🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Saito 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

Across several experiments in homes and a cat cafe, cats were played sequences of four nouns matched in length and accent followed by their own name. Many cats habituated to the nouns but showed renew…

Atsuko Saito, Kazutaka Shinozuka, Yuki Ito, Toshikazu Hasegawa · Scientific Reports · 2019

Potter 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

At the 5,300-year-old farming village of Quanhucun in central China, Hu and colleagues combined zooarchaeology with stable isotope analysis of cat, rodent, human and dog bones to reconstruct an early…

Yaowu Hu, Songmei Hu, Weilin Wang, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2014

Ahola, Vapalahti and Lohi analyzed a large survey of pet cats to test whether the age at weaning influences adult behaviour. They found that cats weaned early, before the natural age, showed higher ra…

Milla K. Ahola, Katariina Vapalahti, Hannes Lohi · Scientific Reports · 2017

Levy, Gale and Gale conducted one of the most-cited long-term evaluations of trap-neuter-return, following a managed free-roaming cat population on a university campus over more than a decade. Cats we…

Julie K. Levy, David W. Gale, Leslie A. Gale · Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association · 2003

This pivotal field trial treated cats with naturally occurring feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), long considered almost uniformly fatal, using the nucleoside analog GS-441524, a parent compound rel…

Pedersen NC, Perron M, Bannasch M, Montgomery E, Murakami E, Liepnieks M, Liu H · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2019

This study evaluated the antiviral protease inhibitor GC376 in cats with naturally acquired FIP, targeting the coronavirus 3C-like protease essential for viral replication. Treated cats showed clinica…

Pedersen NC, Kim Y, Liu H, Galasiti Kankanamalage AC, Eckstrand C, Groutas WC, Bannasch M, Meadows JM, Chang KO · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2018

This review synthesized progress in applying in vitro fertilization, embryo culture, embryo transfer, and cryopreservation to nondomestic cats, using the domestic cat as a research model. The author s…

Pope CE · Theriogenology · 2000

This study identified the molecular cause of the dominant white and white-spotting coat patterns in domestic cats, mapping both to the KIT gene that governs the migration of pigment-cell precursors du…

Victor A. David, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond, et al. · G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics · 2014

Legge and colleagues tackled a foundational question for cat management by estimating the total feral cat population across Australia. They compiled density estimates from dozens of sites and modelled…

Sarah Legge, Brett P. Murphy, Hugh McGregor, et al. · Biological Conservation · 2017

Herron and Buffington reviewed the principles and practice of environmental enrichment for indoor-housed cats, translating research on feline behaviour and stress physiology into practical recommendat…

Meghan E. Herron, C. A. Tony Buffington · Compendium: Continuing Education for Veterinarians · 2010

Blancher estimated the annual mortality of birds caused by cats in Canada, applying methods similar to large-scale predation assessments elsewhere. By combining figures on the numbers of pet and feral…

Peter Blancher · Avian Conservation and Ecology · 2013

Edwards and colleagues tested whether the bond between cats and owners meets formal criteria for attachment by observing owned cats in an Ainsworth-style procedure with episodes of the owner present,…

Claudia Edwards, Marcia Heiblum, Argel Tejeda, Francisco Galindo · Journal of Veterinary Behavior · 2007

Evangelista and colleagues developed and validated a Feline Grimace Scale, a practical tool to assess acute pain in cats from facial expression. By analyzing photographs of cats in pain and after anal…

Marina C. Evangelista, Ryota Watanabe, Vivian S. Y. Leung, et al. · Scientific Reports · 2019

This study developed and validated the Feline Grimace Scale, a tool that assesses acute pain in cats by scoring facial action units such as ear position, orbital tightening, muzzle tension, whisker ch…

Evangelista MC, Watanabe R, Leung VSY, Monteiro BP, O'Toole E, Pang DSJ, Steagall PV · Scientific Reports · 2019

Lyons and colleagues identified the mutation responsible for polycystic kidney disease in cats, a common inherited disorder especially prevalent in Persian and related breeds that causes fluid-filled…

Leslie A. Lyons, David S. Biller, Carolyn A. Erdman, et al. · Journal of the American Society of Nephrology · 2004

Dantas and colleagues reviewed the use of food puzzles, devices that require cats to work to extract food, as an enrichment and management tool. Drawing on behavioural research, they argued that food…

Leticia M. S. Dantas, Mikel M. Delgado, Ingrid Johnson, C. A. Tony Buffington · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2016

This influential study measured the audible frequency range of the domestic cat using behavioral methods, establishing that cats hear across an exceptionally broad span of frequencies. The work docume…

Rickye S. Heffner, Henry E. Heffner · Hearing Research · 1985

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…

Martina Cecchetti, Sarah L. Crowley, Cecily E. D. Goodwin, Robbie A. McDonald · Current Biology · 2021

Sissom, 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

This study investigated the mechanism by which domestic cats and some other felids produce the continuous purr during both inhalation and exhalation. Measurements indicated that purring arises from ra…

Dawn Sissom, Donald Rice, Gustav Peters · Journal of Zoology · 1991

Woinarski and colleagues estimated the toll that cats take on Australian birds, combining data on cat density, distribution and diet across the continent. They calculated that feral cats in natural en…

John C. Z. Woinarski, Brett P. Murphy, Sarah M. Legge, et al. · Biological Conservation · 2017

Extending their continental analysis of cat predation, Woinarski and colleagues estimated the number of reptiles killed by cats in Australia. Using data on cat density, dietary frequency of reptiles a…

John C. Z. Woinarski, Brett P. Murphy, Russell Palmer, et al. · Wildlife Research · 2018

This early genetic study examined the familiar but variable reaction of cats to catnip and proposed that responsiveness is an inherited trait. By observing the catnip response across cats and consider…

Neil B. Todd · Journal of Heredity · 1962

This paper reported the first draft genome of the domestic cat, sequenced at modest coverage from an Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon. Despite the light sequencing, the authors leveraged comparative mapp…

Joan U. Pontius, Stephen J. O'Brien, et al. · Genome Research · 2007

Doherty 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

This landmark study isolated a novel lentivirus from a California cattery where cats showed chronic, AIDS-like immunodeficiency with opportunistic infections and wasting. The team recovered a T-lympho…

Pedersen NC, Ho EW, Brown ML, Yamamoto JK · Science · 1987

This comparative study examined taste-receptor genes across a range of carnivorous mammals and found widespread loss of taste capabilities tied to diet. Building on the earlier discovery that cats lac…

Peihua Jiang, Jesusa Josue, Xia Li, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2012

This experiment showed that kittens learned an instrumental task more readily by watching their own mother than by watching an unfamiliar adult female, and faster still than kittens learning alone. Th…

Phyllis Chesler · Science · 1969