The Cats' Whiskers

A ‘Free Lunch’ is The Cat’s Whiskers:

University of Exeter study shows felines favour a ‘free lunch’ over hunted prey, such as birds and mammals: What the cat dragged isn’t driven by hunger, but by instinct.

Cat owners can thus support wildlife via 3 simple ‘win-win’ interventions:

• Fit a ‘BirdsBeSafe’ collar cover to deter birds
• Play with cats for 5-10mins a day to ‘scratch that itch’
• Feed cats premium meaty food

"Some owners may worry about restricting hunting because cats need nutrition from wild prey, but in fact it seems even prolific hunters don't actually eat much of the prey they catch."  - Dr Martina Cecchetti, University of Exeter

"Pet owners can help us reverse the shocking decline in songbirds via three simple, 'win-win' steps."  - Susan Morgan, CEO, SongBird Survival

Domestic cats that regularly catch wild animals still get most of their nutrition from food provided at home, new research shows.  University of Exeter scientists used forensic evidence from cats' whiskers using stable isotope analysis to see what regular hunters of wildlife had been eating. The results showed that about 96% of their diet came from food provided by their owners, while just 3-4% came from eating wild animals.

The full paper can be accessed here:

The publication follows on from our previous papers from this project