Roaming Companion Cats as Potential Causes of Conflict and Controversy: A Representative Questionnaire Study of the Danish Public

Abstract

Cats have grown in popularity as companion animals, but there are also people who strongly dislike them. Companion cats allowed to roam freely outdoors are seen by some as a nuisance. This paper, drawing on research conducted in Denmark, aims to quantify potentially conflicting attitudes to cats among the public that may feed into cat-related conflicts and controversies. Questionnaire data were collected from a representative sample of the Danish population (n = 2,003), where 21% (n = 415) owned cats and 79% (n = 1,588) did not. In all, 65% of respondents confirmed that they liked cats, 21% reported that they did not, and 14% were undecided. The main reasons for disliking cats concerned "behavior," not hazards such as the spread of diseases and predation. Of the 21% of the surveyed Danes who reported that they currently had a cat in the household, 72% allowed their cat to roam outdoors. Sixty percent of the respondents did not perceive this as a problem. However, the potential for conflict was demonstrated by the fact that 27% of respondents regarded outdoor roaming as problematic. Of these, about a quarter saw free-roaming cats as a big problem and as a cause of strife between neighbors. Comparatively fewer of those who owned cats saw their animals as a cause of problems. Thus, only 12% of those owning outdoor cats thought that problems were

Identification of separation-related problems in domestic cats: A questionnaire survey

“…As the cat gains greater popularity as a companion animal [10,11], there is increasing need for knowledge about the human-cat relationship and how it affects cats' behavior and welfare [12,13]. There is a belief that cats can easily cope with the owners' absence for long periods of time and few studies have been conducted to support that assumption [14].…”

The Significance of Social Perceptions in Implementing Successful Feral Cat Management Strategies: A Global Review

“…A Danish study found that most of the population, about 60%, did not see a problem with allowing cats to roam freely, while about 27% did consider them to be an issue [80]. The other 13% in this study had no opinion on the topic.…”

“…The other 13% in this study had no opinion on the topic. Most of the people who did consider roaming cats to be a problem had never had a cat for a pet, and those that had were more likely to accept the free roaming of cats [80]. Though perhaps not directly labelled as feral cats in the study, the sentiment of non-cat owners expressing stronger dislike for roaming cats may present a common theme in studies of perception around feral cats and their management, and should be carefully considered [80].…”

“…Along with the general public’s perceptions, different stakeholder groups often hold their own views on feral cats, which may be linked to the nature of and culture within the group [80]. Natural resource managers, conservation groups, and landowners that have dealt directly with feral cats are knowledgeable and aware of the impacts that they can cause to the natural environment, and will normally take steps to mitigate these impacts [2,31].…”

Change the Humans First: Principles for Improving the Management of Free-Roaming Cats

“…Selecting the appropriate message framing, i.e., how the issue is presented, is an important consideration [71,72]. Many target audiences of free-roaming cat communications have strongly held beliefs and attitudes on the subject [41,73,74,75,76,77]. Using frames that match audience values and concerns will get the message noticed, processed and acted upon [72,78].…”