's clear that people love cats.

453
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,480
But what the diaries of our four
cats in Shamley Green suggest

454
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,160
is that though we may think
they need us,

455
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,720
it's the cats
who are really in charge!

456
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,600
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd