# The Cat Is Already Out of the Bag: Humane and Pragmatic Solutions for Cats on Dairy Farms. Reply to Calver et al. It’s Premature to Encourage Working Cats for Rodent Control on Australian Dairy Farms

## TL;DR

This paper argues for humane management of cats on Australian dairy farms to improve welfare, reduce disease risks, and align with farmer values.

## Contribution

The paper clarifies and defends a structured, humane approach to managing existing farm cats, emphasizing sterilization, care, and recognition as working animals.

## Key findings

- Farmers support recognizing cats as working animals to make care costs tax-deductible.
- Responsible cat management can reduce zoonotic disease risks and environmental impacts.
- Barn/working-cat programs are seen as a solution to replace sterilized cats and ease shelter staff distress.

## Abstract

Cats have lived on Australian dairy farms for generations, where farmers often value them for helping control rodents and for companionship. However, when cat populations are unmanaged, problems can arise, including poor welfare, disease risks, environmental impacts, and distress for farmers who may feel forced to use lethal control methods. In this article, we respond to critics of our earlier work by clarifying that the cats already present need to be cared for in a structured and humane way. Responsible management involves sterilization to prevent uncontrolled breeding, providing food and healthcare, and recognizing some cats as working animals. These measures can decrease the risk of zoonotic disease and wildlife predation, improve animal and human wellbeing, and ease the emotional burden on farmers and veterinarians involved in lethal management. Farmers in our study supported recognizing cats as working animals so costs of care could be tax-deductible. They also supported barn/working-cat programs to replace sterilized cats lost through natural attrition and because they recognized the impact on the wellbeing of shelter staff who would otherwise be required to humanely kill timid and fearful cats. While we agree wholeheartedly that more research is needed to assess long-term outcomes and the minimum effective number of cats for rodent control, waiting for perfect evidence would allow current problems to continue. Our message is simple: managing the cats already living on farms is a practical, humane approach that benefits animals, people, the environment, and farming systems.

For millennia, cats have been valued worldwide as biological agents for rodent control. Our previous qualitative research found that Australian dairy farmers valued cats for rodent management and companionship, while also highlighting welfare and operational challenges when populations were unmanaged. We therefore argued for a structured, humane management approach. Critics questioned our methodology and portrayed our publications as a blanket endorsement of placing cats on farms. Here, we clarify the scope and limitations of our earlier work and reaffirm that unmanaged cats can create significant risks, including disease transmission, poor welfare, environmental concerns, and psychological stress for farmers and veterinary professionals tasked with lethal control. Responsible management, through sterilization, feeding, healthcare, and formal recognition of some cats as working animals, has the potential to reduce these harms while aligning with farmer values and food safety requirements. Farmers also supported barn/working-cat programs to replace sterilized cats lost through attrition and because they recognized the wellbeing impact on shelter staff required to humanely kill healthy cats. While more research is needed to empirically examine the benefits of the humane management of farm cats, alternatives to cats suggested by critics, such as owls or dogs, lack equivalent evidence or feasibility in dairy systems. Given that cats already exist on many farms, we conclude that responsible management offers a pragmatic, humane, and One Welfare-aligned pathway while longer-term studies are undertaken.