Effect of free-ranging domestic cats on small mammals.

Abstract

Few studies have been published on the effect of free-ranging domestic cats (Felis silvestris) on small mammal populations. During the summer of 1995 in the Flint Hills region of eastern Kansas, I implemented a study to compare small mammal relative abundance in areas with known numbers of cats (home sites) and areas with no cats (control sites). I chose four farms with eight cats and four farms with eighteen or more cats as study sites. Eight control sites with no cats were also located in the same region. Small mammal relative abundance was censused with standard small mammal trapping procedures. Using a paired-sample t-test, I compared small mammal relative abundance at home sites to control sites. Farms with eight resident cats had a small mammal relative abundance at home sites that was not significantly different (P > O.05) from control sites. Farms with eighteen or more resident cats had a small mammal relative abundance at home sites that was significantly lower (P < O.05) than control sites. My study suggests that, in areas with high numbers of cats, small mammal relative abundance is being limited within the cats' home ranges.