ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2022
How Serious Are Health-Related Welfare Problems in Unowned Unsocialised Domestic Cats? A Study from Denmark Based on 598 Necropsies.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- An Investigation of Shelter Workers' Perspectives on the Assessment and Management of Unowned Cat Welfare in the United Kingdom.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Article
- Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score.Acta veterinaria Scandinavica · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
Free ranging unsocialised domestic cats are widely believed to suffer from a high load of welfare problems. We assessed the validity of this belief by performing necropsies on the corpses of 598 unsocialised cats, originating from all parts of Denmark, that had been euthanised by two Danish cat welfare organisations. We selected a number of variables for health-related cat welfare that could be assessed through necropsy (e.g., gross lesions, ectoparasites and body condition) or by laboratory analysis (e.g., infection with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), and by feline leukaemia virus (FeLV)). Each finding was classified as having either a major or minor welfare impact on the cat. More than 83% of the cats had no major finding, and 54% had no finding indicating a welfare issue at all. More than 83% of the cats had a body condition within normal range. Only 0.3% were emaciated. The most common finding was infestation with ectoparasites, with 15.9% infected with lice, 12.3% with fleas, 4.7% with ticks, and 6.7% with ear mites. FIV and FeLV were detected in 9.2% and 1.2% of the cases, respectively. The most common lesion related to the cats' teeth. Overall, unsocialised cats in Denmark have a moderate level of health-related welfare problems.
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