Research library
🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries
AI-curated summaries for the pride’s library — verify citations independently before citing.
26 summaries matching “domestic cat” in Domestic Cat Science
AAFP and ISFM feline environmental needs guidelines
PaperEllis and colleagues, on behalf of the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the International Society of Feline Medicine, produced consensus guidelines defining the environmental needs of…
Sarah L. H. Ellis, Ilona Rodan, Hazel C. Carney, et al. · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2013
Attachment bonds between domestic cats and humans
PaperVitale, Behnke and Udell adapted the secure base test used with infants and dogs to ask whether cats form attachment bonds with their owners. Cats experienced a brief separation from and reunion with…
Kristyn R. Vitale, Alexandra C. Behnke, Monique A. R. Udell · Current Biology · 2019
Cats discriminate human emotional cues
PaperGalvan and Vonk investigated whether domestic cats are sensitive to their owners' emotional expressions, a capacity well documented in dogs. Cats were exposed to their owner displaying either a happy…
Moriah Galvan, Jennifer Vonk · Animal Cognition · 2016
Classification of domestic cat meows and human perception
PaperNicastro and Owren analyzed the acoustic structure of domestic cat meows recorded in different behavioural contexts and tested whether human listeners could classify them. They measured features such…
Nicholas Nicastro, Michael J. Owren · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2003
Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome and domestication signatures
PaperMontague and colleagues produced a high-quality domestic cat reference genome and compared it with wild felids and other mammals to find the genetic footprint of domestication. They detected selection…
Michael J. Montague, Gang Li, Barbara Gandolfi, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2014
Domestic cat larynges can produce purring frequencies without neural input
PaperHerbst and colleagues challenged the long-held assumption that purring requires continuous, cyclical neural commands to the laryngeal muscles. Working with excised cat larynges, they showed that simpl…
Christian T. Herbst, Tamara Prigge, Maxime Garcia, et al. · Current Biology · 2023
Domestic cats discriminate their names from other words
PaperSaito and colleagues tested whether cats can tell their own name from similar-sounding words. Using habituation-dishabituation, cats heard a series of four nouns matched in length and accent to their…
Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka, Yuki Ito, Toshikazu Hasegawa · Scientific Reports · 2019
Domestic cats do not show signs of secure attachment to their owners
PaperPotter and Mills applied a modified Ainsworth Strange Situation Test to pet cats to test whether they treat owners as an attachment figure providing security. Measuring behaviours during separations a…
Alice Potter, Daniel S. Mills · PLoS ONE · 2015
High-meat food and object play reduce predation by domestic cats
PaperCecchetti 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…
Martina Cecchetti, Sarah L. Crowley, Cecily E. D. Goodwin, Robbie A. McDonald · Current Biology · 2021
How cats purr
PaperSissom, Rice and Peters investigated the long-debated mechanism of purring by recording the sound and associated body vibrations in domestic cats. They documented that purring is produced continuously…
D. E. Frazer Sissom, D. A. Rice, G. Peters · Journal of Zoology · 1991
Invasive predators and global biodiversity loss
PaperDoherty and colleagues assessed the contribution of invasive predators, prominently including feral cats, to global vertebrate extinctions and declines. Analyzing threatened and extinct species worldw…
Tim S. Doherty, Alistair S. Glen, Dale G. Nimmo, Euan G. Ritchie, Chris R. Dickman · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2016
Reproductive capacity of free-roaming domestic cats
PaperNutter, Levine and Stoskopf studied the reproductive biology of free-roaming cats to inform population management, monitoring breeding females in feral colonies. They documented high reproductive outp…
Felicia B. Nutter, Jay F. Levine, Michael K. Stoskopf · Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association · 2004
Research overview: Felis lybica, the wildcat ancestor of house cats
OverviewThe African or Near Eastern wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica, is the direct ancestor of all domestic cats. This overview surveys its ecology, distribution and behaviour, describing a solitary, territo…
Research overview: ancient mitochondrial lineages of cats
OverviewMitochondrial DNA, maternally inherited and abundant in old specimens, has been central to reconstructing cat history. This overview surveys how researchers define and use maternal haplogroups, includ…
Research overview: breed ancestry and random-bred cat populations
OverviewModern cat breeds emerged recently from broadly distributed random-bred populations, and this overview surveys research reconstructing their ancestry and relationships. It examines genetic studies tra…
Research overview: domestic cat and European wildcat hybridization
OverviewBecause the domestic cat and its wild relatives remain fully interfertile, hybridization is a persistent conservation concern, especially for the European wildcat, Felis silvestris silvestris, in plac…
Research overview: domestic cat genome assemblies and research resources
OverviewSuccessive improvements to the domestic cat reference genome have made the species a tractable model for genetics and biomedicine. This overview surveys the development of cat genome assemblies and as…
Research overview: purring across the cat family
OverviewPurring is not unique to the domestic cat, and its distribution across felids has long been used to divide the family. This overview surveys the traditional contrast between purring cats, which cannot…
Research overview: social structure of feral cat colonies
OverviewAlthough often considered solitary, cats form social groups under abundant resources, and this overview surveys research on the structure of feral colonies. It examines how colonies typically center o…
Research overview: the meow as a human-directed signal
OverviewAdult cats rarely meow at one another but meow frequently at people, leading to the hypothesis that the meow is largely a product of life with humans. This overview surveys evidence that domestic cats…
Research overview: the tail-up signal in domestic cats
OverviewThe raised, vertical tail is one of the clearest visual signals in cat social behaviour, and this overview surveys research establishing it as a friendly, affiliative display. It examines studies, inc…
Specifying and sustaining pigmentation patterns in domestic and wild cats
PaperKaelin and colleagues uncovered the genetic and developmental basis of the tabby coat patterns that adorn domestic cats and their wild relatives. They identified the gene Taqpep, encoding a protease,…
Christopher B. Kaelin, Xiao Xu, Lewis Z. Hong, et al. · Science · 2012
The Near Eastern origin of cat domestication
PaperDriscoll and colleagues sampled mitochondrial DNA from nearly 1,000 wildcats and domestic cats across Europe, Asia and Africa to resolve where the house cat came from. The analysis showed all domestic…
Carlos A. Driscoll, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond, Alfred L. Roca, et al. · Science · 2007
The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States
PaperLoss, Will and Marra produced a landmark quantitative estimate of how many wild animals free-ranging cats kill in the United States. Synthesizing data from predation studies through a systematic revie…
Scott R. Loss, Tom Will, Peter P. Marra · Nature Communications · 2013
Visual communicative signals in cat-human and dog-human interactions
PaperMiklosi and colleagues compared how cats and dogs use and respond to human visual communicative signals, particularly pointing gestures indicating hidden food. Both species could follow human pointing…
Adam Miklosi, Peter Pongracz, Gabriella Lakatos, Jozsef Topal, Vilmos Csanyi · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2005
Vocal recognition of owners by domestic cats
PaperSaito and Shinozuka used a habituation-dishabituation design to ask whether cats distinguish their owner's voice from strangers' voices. Cats heard recordings of three strangers calling the cat's name…
Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka · Animal Cognition · 2013