How Many Domestic Cats Are In The World

How Many Breeds Are There

Finding out how many cat breeds exist in the world depends on where you look for your information. International cat registries and other organizations all list different qualifications for the breeds they accept, and the total number varies among themthough there are far fewer recognized cat breeds than there are dog breeds. While Encyclopedia Britannica only lists fifteen cat breeds, The International Cat Association, the world’s largest genetic registry of pedigreed cats, recognizes seventy-one different kinds. Many other well-recognized registries and associations tend to fall between those two numbers.

For example, The Cat Fanciers’ Association , the largest American cat registration body, recognizes forty-four different breeds as of 2018. Fédération Internationale Féline, with member organizations in forty countries, recognizes forty-eight breeds broken down into four categories.

There are a few reasons why various associations qualify cat breeds differently. The simplest reason is the overall classification. Some registries won’t consider non-pedigreed cats that don’t have their parents’ names and breeds traced back a certain number of generations. Additionally, some associations include multiple types of cats in one classification, while others separate them into their own categories. For example, the

So, how many cat breeds are there? There’s no single determined number just one more piece of evidence that cats like to follow their own rules.

How Many Tabby Cats Are There Around The World

Its not known exactly how many tabby cats there are around the world, however, estimates are in the hundreds of millions. Most domestic cats that you see will have this pattern.

Because cats reproduce at such a large rate, theres really no way to give an exact number. Also, the tabby gene is present in almost every cat, even if you cannot see it in the coat pattern. Some people also have mistaken their cats for not being tabby, especially if its a cat with agouti hairs or with a ticked coat pattern.

History Of Feline Domestication

The history of feline domestication goes back many years. In fact, it is believed that the first cats were domesticated around the year 7500 BCE in the Near East. Most scholars believe that the first cats were domesticated in ancient Egypt. Since then, domesticated cats have transformed into the most popular pet around the globe.

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How Do They Interact With Us

Domestic cats are highly valued as pets and as working animals throughout the world. They help to control rodent populations and have been used as animal subjects in behavioral and physiological research.

Wild cats are important members of natural ecosystems. They are instrumental in controlling populations of small mammals throughout their range.

• Ways that people benefit from these animals:

What Breed Is My Cat

Although it is impossible to determine your cats breed without inspecting it, it is our best bet that you have domestic long hair or short hair. In the United States, 95% of domestic house cats classify as domestic long hair or short hair breeds.

It is important to note that domestic long hair and short hair cats are distinct breeds from the American Shorthair. Interestingly, the most common cat breed is actually not recognized in terms of pedigree, but it just describes the domesticated cats we are most familiar with.

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How Long Can A Cat Go Without Food

The answer is fourteen days if the cat is healthy. Without food, the feline will start to use its fat stores for energy.

Contrary to popular belief, obese cats cannot survive without food for longer than other cats. In fact, fat cats who dont have access to food are more likely to develop hepatic Lipidosis and die in 210 days.

Declawing A Cat Can Cost The Owner Up To $450

Cats love to sharpen their claws, especially on your furniture. If this happens in your home, you might be asking, how much does it cost to declaw a cat?

Laser methods of declawing costs between $250 and $450, while conventional methods can range between $100 and $250, depending on the vet. Overnight stays and pre-procedure testing are also added to the cost.

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The International Cat Association

The International Cat Association is the most accepting organization by far regarding how many breeds it accepts. On top of 71 unique cat breeds that include the Devon Rex, Minuet, and Pixiebob, TICA also boasts breed categories for:

How Many Cats Are Killed Each Year

As we mentioned, approximately 860,000 cats are euthanized every year. Unfortunately, this happens due to overcrowding, illness, or old age.

Animal shelters euthanize more cats than dogs simply because there are more cats in them.

Of course, this number doesnt consider accidental deaths on roads, abuse, health issues, poisonings, and other cat deaths.

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Are There New Breeds Of Cats

The answer to this question is a clear and resounding yes. In 2018, the FCA introduced two new breeds: the Lykoi cat and the Khao Manee cat.

Even so, classification systems have remained unchanged for years. This is because these federations require compelling evidence in order to recognize a new domestic cat breed.

This sparse variety also has to do with pet protections and achieving above-average animal welfare. Because many breeds of domestic cats share genetic traits, theres a lot of potential for genetic diseases to spread.

Thats why the above associations are very careful when promoting cross-breeding and selective breeding as a way to create different breeds of cats. We must remember that animal welfare is most important of all.

As weve seen, theres no official number of cat breeds around the world. This is because different associations have distinct classification criteria when deciding if a cat should be its own breed. Despite all of this, we can confidently say that the number of cat breeds is much lower than that of dogs, which includes around 350 different breeds.

Variables Influencing Predation Rate By Domestic Cats

We assessed the effect of five variables on the killing rate by the 21 domestic cats that were intensively monitored for 1 year through mixed effect models computed in the R packages lme4 and MuMIn . The variables included in the models were: latitude, distance from the countryside , duration of cat outdoor activity , presence/absence of a collar with a bell , and sex . Bioclimatic ecoregions were included in the model as a random factor. Before running the model, we tested for multicollinearity among variables ; no collinearity was detected among our variables and, therefore, we included all of them in the total model. Non-significant variables were removed one at a time until the elimination of terms caused a significant increase in the residual deviance.

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Predation Rates Per Area

Given the lower and upper densities for roaming, hunting pet cats , the predation toll per unit area is 719013100 animals km2 per year . A few studies have attempted to estimate the predation toll by pet cats per unit area over smaller geographic areas, and their estimates are similar to that reported here. In Australia, Barratt derived estimates of 6660 prey km2 year1 for suburban Canberra, and Paton estimated 6000 vertebrates km2 year1 for urban Adelaide.

Barivel Longest Living Domestic Cat

Size: Owner: Breed:

Source: guinnessworldrecords.com

Barivel is the largest living domestic cat in the world. This impressive feline lives with his owners in Pavia, Italy, where he attracts lots of attention during his walksalthough sometimes its uncertain as to whether the attention is due to his massive size or the fact that hes often ushered through town in a buggy! Barivel is currently only about halfway through the usual four-year growing period of the breeds life, so he stands a good chance to get even larger still!

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Scarletts Magic Previously The Longest And Tallest Domestic Cat

Size: Owner:

Scarletts Magic is a remarkable cat, not only for her stunning beauty, but for the fact that shes the first animal to simultaneously hold two Guinness World Records. Not only thatshe broke the world record for the tallest domestic cat twice. The first time, she measured 16.49 inches from shoulder to toe. Later, she grew even taller and broke her own record.

More Than Half Of Pet Owners Got Their Pets To Keep Them Company

Cat stats reveal that pets are our best friends, and 52% of pet owners confirm that. Not only are pets great friends, but theyre also good therapists.

Some 49% of pet owners also claim that they got a pet to provide them a lovely home, while 40% got a pet in hopes of improving their mental health.

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What About New Breeds

Well-known pedigreed breeds like the Abyssinian earned formal recognition by the FIFe as early as 1949. Meanwhile, the Thai cats recognition came nearly 70 years later, in 2017. In other words, cat fancier organizations are always vying to expand their recognized breed database, though the requirements to add a new breed are quite stringent.

Take the example of new breeds in TICA.

To earn a spot as a preliminary new breed, there must be at least five breeders spanning three separate regions, ten litters, and 15 adults which can take several years on its own. For a new cat breed to become eligible for the elite championship status with TICA, there must be over 200 adult cats, 15 breeders, 25+ participating in TICA-hosted shows. In some cases, it could take several decades for a breed to reach this point.

To complicate matters even further, TICA dont accept all new breeds with open arms. For example, the GCCF refused to induct the Munchkin Cat into its association due to dangerous health concerns specifically joint and spinal issues resulting from the breeds abnormally short legs. And the CFA is reluctant to recognize any domestic breed mixed with a wildcat due to possible behavioral concerns.

What Percentage Of Cat Owners Are Female

The numbers report that 37% of men own a cat compared to 33% of women, breaking the stereotype of the crazy cat lady.

While waiting for some new data, we can only reflect on the numbers from a couple of years ago. As Mintel reports, men are more likely to own a cat, and Millennials ownership peaks.

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People Adopt Black Cats Too

It is a common misconception that black cats are unwanted or that they bring bad luck. Black cat adoption statistics show that black cats and kittens account for 31% of all adoptions.

Black cats indeed have higher euthanasia rates than other colors. This may be due to the dominant black color genes, which results in a large number of black cats in animal shelters.

Data Extraction And Standardization Of Predation Rates

Most studies report an estimate of cat predation rate or present data that allowed us to calculate this rate. When studies only reported predation rate estimates for all wildlife combined, we calculated separate predation rates by extracting taxa-specific prey counts from tables or figures and multiplying the total predation rate by the proportion of prey items in each taxon. If taxa-specific counts were not provided, we directly contacted authors to obtain this information. For studies that presented low, medium and high estimates or low and high estimates, we used the medium and average values, respectively. For studies that presented more than one predation estimate for cats with similar ranging behaviour , we calculated the average predation rate.

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The Predation Toll Of Pet Cats

Previous work has estimated the annual toll of cats in Australia on mammals, birds and reptiles, by combining estimates of the population sizes of cat in Australia with information on their predation rates from diet studies and cat owner surveys . Whereas variation in predation by feral cats was well represented by a large number of studies spread across Australia, information on predation by pet cats was more limited, being represented by three substantial Australian studies, and another four from overseas. Here, we attempt to improve our understanding of pet cat predation tolls by collating a larger set of studies conducted in Australia and overseas, using different subsets of these studies to derive the required statistics. Although it is difficult to extrapolate from tolls to impacts, we attempt to contextualise the potential impact of pet cats by converting the overall tolls into predation rates per unit area, and then comparing these predation rates with published equivalent estimates for feral cats, whose impacts are better described and understood.

Domestication Of The Cat

Felis catus as a species has thus arisen through wildcats living closely with humans. However, this should not be regarded as domestication in the same way that dogs and other animals have been domesticated. In general, cats have not undergone major changes during domestication and their form and behaviour remain very similar to that of their wildcat ancestors. They remain perfectly capable of surviving in the wild, and indeed many revert to a feral or wild existence.

The two main theories surrounding the domestication of cats are that either the original wildcats ;were deliberately tamed and selected for friendliness, or that rather than being specifically selected they were more tolerated by humans and gradually diverged from their wild relatives through natural selection and adaptation to hunting the vermin found around human settlements. The latter is probably more likely, at least in the early stages of taming, as other animals such as ferrets and dogs would actually have been much more effective and efficient if human control of vermin had been the purpose. In either scenario, several traits of cats, including their small size, social nature, body language, love of play, high intelligence and perhaps an inborn tendency among all small felids towards tameness, may have facilitated their domestication.

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% Of Cat Owners Who Sleep With Their Pets Are Satisfied With Their Sleep

Cuddling with pets isnt only cute, but it also improves our sleep. Moreover, 76% of people who sleep with their pets feel loved, 68% feel comfortable, and 61% feel connected.

When it comes to dogs vs. cats statistics, cat owners are the ones to share a blanket or a pillow with their pet more often.

Cat Owners Its Time To Talk About You

You might argue that cats dont have owners and that in reality, were just mere servants chosen by our feline masters and I couldnt agree more! So perhaps the question is how many cats are living with humans?;

In 1985, approximately 95.6 million cats lived in US homes, while in Europe it was 66.5 million, exceeding the number of dogs. Years later, a study in 2007, showed that more than 500 million cats lived with humans all over the world.;

These studies usually dont include farm cats whose number per farmhouse can be anywhere from 20 to 50 cats. Even though technically they do live with humans, farm cats mostly rely on killing rodents to survive and any other prey available to them. In a sense, they are considered service animals rather than house animals.;

An interesting fact about cat owners is that even though cat ownership is commonly associated with women, a 2007 poll in the US showed that both men and women were likely to have a cat and many statistics show that the same number of men and women own cats. So, it comes as no surprise that the term cat-daddy has been very popular these past few years.;

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Domestic Cats And The Nature Directives

Many international legal instruments for biodiversity conservation require their contracting parties to prevent or mitigate the adverse impacts of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife, particularly through obligations addressing invasive alien species, protected areas and generic species protection. The Nature Directives are no exception to this pattern.

Approximately 10% Of Americans Feed Community Cats

Community cats encompass both feral and stray felines, but feral and stray cats are not the same.

A stray cat used to be someones pet and is accustomed to human contact, while feral cats were born and raised in the wild and had little contact with humans.

Both types of cats can be domesticated with time and patience.

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Population Distribution Of Wild Cats

Wild cats can be found all over the world, though most people associate wild cats with Africa. This is because some of the most notorious wild cats are from Africa, such as Lions. Even though Africa is associated most commonly with wild cats, you can find them all across the globe.

You can find wild cats on nearly every continent, including Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia, and Africa. You can even find them in Antarctica and the Arctic. With that being said, many islands, Australia, and the Poles only have wild cats because they were brought by humans. In fact, many people wonder if the Americas only have cats due to settlers long ago.

Because of settlers, though, you can find cats everywhere around the globe today. Africa, for example, has some of the oldest cats in the world and they are home to both large and small cat varieties. Similarly, Asia has a very long cat history, and they are home to the largest cats, the Siberian Tiger.

Wild cats are native to Europe too, but Europe is only home to modern small cat varieties, such as the Scottish Wild cat or Eurasian Lynx. Shockingly, larger cat breeds used to roam Europe as well.

North America and South America, however, have both small and large cat varieties, though their large cats are not as big as those found in Asia or Africa. Still, the largest living cat in the world can be found in Florida. It is a Liger named Hercules.