🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

The discovery that a terrestrial cat parasite kills marine mammals reshaped understanding of how pathogens cross ecosystem boundaries. This overview synthesizes research on the flow of Toxoplasma oocy…

Lungworms such as Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Troglostrongylus species infect the respiratory tracts of felids, causing coughing, respiratory distress and sometimes serious disease, particularly in…

Classical rabies virus is one of several lyssaviruses that can infect mammals, and felids may occasionally be exposed to other members of this genus, including bat-associated lyssaviruses. This overvi…

High-throughput sequencing has opened a new era of virus discovery, allowing researchers to catalog the viromes of wild felids without prior knowledge of which pathogens to seek. This overview surveys…

Mathematical models help predict how diseases spread through felid populations and whether outbreaks will fizzle or explode. This overview surveys epidemiological modeling applied to wild cats, from e…

Molecular tools have revolutionized the study of how pathogens spread among carnivores, including felids, by reading the genetic signatures of viruses and parasites. This overview surveys the use of m…

Canine distemper in the Serengeti circulates not in a single species but across a community of carnivores including domestic dogs, jackals, hyenas and big cats. This overview examines research untangl…

Careful necropsy and pathological examination underpin much of what is known about causes of death and disease in wild felids. This overview surveys the role of standardized post-mortem investigation…

Capturing and sampling wild felids is costly and risky, so researchers increasingly turn to non-invasive methods, especially analysis of feces, to detect pathogens and parasites. This overview surveys…

Body condition and nutrition strongly influence how wild felids cope with infection, with stress and malnutrition often tipping tolerated pathogens into disease. This overview surveys the link between…

Oral vaccination, delivered through baits, has been used to immunize wildlife reservoirs against rabies and is considered for other diseases, with indirect benefits for exposed felids. This overview s…

Parvoviruses of carnivores have a history of host-switching, with canine parvovirus having evolved from a feline-like ancestor and continuing to exchange between hosts. This overview surveys the evolu…

The concept of pathogen pollution describes the human-mediated introduction of pathogens into new host populations, a recurring driver of disease in wild felids. This overview surveys how activities s…

A felid’s diet largely determines its parasite burden, as many worms and protozoa are acquired by eating infected prey. This overview surveys how prey-mediated transmission shapes the parasitic fauna…

Feline leukemia virus infections range from progressive, with persistent viremia and high mortality, to regressive, where the host contains the virus and may clear detectable antigen. This overview su…

Vaccines against feline immunodeficiency virus exist for domestic cats but raise complex questions when considered for wild felids harboring their own endemic lentiviruses. This overview surveys the i…

Rabies, an almost invariably fatal lyssavirus infection, occasionally strikes wild felids exposed through bites from infected dogs, jackals or other wildlife reservoirs. This overview surveys document…

Effective rabies control depends on surveillance that spans the carnivore community, since the virus circulates among dogs, jackals, mongooses, foxes and bat reservoirs that all interface with felids.…

A central question in distemper ecology is how a virus historically associated with dogs repeatedly jumps into cats. This overview surveys research on the molecular basis of canine distemper virus hos…

Despite decades of study, major gaps remain in understanding disease in wild felids, particularly for less-studied species and regions. This overview surveys the priorities and unanswered questions in…

Sarcoptic mange, caused by the burrowing mite Sarcoptes scabiei, affects a wide range of carnivores and occasionally strikes large felids, producing hair loss, crusting, intense itching and debilitati…

Many felids scavenge as well as hunt, and feeding on carcasses exposes them to pathogens including anthrax, bovine tuberculosis and parasites concentrated in dead and diseased animals. This overview s…

Interpreting antibody tests in wild felids is complicated by cross-reactivity, where antibodies to one pathogen react with tests for a related agent, blurring diagnoses. This overview surveys the diag…

Serological surveys, which detect antibodies as evidence of past or present infection, are a workhorse of wildlife disease epidemiology. This overview surveys how serosurveys reveal pathogen exposure…

Beyond domestic cats, wild felids such as bobcats and pumas sustain natural sylvatic cycles of Toxoplasma, shedding oocysts that infect wild prey and contribute to environmental contamination. This ov…

In 1994 a canine distemper epidemic swept the Serengeti, killing roughly a third of its lions and spreading to leopards, hyenas and other carnivores. This overview reconstructs the outbreak timeline:…

Toxoplasma is maintained in both domestic cycles centered on house cats and sylvatic cycles driven by wild felids, and the two intersect in complex ways. This overview surveys how domestic and wild tr…

Lions and other wild felids host a range of tick-borne blood parasites including Babesia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and Hepatozoon, usually carried without obvious harm but capable of contributing to disea…

While cats typically host Toxoplasma without illness, immunocompromise can unleash severe, even fatal toxoplasmosis in felids. This overview surveys the conditions under which the parasite causes clin…

After SARS-CoV-2 reached zoo animals, some facilities vaccinated captive carnivores, including big cats, using animal-specific vaccines to reduce the risk of severe disease. This overview surveys the…