🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

Faced with rampant hybridization between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats, this study developed a pelage-based scoring system to distinguish genuine wildcats from hybrids and feral domestic cats. T…

Kitchener AC, Yamaguchi N, Ward JM, Macdonald DW · Animal Conservation · 2005

Ellis and co-authors produced consensus veterinary guidelines defining the environmental needs of domestic cats, organised around five pillars: a safe place; multiple and separated key resources; oppo…

Ellis SLH, Rodan I, Carney HC, Heath S, Rochlitz I, Shearburn LD, et al · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2013

Carlstead, Brown and Strawn studied domestic cats in a laboratory setting, manipulating predictability and handling while tracking behaviour and adrenocortical activity. Cats subjected to unpredictabl…

Carlstead K, Brown JL, Strawn W · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 1993

Building on earlier behavioral findings, this study showed with controlled experiments that Toxoplasma gondii infection in rats and mice specifically abolishes innate fear of cat odor while leaving ot…

A. Vyas, S.-K. Kim, N. Giacomini, et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2007

This widely read synthesis assembled the scientific case that free-ranging domestic cats are a significant driver of wildlife declines and a vector for zoonotic disease, while examining the contentiou…

Marra PP, Santella C · Princeton University Press · 2016

This study connected the felid-shed parasite Toxoplasma gondii to deaths of threatened southern sea otters along the California coast. Because cats are the only definitive hosts that shed environmenta…

M. A. Miller, I. A. Gardner, C. Kreuder, et al. · International Journal for Parasitology · 2002

This study quantified prey returned by house cats living beside a suburban nature preserve, distinguishing cats kept partly indoors from those roaming freely, and estimated the predation they imposed…

Kays RW, DeWan AA · Animal Conservation · 2004

Gourkow, Hamon and Phillips tested whether positive human interaction improves the health of anxious shelter cats. Cats receiving structured gentle stroking and soft talking from handlers showed more…

Gourkow N, Hamon SC, Phillips CJC · Preventive Veterinary Medicine · 2014

Kessler and Turner investigated how stocking density and cage size affect stress in shelter and cattery cats, again using the Cat-Stress-Score. They found that very high densities raised stress, but t…

Kessler MR, Turner DC · Animal Welfare · 1999

Stella, Croney and Buffington experimentally exposed cats to unpredictable husbandry and other stressors, measuring sickness behaviours such as reduced eating, elimination outside the litter box, vomi…

Stella JL, Croney CC, Buffington CAT · Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 2013

This study described a feline leukemia virus (FeLV) outbreak in the endangered Florida panther, a small, inbred puma population. Through surveillance testing, the authors detected progressive FeLV inf…

M. W. Cunningham, M. A. Brown, D. B. Shindle, et al. · Journal of Wildlife Diseases · 2008

This classic experiment tested whether the felid parasite Toxoplasma gondii manipulates rodent behavior to favor transmission back to its definitive cat host. The authors found that infected rats lost…

M. Berdoy, J. P. Webster, D. W. Macdonald · Proceedings of the Royal Society B · 2000

This study documented a feline leukemia virus (FeLV) outbreak in the critically endangered Iberian lynx population of Donana, Spain. Through field surveillance, molecular diagnostics and pathology, th…

M. L. Meli, V. Cattori, F. Martínez, et al. · PLoS ONE · 2009

This genomic study examined the enigmatic Chinese mountain cat of the Tibetan Plateau and clarified its relationship to other wildcats and to domestic cats in China. Using genome-wide data, the author…

Yu H, Xing YT, Meng H, et al. · Science Advances · 2021

This study used radio-telemetry to characterise the movements of owned and un-owned free-roaming domestic cats in an urbanising landscape, revealing that un-owned cats ranged over far larger areas tha…

Horn JA, Mateus-Pinilla N, Warner RE, Heske EJ · Journal of Wildlife Management · 2011

Pion, Kittleson, Rogers and Morris linked dilated cardiomyopathy in domestic cats to taurine deficiency and showed that supplementation could reverse the heart failure. The discovery confirmed taurine…

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

Mellor elaborated the Five Domains Model, which structures welfare assessment around four physical and functional domains, nutrition, environment, health and behaviour, that feed into a fifth, the ani…

Mellor DJ · Animals · 2017

Gartner, Powell and Weiss applied systematic personality assessment to four felid species, having keepers rate individuals on behavioural traits and then analysing the underlying structure. They ident…

Gartner MC, Powell DM, Weiss A · Journal of Comparative Psychology · 2014

Rochlitz reviewed evidence on feline housing across the many settings cats are confined and distilled practical recommendations. She emphasised providing adequate space with vertical structure, hiding…

Rochlitz I · Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 1999

Cytauxzoon felis is a tick-transmitted protozoan that causes a frequently fatal disease in domestic cats, with bobcats serving as the natural reservoir host. This overview synthesizes the parasite’s l…

The European wildcat occupies forest and agricultural mosaics across Europe, where proximity to settlements brings hybridisation with domestic cats, road mortality and habitat fragmentation. This over…

A key outcome of recent wildcat taxonomy is the treatment of the European wildcat (Felis silvestris) and the African or Near Eastern wildcat (Felis lybica) as separate species rather than subspecies o…

Many of the most important felid diseases, from distemper to leukemia virus to Toxoplasma, originate at the interface of domestic animals, wildlife and people, making them quintessential One Health pr…

The One Welfare concept recognises that animal welfare, human wellbeing and the environment are interconnected, a framing increasingly applied to those who care for captive cats. This overview surveys…

Toxocara cati and related ascarid roundworms are among the most common parasites of cats, with wild felids shedding eggs that contribute to environmental contamination and pose a zoonotic risk to peop…

Research into how Toxoplasma alters host behavior has implicated changes in neurotransmitter and hormone systems, particularly dopamine and testosterone. This overview surveys findings that the parasi…

While pacing dominates discussion of felid stereotypy, captive cats display a range of other abnormal repetitive behaviours that signal welfare problems. This overview surveys these: route-tracing and…

A growing body of welfare thinking holds that giving animals control over their environment, the ability to make choices and influence outcomes, is itself a key contributor to good welfare. This overv…

Modern welfare science increasingly seeks not just to minimise suffering but to promote positive emotional states, yet measuring positive affect in cats is challenging. This overview surveys approache…

Some Toxoplasma infections in southern sea otters involve unusual atypical genotypes, including a so-called Type X strain rarely seen in domestic cats. This overview surveys research suggesting that w…