🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Feline leukemia virus is fundamentally a domestic-cat pathogen, yet it has crossed into endangered wild felids with lethal consequences. This overview surveys documented and suspected spillover events…

Feline panleukopenia virus, a parvovirus closely related to canine parvovirus, causes severe, often fatal disease and circulates readily among domestic cats, posing a spillover risk to wild felids. Th…

Fleas transmit a range of pathogens to felids, including Bartonella species responsible for cat-scratch disease, hemotropic mycoplasmas that cause anemia, and the plague bacterium. This overview surve…

Early socialisation has lifelong effects on feline temperament, making the handling of shelter kittens during their sensitive period a high-stakes welfare and adoptability issue. This overview surveys…

Free-ranging domestic cat density often peaks in human-dominated areas where supplemental feeding and shelter abound, declining toward wildland where native predators and scarcer food limit them. This…

Free-ranging domestic cats are reservoirs and vectors for pathogens affecting wildlife, other cats and humans, including the protozoan that causes toxoplasmosis and various feline viruses. This overvi…

The risk that domestic-cat pathogens reach wild felids and other wildlife scales with the density and distribution of free-roaming cats, especially near protected areas. This overview surveys research…

When feline leukemia virus appears in an endangered wild felid, tracing its origin is crucial for management. This overview surveys how molecular phylogenetics is used to attribute wild FeLV infection…

The ability to hide and break line of sight is a core feline coping mechanism, and a recurring finding across both small wild cats and domestic cats is that providing refuges reduces stress hormones a…

Adoption is the welfare endpoint for most shelter cats, and research has examined what makes adopters choose a particular cat and how housing and behaviour shape those choices. This overview surveys s…

The European wildcat faces a dual threat from domestic cats: genetic swamping through hybridization and the exchange of pathogens that accompanies close contact. This overview surveys how interbreedin…

For several wildcat populations, the greatest threat is not habitat loss or persecution but genetic assimilation through hybridization with domestic cats. This overview examines how introgression enda…

Where small wild felids overlap with free-ranging domestic cats around settlements, hybridisation and disease transmission can threaten the genetic integrity and health of wild populations. This overv…

Genomic work on the Chinese mountain cat addressed whether it contributed to East Asian domestic cats and revealed instead a one-directional pattern. This overview explains that domestic cats in China…

Because domestic cats descend from wildcats and remain interfertile with them, introgression is a pervasive problem in wildcat taxonomy and conservation. This overview explains how gene flow from fera…

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…

How long cats remain in a shelter strongly affects their welfare, and overcrowding beyond a facility's capacity for care worsens stress, disease and outcomes. This overview surveys the concept of capa…

How cats are picked up, restrained and interacted with strongly shapes their stress and the impression they make on adopters. This overview surveys research and guidelines on low-stress and gentle han…

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…

After a virulent feline leukemia virus outbreak struck Donana Iberian lynx, disease management became central to recovery of the species. This overview synthesizes the response and ongoing strategy: r…

Degenerative joint disease is extremely common in older cats, both domestic and exotic, yet often under-recognised because cats mask pain. This overview surveys how osteoarthritis is detected and mana…

Toxoplasma gondii famously dampens rodents’ innate fear of cats, plausibly steering infected prey toward the parasite’s definitive host. This overview surveys proposed mechanisms behind the manipulati…

Because cats rely heavily on smell for hunting, social communication and exploring their world, scent-based enrichment is a natural fit for felid welfare. This overview surveys studies adding novel od…

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…

Distinguishing a true wildcat from a tabby domestic cat or hybrid is a practical taxonomic challenge with conservation stakes. This overview describes the morphological characters used, including a bu…

Play, especially object play that mimics hunting, is both an indicator and a contributor to good welfare in cats, and its absence can signal stress or poor environments. This overview surveys research…

Qualitative Behaviour Assessment asks trained observers to score the expressive demeanour of an animal, capturing emotional qualities such as relaxed, tense, content or frustrated that quantitative et…

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…