A Purr-Suasive Case for Sterilization: How Sterilizing Working Cats Supports Dairy Farmers’ Wellbeing, Improves Animal Welfare, and Benefits the Environment

Farmers must control rodent populations, as they cause substantial damage to machinery and pose health risks to humans and livestock. Working cats are often farmers’ preferred method of controlling rodent populations, as they are cheaper, safer, and more efficient than poison baits. However, without management, cat populations can increase, creating concern for their impact on wildlife and the environment, as well as for animal and human wellbeing. Farmers’ options for cat management are often limited by time and financial constraints, leading to the use of lethal methods. Our study aimed to investigate the impact of lethal cat management methods on farmers, their experiences with a free cat sterilization program, and their views on a Barn Cat Program, whereby healthy poorly socialized cats in shelters and pounds would be vaccinated, sterilized, and made available to farmers instead of being euthanized. The results of our study demonstrate that farmers had a relationship with working cats and that using lethal cat management methods negatively impacted their wellbeing. Farmers had a positive experience with the cat sterilization program, stating that it reduced the cat population and their impact on wildlife, improved cat behavior and welfare, and benefited farmers’ wellbeing. Farmers also supported the idea of a Barn Cat Program and gave suggestions for how best to promote it to other farmers. We recommend funding be provided to support farmers in managing cats by sterilization, as it improves cat welfare and behavior, reduces working cat populations and their impact on wildlife, and benefits farmers’ wellbeing.