Why do people feed stray cats?

Coleman, G., & Coffey, M. Food for thought–why do people feed stray cats?.

What cats are we talking about?

- Semi-owned cats are stray cats that are fed by people who do not consider themselves to own the cat.

What did we research?

- Australia wide online survey

– Demographics

– Feeding stray cats (where, how many, how long etc.)

– Attitudes:

– about feeding stray cats

– about important others’ view of their feeding stray cats

– about perceived control over feeding stray cats

What we found:

– Semi-owners

* Most are women

* Most are middle aged or older

* Most feed one cat daily or every few days, in their home or within their property and have done so for several months or more

* Most cats that semi-owners feed are able to be picked up or at least patted

* Can also be pet owners

– Attitudes correlated with semi-ownership:

* Benevolent attitudes about the outcomes of feeding for the cat

* Positive attitudes about outcomes for the person doing the feeding

* Belief of support from important others to semi-own

– We can predict semi-ownership based primarily on beliefs about positive outcomes of feeding (behavioural beliefs)

* These beliefs outweigh any influence other factors

Why is this knowledge important?

– Semi-ownership:

* It’s a result of benevolent beliefs

* Semi-owned cats are in good body condition

* Many semi-owned cats are tolerant of human interaction

* But….

- Semi-owned cats are in the main un-desexed

- There are estimated to be 500 000 stray cats in Victoria alone

- semi-owned cats aid in maintaining this

- Semi-owned cats have much shorter lives than responsibly owned cats

- Semi-owned cats suffer with disease and injury

– Semi-owned cats make up a significant proportion of shelter admissions

– 64,000++ unwanted cats are admitted to shelters annually in Australia

* 60-74% of admitted cats are euthanized

Food for thought….

- Nearly ¼ of Victorians semi-own cats

- We know benevolent beliefs drive this behaviour

- We know many semi-owned cats have poor welfare

 - Challenging/changing beliefs an important part of effecting change

– Could people’s benevolent attitudes be better directed to benefit semi-owned

cat welfare?

* What are the barriers to taking the next steps (responsible ownership)?

– Continuing education on semi-owned cat welfare