Factors influencing reproductive success in small captive exotic felids

Mellen surveyed husbandry across many institutions holding small exotic cats and used multiple regression to identify which factors predicted breeding success. Strikingly, the strongest predictors were not enclosure size or diet but aspects of how cats were hand-reared and the nature of keeper interactions early in life. Cats with certain rearing histories and appropriate social experience bred more successfully, linking early-life husbandry to later welfare and reproduction. The study was influential in showing that welfare and conservation breeding outcomes hinge on developmental and management factors, not just physical resources. It informed protocols for socialisation, hand-rearing decisions and keeper-cat relationships across small-felid programs.