Research overview: hybridization and pathogen exchange between domestic cats and European wildcats

The European wildcat faces a dual threat from domestic cats: genetic swamping through hybridization and the exchange of pathogens that accompanies close contact. This overview surveys how interbreeding and shared space facilitate disease transmission, including feline leukemia and immunodeficiency viruses, parvovirus and respiratory pathogens, while simultaneously eroding the wildcat’s genetic distinctiveness. It examines the difficulty of disentangling disease risk from hybridization, surveillance of wildcat populations for domestic-origin infections, and conservation efforts to reduce contact through feral cat control and vaccination. The synthesis connects genetics and epidemiology, since the same interactions that blur species boundaries also move pathogens. It aims to help readers see the domestic-wildcat interface as a place where genetic and disease threats reinforce each other, complicating the conservation of Europe’s native small cat.