The Hidden Cost of Owning a Housecat in Australia: How It Affects the Native Fauna

Fans of the musical "Cats" will know that the naming of cats is a difficult matter, and that cats have three different names. The same is true of cats in New Zealand—there are three types: companion or pet cats that live with people and rely on them for their welfare, stray cats that may rely only partly on people for food and shelter and live around centers of human habitation, and feral cats that have minimal or no reliance on people, and that survive independently of the companion cat population.