Research overview: commensal rodent abundance subsidising urban felids

Cities support large populations of commensal rodents fed by human waste, and these rodents form a critical prey subsidy for small and medium urban felids from bobcats to leopard cats and jungle cats. This overview synthesises research on how rodent abundance shapes felid distribution, home-range size and density along the urban gradient, and the paradox that the same rodent prey delivers anticoagulant poisons into predators. It examines the trophic role of cats as rodent controllers and the tension between this service and toxicant exposure. The synthesis frames commensal rodents as both the dietary foundation and the toxicological hazard of urban felid life.