Ever found yourself staring at a bunch of neighborhood strays congregating under a streetlamp and wondered what the heck to call them? It's not a pack. It’s definitely not a herd.
Honestly, most people just say "a lot of cats." But if you want to get technical—and maybe a little bit pretentious at your next trivia night—there are specific terms that have been floating around the English language for centuries.
So, what is a group of cats called? The most common answer you’ll find in a dictionary is a clowder. It sounds dusty, right? Like something you’d find in the back of a Victorian closet. But that’s the "official" collective noun.
Where the Heck Did "Clowder" Come From?
Language is weird.
The word "clowder" is actually a phonetic evolution of the Middle English word "clotter," which basically meant a literal clot or a huddle. Think about how cats sleep. They pile on top of each other until they’re just one big, breathing mass of fur and purrs. They clot together. By the late 1700s, "clotter" morphed into "clowder," and it stuck.
It’s a bit of a linguistic fossil. You don't really hear people using it in casual conversation unless they're trying to prove a point. If you walked into a shelter and shouted, "Look at this magnificent clowder!" people might look at you like you’ve lost it.
Still, it’s the term recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary.
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Other Names You Might Encounter
There isn't just one name. English is messy like that.
If you have a group of cats that don’t particularly like each other—maybe they’re just staring each other down in an alleyway—you might call them a glaring. This is one of those "terms of venery" that popped up in the 15th century. It describes the intense, unblinking stare-off that happens when two or more felines are undecided about whether to fight or just keep judging each other from a distance.
Then there’s the clutter. It’s similar to clowder, but it usually refers to a messier, more chaotic group of cats. If you’ve ever seen ten kittens trying to eat out of the same bowl, you’ve seen a clutter.
The Poetry of "Kindles" and "Destructions"
Kittens get their own special branding.
A group of kittens is called a kindle. No, it has nothing to do with the e-reader. It comes from the Middle English word "kindelen," which means to give birth or to produce offspring. It’s actually related to the German word "kinder," which means children. It’s a soft, sweet word that fits a pile of tiny, needle-toothed fluff-balls perfectly.
On the flip side, we have the destruction.
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This is specifically for a group of wild or feral cats. If you’ve ever lived near a colony of un-spayed or un-neutered cats, you know they can be loud, territorial, and, well, destructive. They hunt local bird populations and get into trash. "Destruction" isn't exactly a compliment, but it’s accurate for the chaos a feral colony can bring to an ecosystem.
Why Do We Even Have These Names?
Most of these terms come from The Book of Saint Albans, printed in 1486. It was a guide to hawking, hunting, and heraldry. Back then, it was considered a mark of high social status to know the "correct" name for groups of animals.
If you called a group of lions a "bunch," you looked like a peasant. You had to call them a pride. If you saw a group of cats, you called them a clowder.
It was basically 15th-century gatekeeping.
Today, these terms are mostly used by linguists, writers, and people who really love cats. Scientists, on the other hand, are much more boring. In a biological or ethological study, you’ll rarely see the word "clowder." Instead, experts like Dr. Sarah Ellis or those at International Cat Care usually refer to them as a colony or a social group.
Cats are facultatively social. That’s a fancy way of saying they don't have to live together, but they choose to if there’s enough food. Unlike dogs, which are obligate social animals (they need the pack), cats are perfectly fine being solo. But when resources are plentiful—like a colony being fed by a kind neighbor—they form complex social structures.
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Understanding the Feline Social Structure
A group of cats is rarely a random assembly.
In a colony, there’s usually a hierarchy, though it’s not as rigid as a wolf pack. It’s often matriarchal. Related females—mothers, daughters, aunts—will stay together to help raise kittens and defend a territory. Males tend to drift in and out.
The Difference Between a Colony and a Clowder
- Colony: A functional, biological term for cats living and surviving together in a specific territory.
- Clowder: A poetic or traditional term for a group of domestic cats.
- Glaring: A group of cats that are actively interacting (usually negatively or tentatively).
Most people will just say "a group of cats." And that's fine. Language is meant to communicate, not just to show off your knowledge of medieval hunting books. But there's something fun about knowing that "kindle" and "clowder" exist. It adds a bit of flavor to how we view our feline roommates.
The Reality of Feral Cat Groups
We have to talk about the serious side of this.
A "destruction" or a "feral colony" isn't just a fun linguistic quirk. It’s a massive challenge for animal welfare. Feral colonies can grow exponentially. One female cat can have three litters a year. That leads to a lot of suffering if they aren't managed.
Groups like Alley Cat Allies advocate for TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return). This is the only proven way to stabilize a feline colony. By neutering the "clowder," you stop the "kindles" from happening, and eventually, the population of the "destruction" decreases naturally through attrition.
Actionable Next Steps for Cat Enthusiasts
If you’ve discovered a group of cats near your home, don't just call them a clowder and walk away. There are real-world things you can do to help them.
- Observe the Group: Check if they look healthy or if they’re ear-tipped. An ear-tip (a small notch taken off the left ear) is the universal sign that a cat in a colony has been neutered.
- Contact Local Rescues: If you see a "kindle" of kittens without a mother, or if the cats look sick, reach out to a local TNR group. Don't just call animal control, as many shelters still have high euthanasia rates for feral cats.
- Manage Food Sources: If you're feeding a group, do it at the same time every day and remove the food after 30 minutes. This prevents attracting raccoons or rats and keeps the "clowder" from becoming a neighborhood nuisance.
- Update Your Vocabulary: Next time someone mentions a "pack" of cats, gently correct them. It’s a clowder. Or a glaring. Or, if they're currently knocking everything off your mantel, a destruction.
Understanding what a group of cats is called is a fun dive into history, but seeing the social complexity behind those names makes you appreciate cats even more. They aren't just solitary hunters. They’re capable of forming deep, lasting bonds with their own kind, creating their own little societies right under our noses.