🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Fructosamine, a measure of glycated serum protein reflecting average blood glucose over the preceding weeks, provides a monitoring tool less affected by the stress hyperglycemia that commonly inflates…

A cat keeps its coat functional through maintenance, and this overview reviews waterproofing and coat care. Sebaceous glands coat the hairs with oils that help repel water and keep the fur in conditio…

Following another's gaze can indicate sensitivity to where attention is directed, and researchers have asked whether cats follow human gaze. This overview surveys the comparatively sparse evidence in…

Cats have lost the ability to make several nutrients that other mammals synthesize, forcing strict dietary dependence on animal tissue. This overview surveys the genetic basis of these requirements, i…

Despite descending from wildcats only thousands of years ago, domestic cats differ subtly in genetics and behavior, and characterizing this divergence illuminates the domestication process. This overv…

Cats vary widely in how friendly and social they are with people, and research has sought the sources of this variation. This overview surveys evidence that feline sociability toward humans arises fro…

Beyond color, cats vary in coat length and texture, from longhaired Persians to the curly Rex breeds and the nearly hairless Sphynx, each with an identified genetic basis. This overview surveys the va…

Several popular domestic cat breeds were created by crossing house cats with wild felid species, including the Bengal from the Asian leopard cat, the Savannah from the serval, and the Chausie from the…

Several striking morphological variants in domestic cats have known genetic bases, including the taillessness of the Manx cat and extra toes in polydactyl cats. This overview surveys the discovery tha…

The Chinese mountain cat, a poorly known felid endemic to the Tibetan Plateau region, has been the subject of debate over whether it is a distinct species, a wildcat subspecies, and whether it contrib…

Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, population geneticists used the visible coat-colour and pattern alleles of free-roaming cats, such as the orange, non-agouti, dilute and white-spotting variants…

Gestation in felids scales broadly with body size, ranging from roughly two months in small cats to around three and a half months in the largest species. This overview compiles comparative data on pr…

Preserving ovarian and testicular tissue offers a way to bank the gametes of immature or recently deceased felids whose mature sperm or eggs cannot be collected directly. This overview surveys researc…

Rubbing is a conspicuous affiliative behaviour in cats, directed at other cats, people and objects, and this overview surveys its forms and functions. It covers allorubbing between cats, in which anim…

Grooming serves a thermoregulatory function, and this overview reviews how spreading saliva helps cats shed heat. When warm, cats may groom more, depositing saliva on the fur that then evaporates and…

Even strict carnivores host gut microbes, and this overview reviews what is known about the feline gut microbiome and its role in a meat diet. The cat intestinal microbial community is adapted to a hi…

As a cat moves, it tends to hold its head steady, stabilizing the platform on which its eyes and inner ears sit. This overview surveys head stabilization during locomotion, in which vestibular and vis…

Many white cats, especially blue-eyed ones, are deaf, and this overview reviews the link between coat colour genetics and hearing. The dominant white gene can disrupt the development of pigment cells…

A well-known link in feline sensory biology connects white coat color, blue eyes, and congenital deafness. This overview surveys the association between the dominant white gene and inner-ear degenerat…

Not all cats respond to catnip, and the trait appears to be inherited. This overview surveys evidence that responsiveness to catnip is governed by genetics, with roughly two-thirds of cats showing the…

A cat's friendliness toward people is shaped by both genes and early experience, and this overview surveys research disentangling these influences. It covers classic studies showing that bold, friendl…

Cats need more dietary protein than many mammals, and this overview reviews the metabolic basis. Feline liver enzymes that break down amino acids for energy operate at a relatively high, less adjustab…

Cats sometimes fall from windows and balconies, and veterinary observations of these incidents, sometimes called high-rise syndrome, have produced counterintuitive findings. This overview surveys repo…

The development of FeLV vaccines in the 1980s, combined with reliable testing and test-and-removal programs, produced one of veterinary medicine's clearest prevention success stories, sharply reducing…

Preventing dental disease in cats involves home care strategies such as tooth brushing, dental diets, treats, and water additives designed to reduce plaque accumulation, though many cats resist brushi…

Understanding how feral cats use space is central to managing them and assessing their impact, and this overview surveys research on feral cat home ranges and movements. It examines tracking studies s…

Free-ranging domestic cats maintain home ranges whose size and overlap depend on sex, reproductive status, food distribution, and population density. This overview surveys tracking studies showing tha…

Cats can cover impressive horizontal distances in a single bound, and this overview reviews the biomechanics of the broad jump. Achieving distance requires a takeoff that balances upward and forward v…

House soiling is among the most common behaviour problems leading to relinquishment of cats, and this overview surveys its causes and management. It distinguishes urine marking, a communicative sprayi…

Purring is a distinctive feline vocalisation produced continuously through inhalation and exhalation, and this overview reviews how it is generated. The leading view holds that rapid, rhythmic contrac…