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Feral Cats: A Mathematical Model

Feral Cats: A Mathematical Model. By: Caitlin Bryant and Jennifer Davis Math 352. Why feral cats…?. Feral cats are the offspring of stray and abandoned cats. Raised without human contact, they quickly convert to a wild state and form colonies wherever food and shelter can be found.

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Feral Cats: A Mathematical Model

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  1. Feral Cats: A Mathematical Model By: Caitlin Bryant and Jennifer Davis Math 352

  2. Why feral cats…? • Feral cats are the offspring of stray and abandoned cats. • Raised without human contact, they quickly convert to a wild state and form colonies wherever food and shelter can be found. • Some feline experts now estimate 60 million feral cats live in the United States, the consequence of little effort to control the population.

  3. Our Assumptions: • Assume a feral cat is any cat not considered a pet with an owner. • Assume that the amount of “owned cats” remains constant- 73 million. • Assume that 54% of all cats born are adopted. • Assume the growth and death rate remain constant. • Assume all cats we catch and fix are relocated to farms where they can control rodents. (There are 2 million U.S. farms with each farm averaging 449 acres) • There are roughly 115 million households in the U.S. (2010)

  4. The Numbers: • 133 million cats in the U.S. (73 million owned, 60 million feral) Therefore, 54% of all cats have owners. • For every human born in the U.S., 45 cats are born. • 4 million babies born in U.S. each year. Therefore, roughly 180 million cats born a year. • Only ½ of these kittens survive long enough for weaning. (90 million) • Since 54% are adopted, 48600000 are pet cats and 41400000 are feral. • Birth rate = .69 • On average, feral cats live roughly 4.7 years. Therefore, 194580000 are born every 4.7 years. Death rate = .21 • 3% of all cats are euthanized by the Humane Society each year. 1800 cats per year are fixed at monthly clinics.

  5. Our Mission: • Our goal is to reduce the amount of feral cats to 10 million by the Trap-Neuter-Release technique. After caught and fixed, each cat will be released on a farm where it can control rodents. Once we reach 10 million we will decrease our rate of TNR to maintain stability.

  6. Our Model: • = 60 million feral cats. • = The amount of feral cats the year before. • R (Growth Rate)= .69 • D (Death Rate)= .21 • C (Amount ‘we’ catch and fix)= .49 • E (amount euthanized)= 1.8 • H(amount Humane Society spays and neuters)= .0018

  7. Our Conclusions: • After creating our model we found that if our efforts of TNR remain at 49% until 2034, we will reach our goal of 10 million cats. • In order to maintain our desired amount of cats (10 million), we found that 32% of households should fix one cat a year. That is realistic!!

  8. Works Cited • http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0883511.html • http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/demographics.html • http://www.feralcat.com/kelson.html • http://www.humanesociety.org/animal_community/resources/qa/common_questions_on_shelters.html • http://www.kittencare.com/pregnancy_birth.html • http://www.babycenter.com/0_22-surprising-facts-about-birth-in-the-united-states_1372273.bc • http://catmanagement.blogspot.com/

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