Talk:Cat#Mating behavior video vs. still photo

Article claims that stray cats are leading to the extinction of birds and small animals.

This is not supported by any linked source, and all evidence (including RSPB studies) show that cats have a negligible impact on local animal populations. 86.161.76.245 (talk) 23:07, 20 February 2025 (UTC)

:@86.161.76.245 one word, australia. Emalin1005 (talk) 01:41, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

::That is indeed one word. —Tamfang (talk) 20:36, 11 May 2025 (UTC)

:@86.161.76.245 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 Emalin1005 (talk) 01:57, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

The source for the claim given here merely reproduces a different wording for the claim, never pointing to actual studies where it would have been assessed. It's even worded as something on which such unnamed experts "seem to agree." "Many feline behaviorists as well as child psychologists seem to agree that the intelligence of an adult cat equals that of a 2 to 3 year old child." No further elaboration, only catophile jokes, and more questionable claims, like the cat being the most intelligent domestic animal. If one wants a decent reference for some kind of cat supremacy point, perhaps this would be better: "It is noteworthy that cats made the picture-word association after only brief exposure. Most cats habituated to the stimulus pairing after 4 trials (Table 1), which means that they received only 9 s exposures in two trials for each picture-word pair. In a study of human infant, infants received at least four 20-sec trials for an picture-word pair1. Our results reveal that cats make associations with even less exposure." -- from [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-74006-2 Nature.com, "Rapid formation of picture-word association in cats."] Although I'd not phrase it in made-up IQ scales, nor saying that cats are more than twice as intelligent as those human infants, but something more cautious and specific like "one study suggests that cats can learn word-picture associations faster than human infants" (maybe further check their age there somewhere). A related interesting study cited has that cats even learn their cat-friends names given by people, as long as they lived with a small number of cats. 177.152.86.149 (talk) 03:42, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

:I deleted the claim and tagged the relevant paragraph with citation needed as the source provided was a Wordpress site and not a reliable source. Traumnovelle (talk) 23:23, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

While the article describes the various habitats of feral cats and how they can live anywhere, this is not so much the case for domestic pet cats. Additional details on the safety of pet cats when having one that lives inside/outside would be useful for pet owners, especially so they can see the risks associated with having a cat who lives fully indoors or outdoors. Pet.rat.enthusiast (talk) 23:20, 24 March 2025 (UTC)

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The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=QATT&redirect=no QATT] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at {{section link|1=Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 March 25#QATT}} until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 21:18, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

Catnip is mentioned in the article but it doesn't go in-depth about its effects on cats, why they react the way they do, or how to use catnip to play with or reward one's cats. Pet.rat.enthusiast (talk) 22:21, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

:That sort of information (minus rewarding the cat, see WP:NOTGUIDEBOOK) is appropriate for the article on cat nip, not this article. Traumnovelle (talk) 23:06, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

::Thanks for the answer! I suppose then it would be more useful to go farther in depth about rewarding cats with catnip. Pet.rat.enthusiast (talk) 23:17, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

I added reports of cats biting fingers off babies and eating them and a cat sitting on the face of a baby to warm up, killing it by suffocation. Remsense apparently thought that was not important knowledge and reverted my edits. Infectious diseases transmitted by cats are noteworthy, though. Darsie42 (talk) 14:30, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

: If those stories are completely true, they are still rare freak incidents. They are only covered in primary news resources. If there was a real risk of cats causing harm this would be covered in reliable secondary sources.  —  Jts1882 | talk  14:50, 6 April 2025 (UTC)

:Probably true if it was a tiger. Do you know how easy it is to stop a house cat from doing that stuff? Try what my mom did, throw a blanket on them. It sounds like you just hate cats. LexyLovesLife (talk) 11:04, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

The fourth paragraph in the intro says "The United States leads in cat ownership with 73.8 million cats despite having a significantly smaller human population"

This doesn't make any sense as the population of the United States is over 300 million so not sure how 300 million is seen as significantly spaller than 73 million. The page is semi-protected so I can't edit it to fix. 217.72.123.198 (talk) 10:29, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

:It was referring to China. I removed the statement because the comparison is seemingly random. Traumnovelle (talk) 21:20, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

{{edit semi-protected|Cat|answered=yes}}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, cat ownership was reported to provide emotional support, with many owners perceiving their cats as sources of comfort and companionship that helped alleviate stress and loneliness.{{cite journal |last1=Jezierski |first1=Tadeusz |last2=Camerlink |first2=Irene |last3=Peden |first3=Rachel S. E. |last4=Chou |first4=Jen-Yun |last5=Sztandarski |first5=Patryk |last6=Marchewka |first6=Joanna |title=Cat owners’ perception on having a pet cat during the COVID-19 pandemic |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=16 |issue=10 |pages=e0257671 |date=October 20, 2021 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0257671 |pmid=34673756 |pmc=8528273 |url=https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0257671}} Dr Joanna Marchewka (talk) 10:56, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

:Comment. While PLOS ONE appears to be a scholarly journal with a solid editorial process, the editor proposing the edit, based on username, is an author of the study, and the request is that user's sole edit to date. —C.Fred (talk) 11:08, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

: I think that this reference is more relevant to the article on the pandemic than for this on the domestic cat. – BhagyaMani (talk) 11:40, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

:File:X mark.svg Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{Tlx|Edit semi-protected}} template. It is not clear where the information would go or whether it is WP:DUE in this article. Perception312 (talk) 20:59, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

{{reflisttalk}}

Under the 'taste' section of the article, I just found a small grammar hiccup, in the quote "...leaving them with no ability to taste sweetness. But they do have taste bud receptors...". I suggest that the second sentence just be changed to start with "However, they do have taste bud receptors..." to make it flow more smoothly. HalcyonSky18 (talk) 13:31, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

Courchamp et al. (2001) says cats are a major factor, "In particular, introduced feral cats are known to be a major threat to many island bird species", but also passages like "Rats have a lower predation rate on birds than cats, but they are much more numerous and can have a higher impact on the prey"; "over the last 400 years, rats and cats are said to be responsible for 54% and 26% of island extinctions caused by predators, respectively". The present prose is fine and doesn't misconstrue the source. The entire point of invoking the mesopredator release concept is that cats cannot be characterized simply as the "dominant" factor. Good grief. Remsense ‥ 论 16:04, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

:Acknowledging my support/consensus for the long-standing wording as it accurately represents the source. Traumnovelle (talk) 20:25, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

::I deleted mention of the mesopredator release effect [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cat&curid=6678&diff=1290460912&oldid=1289748936] because it was wildly undue for a single paragraph on the relevant topic, cat predation of wildlife. Note that this secondary literature review, Review and synthesis of the global literature on domestic cat impacts on wildlife [https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.13745] only devotes a single sentence to it. I also suspect that the article text, {{tq|In nearly all cases, the cat cannot be identified as the sole cause for reducing the numbers of island birds}} is likely false and that this literature review, which says, {{tq|A vast global literature documents that free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) have substantial negative effects on wildlife, including through predation, fear, disease and competition-related impacts that have contributed to numerous wildlife extinctions and population declines worldwide.}} is a much more authoritative source. Geogene (talk) 23:32, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

:::The review contains: 'Although no studies showed only positive effects, eight studies showing negative effects also found significant positive associations between cats and one or more response variable. One of these studies found a positive association with species richness of non-native birds, and six found positive associations on some oceanic islands where cats are top or middle-level predators that, in some cases, suppress negative impacts on wildlife by depredating invasive predators such as rats.' Traumnovelle (talk) 00:46, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

::::Yes, six studies out of sixty three found evidence of a mesopredator release effect. But this article was devoting 35 out of 203 words in total, or 17% of the relevant content about the global effects cats have on wildlife, to talk about this obscure phenomenon that's only relevant to certain oceanic islands. This is WP:UNDUE. Geogene (talk) 00:58, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

:::::Did all 57 of those studies evaluate parameters that relate to the mesopredator release effect? Traumnovelle (talk) 01:01, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

:::::While I've got Word Counter open, let me also point out that this literature review is about 6,250 words long, and devotes 32 of them to the mesopredator release effect.

:::::Add by edit: I found another sentence in the review discussing the mesopredator release effect: {{tq|A few studies on islands found cats have apparent positive effects by depredating other invasive predators (Courchamp et al., 1999), but even in these cases, removing both cats and their invasive prey provides the greatest benefit to wildlife (Rayner et al., 2007).}} This reinforces my opinion that Courchamp (1999) is a minority POV, or a very minor aspect of a global problem, that shouldn't be included in such a brief treatment of this subject. The review makes it clear enough that cats do not benefit wildlife. Geogene (talk) 01:53, 15 May 2025 (UTC)