The dominance of male cats is decided by the following;
the bigger, stronger and younger cat wins his
place in the hierarchy.
He does not always have to fight to work his
way up the ladder, because older or weaker cats
may submit peacefully; nor does any
one cat have to fight every other cat in a group where
the hierarchy has been well established.

As he matures, a strong young cat may become
dominant to one who was dominant to him previously,
therefore working his way up the ladder.
At the same time, an aging cat will likewise
work his way down. In any group of feral cats,
the most dominant will be a male. Dominance in
wild-living female cats is usually, though not
always, linked to the number of
litters she has produced; the more litters,
the higher she stands in the hierarchy.

In the average group of house-cats, the balance
of power may well be different. Sometimes neutering
can alter the hierarchy, or in any
household the most dominant cat may be a neutered
male or female. Where there is a mixture
of neutered and entire cats, the most dominant may
still be the neuter cat; it may be the one which
has lived there the longest,
or perhaps a more assertive young cat.

Cats can make over a hundred different sounds,
from the pleasant purr, to a wide variety of
miaows, to the fierce growl.
They create a range of sounds by passing air over
their vocal chords, varying the extent to which the
mouth is open, and altering
the muscle tension in the throat and lips.

Every owner will be able to distinguish between,
and to understand, various miaows, which will be
indistinguishable to another person.
House-cats converse much more than feral cats
because they have discovered that language is
important to us. For instance, most of us talk to
our cats as we prepare their food, telling them
not to be impatient or greedy; if we open
a door to let them into the house, we say hi,
or when we complain about their
wet feet on the carpet.

In this way, cats associate language with action,
and will then train us to understand their language.
A cat will miaow in a certain way
and run to the door, which obviously means 'let me out'.
When we go into the kitchen, a cat will
give a quite different miaow sound which means 'I am hungry'.
The owner is not the only one who can understand;
if there are other cats in the home which hears
the 'I am hungry' meow, they will rush to the kitchen
also in the hope of being fed. Their own 'I am hungry'
meow may sound quite different to the one they
have responded to, but they understand
it nevertheless, just as we do. We soon learn to distinguish
between the different calls if we
listen and watch our feline teachers.

Article Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/
understanding-cats-behavior-part-2-91653.html

About the Author:
Tristan Andrews writes useful articles about cats and kittens.
Discover and explore the feline world.
Find out how to better care for,
train and live with your cat at
http://www.i-love-cats.com