Cat Sense Part 10

3. See, for example, Britta Tschanz, Daniel Hegglin, Sandra Gloor, and Fabio Bontadina, "Hunters and Non-hunters: Skewed Predation Rate by Domestic Cats in a Rural Village," European Journal of Wildlife Research 57 (2011): 597602. The University of Georgia Kitty Cam project recorded 30 percent of outdoor cats capturing and killing prey; see www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/domestic-cat-camera.html. This reduced to 15 percent if indoor-only cats were included.

4. See tinyurl.com/ak8c4ne.

5. Keen gardeners also seem to detest cats; a 2003 survey commissioned by the UK's Mammal Society as further grist for their campaign against cat owners.h.i.+p found that cats were rated alongside rats and moles as the mammals gardeners least like to see in their gardens.

6. Natalie Anglier, "That Cuddly Kitty Is Deadlier than You Think," New York Times, January 29, 2013, tinyurl.com/bb4nmpb; and Annalee Newitz, "Domestic Cats Are Destroying the Planet," io9, January 29, 2013, tinyurl.com/adhczar.

7. Ross Galbreath and Derek Brown, "The Tale of the Lighthouse-keeper's Cat: Discovery and Extinction of the Stephens Island Wren (Traversia lyalli)," Notornis 51 (2004): 193200; available online at notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_51_4_193.pdf.

8. B. J. Karl and H. A. Best, "Feral Cats on Stewart Island: Their Foods, and Their Effects on Kakapo," New Zealand Journal of Zoology 9 (1982): 28793. Despite this study, the cats on Stewart Island were subsequently exterminated, but (as predicted from the study) the kakapo continued to decline, and eventually scientists moved all the survivors to another, predator-free island.

9. Scott R. Loss, Tom Will, and Peter P. Marra, "The Impact of Free-ranging Domestic Cats on Wildlife of the United States," Nature Communications (2013): DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2380.

10. Cats may not be a recent introduction to Australia: it has been suggested that feral cats actually spread there several thousand years ago from Southeast Asia, following the same route as the dingo, the Australian feral dog. See Jonica Newby, The Pact for Survival: Humans and Their Companion Animals (Sydney, Australia: ABC Books, 1997), 193.

11. Christopher R. d.i.c.kman, "House Cats as Predators in the Australian Environment: Impacts and Management," HumanWildlife Conflicts 3 (2009): 4148.

12. Ibid.

13. Maggie Lilith, Michael Calver, and Mark Garkaklis, "Do Cat Restrictions Lead to Increased Species Diversity or Abundance of Small and Medium-sized Mammals in Remnant Urban Bushland?" Pacific Conservation Biology 16 (2010): 16272.

14. James Fair, "The Hunter of Suburbia," BBC Wildlife, November 2010, 6872; available online at www.discoverwildlife.com/british-wildlife/cats-and-wildlife-hunter-suburbia. The study Fair reports on was conducted by Rebecca Thomas at the University of Reading.

15. Loss, Will, and Marra, note 9.

16. Ibid.

17. Philip J. Baker, Susie E. Molony, Emma Stone, Innes C. Cuthill, and Stephen Harris, "Cats about Town: Is Predation by Free-ranging Pet Cats Felis catus Likely to Affect Urban Bird Populations?" Ibis 150, Suppl. 1 (2008): 8699.

18. Andreas A. P. Mller and Juan D. Ibez-lamo, "Escape Behaviour of Birds Provides Evidence of Predation Being Involved in Urbanization," Animal Behaviour 84 (2012): 34148.

19. Eduardo A. Silva-Rodrguez and Kathryn E. Sieving, "Influence of Care of Domestic Carnivores on Their Predation on Vertebrates," Conservation Biology 25 (2011): 80815. The cat and rat experiment was conducted in the early 1970s, when the ethics of animal experimentation were different than they are today; Robert E. Adamec, "The Interaction of Hunger and Preying in the Domestic Cat (Felis catus): An Adaptive Hierarchy?" Behavioral Biology 18 (1976): 26372.

20. See the video at "Cat's Bibs Stop Them Killing Wildlife," Reuters, May 29, 2007; tinyurl.com/c9jfn36.

21. For more detailed advice, see www.rspb.org.uk/advice/gardening/unwantedvisitors/cats/birdfriendly.aspx.

22. David Cameron Duffy and Paula Capece, "Biology and Impacts of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 7. The Domestic Cat (Felis catus)," Pacific Science 66 (2012): 173212.

23. Andrew P. Beckerman, Michael Boots and Kevin J. Gaston, "Urban Bird Declines and the Fear of Cats," Animal Conservation 10 (2007): 320325.

24. See www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/m/magpie/effect_on_songbirds.aspx.

25. James Childs, "Size-dependent Predation on Rats (Rattus norvegicus) by House Cats (Felis catus) in an Urban Setting," Journal of Mammalogy 67 (1986): 19699.

Chapter 11.

1. John W. S. Bradshaw, Rachel Casey, and Sarah Brown, The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat, 2nd ed. (Wallingford, UK: CAB International, 2012), chapter 11.

2. Darcy Spears, "Contact 13 Investigates: Teens Accused of Drowning Kitten Appear in Court," June 28, 2012, www.ktnv.com/news/local/160764205.html.

3. Summaries are available in several expert reports, including those commissioned by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the a.s.sociate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, and the UK Kennel Club in partners.h.i.+p with the rehoming charity Dogs Trust. See www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/dogs/health/pedigreedogs.

4. Domestic dogs have, of course, been selected for this trait throughout their a.s.sociation with man, since it is primarily their affection for us that makes them trainable.

5. Eileen Karsh, "Factors Influencing the Socialization of Cats to People," in The Pet Connection: Its Influence on Our Health and Quality of Life, ed. Robert K. Anderson, Benjamin L. Hart, and Lynette A. Hart (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984), 20715.

6. You can find additional details of the introduction procedure on the Cats Protection website, www.cats.org.uk/cat-care/cat-care-faqs.

7. See the box in chapter 6 on clicker training. You can view a video of Dr. Sarah Ellis using clicker training to persuade a cat to walk into its cat carrier at www.fabcats.org/behaviour/training/videos.html (icatcare.org).

8. See Vicky Halls's article, for example, on the Feline Advisory Bureau website, www.fabcats.org/behaviour/scratching/article.html (icatcare.org).

9. For more information on declawing, written by a veterinarian, see "A Rational Look at Declawing from Jean Hofve, DVM" (2002), declaw.lisaviolet.com/declawdrjean2.html.

10. This constraint does not apply so much to dogs. Most pedigree dog breeds were originally derived from working types-terriers, herding dogs, guard-dogs, pack-hounds, and so on-and although the show-ring has diluted out much of their characteristic behavior, some still remains. Moreover, some working breed clubs have deliberately kept their lines separate to perpetuate the genes that enable their dogs to perform their traditional functions.

11. The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, "The Story of the Ragam.u.f.fin Cat" (2012), www.gccfcats.org/breeds/ragam.u.f.fin.html.

12. Debbie Connolly, "Bengals as Pets" (2003), www.bengalcathelpline.co.uk/bengalsaspets.htm.

13. Charlotte Cameron-Beaumont, Sarah Lowe, and John Bradshaw, "Evidence Suggesting Preadaptation to Domestication throughout the Small Felidae," Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 75 (2002): 36166. This study included sixteen leopard cats and six Geoffroy's cats.

14. Susan Saulny, "What's Up, p.u.s.s.ycat? Whoa!" New York Times, May 12, 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/fas.h.i.+on/thursdaystyles/12cats.html.

15. John W. S. Bradshaw, Giles F. Horsfield, John A. Allen, and Ian H. Robinson, "Feral Cats: Their Role in the Population Dynamics of Felis catus," Applied Animal Behaviour Science 65 (1999): 27383.

16. In this context, neutering can be conceived of as a "meme," a concept that spreads, rather like a virus, from one human brain to another, producing biological consequences. See Susan J. Blackmore, The Meme Machine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

Acknowledgments.

I began studying cat behavior more than thirty years ago, first at the Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition, later at the University of Southampton, and now at the University of Bristol's Anthrozoology Inst.i.tute. Much of what I've learned has come from painstaking observation of cats themselves: my own, my neighbors', cats in adoption centers, the family of cats that used to share the Anthrozoology Inst.i.tute's offices, and many ferals and farm cats.

Compared to the large number of canine scientists, rather few academics specialize in feline science, and even fewer make the domestic cat the focus of their attention. Those I've had the privilege of working with and who've helped me to form my ideas about how cats see the world include Christopher Thorne, David Macdonald, Ian Robinson, Sarah Brown, Sarah Benge (nee Lowe), Deborah Smith, Stuart Church, John Allen, Ruud van den Bos, Charlotte Cameron-Beaumont, Peter Neville, Sarah Hall, Diane Sawyer, Suzanne Hall, Giles Horsfield, Fiona Smart, Rhiann Lovett, Rachel Casey, Kim Hawkins, Christine Bolster, Elizabeth Paul, Carri Westgarth, Jenna Kiddie, Anne Seawright, Jane Murray, and others too numerous to list.

I've also learned a great deal from discussions with colleagues both at home and abroad, including the late Professor Paul Leyhausen, Dennis Turner, Gillian Kerby, Eugenia Natoli, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Sandra McCune, James Serpell, Lee Zasloff, Margaret Roberts and her colleagues at Cats Protection, Diane Addie, Irene Rochlitz, Deborah Goodwin, Celia Haddon, Sarah Heath, Graham Law, Claire Bessant, Irene Rochlitz, Patrick Pageat, Danielle Gunn-Moore, Paul Morris, Kurt Kotrschal, Elly Hiby, Sarah Ellis, Britta Osthaus, Carlos Driscoll, Alan Wilson, and the late and much-missed Penny Bernstein. My thanks also to the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Medicine, especially Professors Christine Nicol and Mike Mendl, and Drs. David Main and Becky Whay, for nurturing the Anthrozoology Inst.i.tute and its research.

My studies of cats have relied on the cooperation of many hundreds of volunteer cat owners (and their cats!), to whom I will always be grateful. Much of our research would have been impossible without the unstinting a.s.sistance of the UK's re-homing charities, including the RSPCA, the Blue Cross, and St. Francis Animal Welfare, and I am especially grateful to Cats Protection for two decades of practical and financial a.s.sistance.

Summarizing nearly thirty years of research on cat behavior into a form intended to be appreciated by the average cat owner has not been an easy task. I have had expert guidance from Lara Heimert and Tom Penn, my editors at Basic and Penguin respectively, and my indefatigable agent Patrick Walsh. Thank you all.

As in my previous books, I've turned to my dear friend Alan Peters to bring some of the animals to life in the ill.u.s.trations, and just as before, he's done me more than proud.

Finally, I must thank my family for their forbearance for my enforced absences in what my granddaughter Beatrice calls "Pops' office."

end.