🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This influential study coined the practical demonstration of mesopredator release, showing that the decline of a dominant predator can unleash smaller predators with cascading harm to prey. In fragmen…

Crooks, K.R. & Soule, M.E. · Nature · 1999

This influential study identified the molecular basis of black coats across multiple cat species and showed that melanism evolved independently several times in the family. The authors found that mela…

Eduardo Eizirik, Stephen J. O'Brien, et al. · Current Biology · 2003

Pion and colleagues discovered that dilated cardiomyopathy, then a common and usually fatal heart disease in cats, was frequently caused by deficiency of the amino acid taurine, which cats cannot synt…

Paul D. Pion, Mark D. Kittleson, Quinton R. Rogers, James G. Morris · Science · 1987

This pivotal study linked dilated cardiomyopathy, then a common and frequently fatal heart disease in cats, to taurine deficiency, showing that affected cats had low plasma taurine and that taurine su…

Pion PD, Kittleson MD, Rogers QR, Morris JG · Science · 1987

Remmers and Gautier examined how cats generate the purr by combining electromyographic recordings of respiratory and laryngeal muscles with airflow measurements. They found that purring involves rhyth…

J. E. Remmers, H. Gautier · Respiration Physiology · 1972

This early comparative study assessed how cats and dogs solve visible and invisible displacement tasks, the benchmarks Piaget used to chart object permanence in human infants. Both species succeeded a…

Estrella Triana, Robert Pasnak · Animal Learning and Behavior · 1981

In this classic experiment, cats that watched a trained demonstrator perform a lever-press for food learned the response faster than cats given only individual trial-and-error experience. The study pr…

E. Roy John and colleagues · Science · 1968

This comparative study applied trait ratings to multiple felid species, including domestic cats, African lions, snow leopards, clouded leopards, and Scottish wildcats, to ask whether personality dimen…

Marieke Gartner, David Powell, Alexander Weiss · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2014

This landmark genetic study explained the long-noted fact that cats show little interest in sweet foods. The researchers found that cats carry a defective, non-functional version of Tas1r2, one of the…

Xia Li, Weihua Li, Hong Wang, et al. · PLoS Genetics · 2005

Nutter, 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

This overview surveys what is known about cats in ancient Egypt, where they were associated with the goddess Bastet and produced in vast numbers as votive mummies. Excavations at sites such as Bubasti…

Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), a hormone regulating phosphate, rises early in feline CKD as the kidneys struggle to excrete phosphorus, and elevated levels have been associated with disease prog…

Cats can be simultaneously infected with FIV and feline leukemia virus, and coinfection tends to accelerate immune decline and worsen prognosis compared with either virus alone. The two retroviruses d…

Because FIV causes a naturally occurring, lifelong immunodeficiency in an outbred host, it became a prized small-animal model for lentiviral pathogenesis, antiretroviral testing, and vaccine concepts.…

FIV diagnosis traditionally relies on detecting antibodies, since infection is lifelong and antibody usually signals true infection in adult cats. Point-of-care ELISA tests give rapid screening, with…

FIV shares the genomic architecture of primate lentiviruses, encoding gag, pol, and env structural and enzymatic genes alongside accessory genes that regulate replication and immune evasion. Researche…

FIV strains cluster into several genetic subtypes (clades) distributed unevenly across continents, reflecting local transmission histories among free-roaming and owned cat populations. Surveys consist…

FIV is transmitted predominantly through deep bite wounds delivered during territorial fighting, which explains its concentration in intact outdoor male cats. Unlike feline leukemia virus, casual cont…

Developing an FIV vaccine proved difficult because lentiviruses mutate rapidly and protective immunity is hard to elicit. A commercial inactivated dual-subtype whole-virus vaccine was eventually marke…

FIV, like HIV, can invade the central nervous system, and infected cats sometimes develop behavioral changes, altered sleep, cognitive and motor deficits, and electrophysiologic abnormalities. The vir…

Lentiviruses related to domestic-cat FIV circulate widely in wild felid species including lions, pumas, leopards, and others, often at high seroprevalence yet apparently with limited disease in their…

Because FeLV spreads through prolonged close contact such as shared bowls, mutual grooming, and bites, managing it in shelters and multi-cat households requires careful testing, isolation, and housing…

FeLV subgroups enter cells using different host membrane receptors, and identifying these receptors clarified why the subgroups cause different diseases. Subgroup A uses a thiamine transporter, subgro…

Feline leukemia virus exists as distinct subgroups defined by receptor usage and biological behavior. Subgroup A is the transmissible form present in all infections; subgroups B, C, and T arise within…

FeLV diagnosis centers on detecting viral p27 antigen. Point-of-care ELISA tests detect soluble antigen in blood and are highly sensitive for screening, while immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) testing…

FeLV is a major cause of hematopoietic neoplasia in cats, classically producing lymphoma and leukemias through insertional mutagenesis and activation of cellular oncogenes. Historically, FeLV-positive…

Beyond cancer, FeLV frequently causes severe nonregenerative anemia and broader bone marrow suppression, making hematologic disease a leading cause of death in infected cats. The subgroup C variant sp…

FeLV impairs immune function, leaving cats vulnerable to a wide range of secondary bacterial, viral, fungal, and protozoal infections that frequently determine clinical course and survival. The subgro…

The 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…

Lightweight GPS devices have allowed researchers to map where pet cats actually go when allowed outdoors, revealing often-surprising ranges and patterns. This overview surveys tracking studies across…