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. 2025 Mar 12;15(6):800.
doi: 10.3390/ani15060800.

Feline Farmhands: The Value of Working Cats to Australian Dairy Farmers-A Case for Tax Deductibility

Caitlin Crawford  1   2 , Jacquie Rand  1   2 , Olivia Forge  3 , Vanessa Rohlf  4 , Pauleen Bennett  4 , Rebekah Scotney  2
Affiliations

Feline Farmhands: The Value of Working Cats to Australian Dairy Farmers-A Case for Tax Deductibility

Caitlin Crawford et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Rodents play a role in the spread of disease and cause immense damage to produce and infrastructure, leading to food safety risks and economic losses for farmers. Farmers typically control rodent populations using rodenticide baits, which are expensive, and, when used incorrectly, are inefficient, and pose a risk to children, pets and wildlife. Cats may offer a safer, more efficient and cheaper option for farmers, but concerns for cats' impact on wildlife and possible negative outcomes for their own welfare may lead to them being underutilized. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 people from 9 dairy farms in two regions, we explored the value cats have to dairy farmers and the perceived impact of the Australian Tax Office making working cat care tax deductible. The data gathered during interviews indicated that uncontrolled rodent populations have a detrimental impact on dairy farms and showed that farmers valued having cats due to their efficiency in pest control, monetary savings and companionship. They struggled to cover the cost of cat care, however, particularly costs like sterilization and vaccination, which are necessary to enhance cat welfare and protect native wildlife from diseases and cat overpopulation. Our findings demonstrate that dairy farmers value the working cats on their farms for rodent control. Allowing cat care to be tax deductible may enable farmers to provide care such as sterilization, vaccination and food, potentially improving farmers' wellbeing and cat welfare whilst reducing cats' impact on wildlife. It is strongly recommended that relevant industry bodies gather additional evidence from both dairy and other types of farming operations, and if results are consistent with the findings from our study, they lobby state and federal governments to consider that cats kept on farms for rodent control be considered tax deductible as they are in the US and UK and are also exempt from state cat registration and permit costs as working dogs are in Australia.

Keywords: Australia; Australian Tax Office; animal welfare; dairy farms; domestic cats; feral cats; free-roaming cats; human wellbeing; rodent control; rodent overpopulation impacts; tax deductions; working animals.

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Conflict of interest statement

J.R. has an honorary position at the University of Queensland and is employed by the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation (APWF) which is a research based not-for-profit that undertakes research aimed at improving the health and welfare of dogs and cats and benefiting pets and the people who care for them. APWF is largely funded by philanthropic gifts. C.C. has an adjunct position as an Industry Fellow at the University of Queensland and is employed by APWF. R.S. is employed by the University of Queensland, and P.B. and V.R. by La Trobe University. V.R. is also a clinical counselor in private practice and provides consultancy services to individuals working in animal care and welfare. O.F. was a volunteer program manager with the Animal Welfare League NSW, a not-for-profit animal welfare organization, and received some remuneration from Landcare NSW for her work on the project.

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