High-meat food and object play reduce predation by domestic cats

Cecchetti and colleagues tested practical, non-restrictive ways to cut the number of wild animals pet cats bring home. In a controlled trial, households trialled interventions including feeding a high-meat-content food without plant protein, daily object play simulating hunting, providing a puzzle feeder, fitting a colourful Birdsbesafe collar cover, or a bell. Feeding the high-meat diet and engaging cats in short daily play sessions each significantly reduced the number of prey animals cats captured and returned, without the welfare downsides of confinement. The authors suggested that unmet nutritional or predatory needs may drive some hunting, so addressing them at home offers owner-friendly conservation tools. The study stood out for testing positive, behaviour-based interventions that owners might accept, complementing containment and collar approaches to reducing cat predation on wildlife.