Quantifying prey return rates of domestic cats in the UK
Data files
May 02, 2025 version files 772.10 KB
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Data1_Prey.xlsx
313.55 KB
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Data2_Cats.xlsx
456.20 KB
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README.md
2.34 KB
Abstract
Non‐native predators can cause great harm to natural ecosystems through competition for resources and by directly predating on native species. Domestic cats (Felis catus) predate on wild prey throughout the world and have been implicated in a number of species declines. However, in the UK, long‐term, widespread research is lacking.
The data provided here relate to prey returned home by pet cats in the UK over a total period of 3.5 years (ranging from one month to 3.5 years per cat). These data were collected by cat owners across the UK, noting details of the prey returned home by their cats monthly. Data were gathered upon registration regarding the age, sex, and body condition of participating cats, allowing for the analysis of the potential influence of such factors.
While most cats returned 0–1 prey per month, a small minority (n = 3 cats) returned over 15 individuals monthly. It is important that true predation rates (in addition to the return rates found here) are further explored and quantified, along with the actual impact that this has or does not have on prey populations.
[Access this dataset on Dryad](DOI: 10.5061/dryad.31zcrjdv9)
Description of the data and file structure
Data are presented in two files: ‘Data1_prey’ and ‘Data2_cats’.
Data1_prey.
This file contains details of all prey returned home by the cats monitored (n=553) over a total period of 3.5 years. Cat_ID is a unique identifier for each cat and Prey_ID is as given by owners or as verified by researchers thanks to photographs provided. Taxonomic group is then given, along with whether prey were dead or alive (or not recorded), what happened to the prey which were returned alive (for example, released), and whether returned whole, part-eaten, or witnessed by owners to be eaten. Age and sex were not required, but some participants gave this information in the related ‘notes’ section of the data return form. As such, there are many ‘NA’ datapoints for age and sex fields.
Data2_cats.
This file contains data relating to the participating cats and how many mammals and birds were returned per month of study. Cat_ID is the same unique identifier used in the ‘Data1_prey’ sheet and relates to an individual cat. For each cat, the month and year of study is given (one row per study month, per cat), along with the number of mammals and number of birds returned that month, regardless of species. Age categories are as follows: kitten (<1year), y_adult (1-6 years), o_adult (7-12 years), old (13 years+). Cat sex and whether neutered were also given. Body_cond relates to the body condition score (BCS) of each cat, as described by the owners, and categories are as follows: A (BCS of 1-3), B (BCS of 4-5), C (BCS of 6-7), D (BCS of 8-9). Also given is whether or not the cat had access to the outdoors via a cat flap, whether a belled collar was worn, and whether owners provided food for birds in their garden. there are no unknowns or NA values in this dataset.
Code/software
All GLMM analyses were conducted in a Bayesian framework, as the R packages available for zero-inflated mixed models in a frequentist context are very limited. Analyses were completed using R version 4.0.2 and R Studio version 1.0.153 (R Core Team 2016; R Studio Team 2020), utilising the package ‘R2jags’ (Su & Yajima 2020) and BUGS code from Zuur and Ieno (2016).