Owner-ascribed personality profiles distinguish domestic cats that capture and bring home wild animal prey

Abstract

In many ecological contexts, predation of wildlife by domestic cats Felis catus, combined with their abundance, is a threat to biodiversity conservation. The predatory behaviour of domestic cats shows remarkable between-individual variation. Many free-roaming cats living as companion animals capture, kill and/or bring home few or no prey, while others are prolific killers and likely contribute disproportionately to any impacts upon wild animal populations. Recent work has identified five owner-ascribed personality factors for cats (“The Feline Five”). We tested whether variation in scores for these five factors, quantifying owners’ characterisation of their cats, was associated with capturing and bringing home wild prey, and was related to variation among cats in numbers of recorded prey. We recruited owners of domestic cats kept as companion animals in southwest England. Owners completed a questionnaire assessing their cats’ behavioural traits, and recorded prey items brought home by their pets. Cats that hunted and brought home wild prey scored high for ‘extraversion’ or low for ‘neuroticism’, when compared to cats that did not bring home wild prey. However, variation in the numbers of prey items captured and brought home by hunting cats was not affected by scores for any of the factors. Owner characterisation of their cats’ personalities holds potential to refine approaches for managing hunting by cats, including approaches that do not compromise cat welfare while effectively reducing predation. For example, extraverted cats might be stimulated and encouraged in physical activity through object play in the home environment, with the aim of decreasing hunting motivation. Cat owners might also be more inclined to adopt strategies that they believe better suit their perceptions of their cat’s personality.