Pet cat personality linked to owner-reported predation frequency

Abstract

The domestic cat, Felis catus, is one of the most popular and widespread domestic animals. Because domestic cats can reach high population densities and retain at least some tendency to hunt, their overall impact on wildlife can be severe. Domestic cats have highly variable predation rates depending on the availability of prey in their environment, their owners' practices, and individual cat characteristics. Among these characteristics, cat personality has recently been hypothesized to be an important factor contributing to variations in the hunting activity of cats. In this study, we surveyed 2508 cat owners living in France about their cats' personalities, using the Feline Five personality framework, and the frequency with which cats bring home prey. Personality traits were analyzed using factor analysis and related to predation frequency using cumulative logit models. For both birds and small mammals, cats with high levels of extraversion or low levels of neuroticism had significantly higher frequencies of prey return. Owners whose cats had low levels of agreeableness or high levels of dominance reported a significantly lower frequency of bird return. Personality differences therefore seem to contribute to the high variability in predation rates among domestic cats. We also found that the owner-reported prey return frequencies were significantly higher for cats spending more time outdoors, for non-pedigree cats, and for owners living in rural or suburban areas as opposed to urban areas. By contrast, we did not detect an effect of cat sex or age on their reported prey return rates.

Keywords: depredation; domestic cats; personality traits; urbanization.

FIGURE 1

Exploratory factor analysis model of cat personality with four factors.

FIGURE 2

Results of the final CLM1 model of the owner‐reported frequencies of birds returned home (n = 719). (a) Table of odd ratios, confidence intervals, and Wald tests on the predictor variables. The significant results are indicated in bold. (b) Graphical representation of the results for all the quantitative variables. (c) Graphical representation of the owner‐reported frequencies of birds returned home according to the three environments. Different letters indicate significant differences evidenced in the post hoc tests (including a holm correction). (d) Graphical representation of the owner‐reported frequencies of birds returned home in the six studied breeds. No ped non‐pedigree, BEN, Bengal; BRI, British shorthair; MCO, Maine coon; PER, Persian; RAG, ragdoll; SBI, Birman. Letters indicate significative differences evidenced in the post hoc tests (including a holm correction).

FIGURE 3

Results of the final CLM2 model regarding the owner‐reported frequencies of mammals returned home (n = 719). (a) Table of odd ratios, confidence intervals, and Wald tests on the predictor variables. The significant results are indicated in bold. (b) Graphical representation of the results for all the quantitative variables. (c) Graphical representation of the owner‐reported frequencies of mammals returned home according to the three environments. Different letters indicate significant differences evidenced in the post hoc tests (including a holm correction). (d) Graphical representation of the owner‐reported frequencies of mammals returned home in the six studied breeds. Non‐ped non‐pedigree, BEN, Bengal; BRI, British shorthair; MCO, Maine coon; PER, Persian; RAG, ragdoll; SBI, Birman. Letters indicate significant differences evidenced in the post hoc tests (including a holm correction).