Anthropogenic food provisioning and cat-keeping practices of urban households in Yucatán, Mexico
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1
Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico
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2
Independent researcher, Mexico
Domestic cats (Felis catus) are precocious species that when left uncontrolled can grow to levels that exceed the capacity of the environment. Cats are generally found on the streets of Mérida City, and a wide array of zoonoses (e.g. Toxoplasmosis), that have cats as hosts, have been reported in the Yucatán Peninsula. Both owned (if allowed outdoors) and unowned cats comprise a free-roaming (FR) cat population. Outdoor cats can be easily confused with unowned cats, and households can be visited by both cat categories. Cat-keeping practices, such as allowing cats outdoors, and using or not a litter box, are factors that could influence cat population dynamics and zoonoses transmission. Furthermore, anthropogenic food provisioning of free-roaming cats can contribute to increased immunity, and have an effect in population density. A survey was conducted, using a convenience sample of clients that visited veterinary practices in Mérida City, Mexico. Two multivariable random effects logistic regression models were developed with individual cat data for the dependent variables: allowed outdoors, and sterilization. Dependent variables included spatial data of two city areas. We analyzed 306 questionnaires from 19 practices. About half of all households (including non cat-owning households) reported visits from FR cats (further referred to as “visiting cats”, and in about one third of households FR cats were fed. More households reported visiting cats (n=74, 78%) if FR cats were fed compared to non-feeding households (n=87, 41%) (χ2=33.5, df=1, p<0.001). In cats from cat-keeping households, the majority of cats were acquired from the street 60% (n=289), and 61% (n=325) were allowed outdoors. Most cats (65%, n=338) were sterilized with differences among males (61%) and females (69%) (p=0.05). About half (n=271, 51%) of cats had rabies vaccination, and about one fourth of cats (n=136, 26%) other vaccines, also with differences among sterilized and non-sterilized cats.
Keywords:
Cat management,
zoonosis,
Free roaming,
Public Health,
Mexico
Conference:
GeoVet 2019. Novel spatio-temporal approaches in the era of Big Data, Davis, United States, 8 Oct - 10 Oct, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Regular oral presentation
Topic:
Spatial data sources, open data, accessibility and information integration
Citation:
Oseguera Montiel
D and
Ruiz Izaguiire
E
(2019). Anthropogenic food provisioning and cat-keeping practices of urban households in Yucatán, Mexico.
Front. Vet. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
GeoVet 2019. Novel spatio-temporal approaches in the era of Big Data.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fvets.2019.05.00055
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Received:
31 May 2019;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Eliza Ruiz Izaguiire, Independent researcher, Merida, Mexico, eliza.ruizizaguirre@gmail.com