Data set from the 2022 study.

This study investigates changes in the management of owned domestic cats (Felis catus) in a rural area of Denmark, at two points in time separated by 24 years. Households in a 47 km2 area, and on 23 farms near this area, were presented with the same questionnaire in 1998 and in 2022. Additional data about the number of cats earmarked/microchipped and registered in 1998 were provided by two cat registers. The study population was compared to other rural areas in Denmark using data collected in 2021 from a nationwide probability survey of cat owners. The study area was found to represent rural areas in Denmark well. From 1998 to 2022, our study found a slight drop in the total number of owned cats. There was a major shift away from cats living on farms; this was true both of full-scale farms (that is, farms from which the farmer makes a living) where the number of cats decreased by two-thirds between 1998 and 2022 compared to 1998; and on hobby farms, where the number halved over the period. However, the number of cats living in residential homes nearly doubled, and, correspondingly, there was also a significant increase in the proportion of cats with indoor access. Cat owners have increasingly adopted measures to manage their cats, including much higher proportions of cats being spayed and castrated (there was an increase from 61% to 98% among male cats with indoor access and from 13% to 70% among male cats without indoor access). There was, also, a major increase in cats that have been earmarked/microchipped and registered, rising from 8% to 64%. This change in owner behaviour has led to many fewer unwanted kittens being born and subsequently killed. The findings therefore provide evidence of changing rural human-cat relationships, with rural cat owners increasingly managing their cats in the same way as urban cat owners. Our findings also help to explain recent evidence that the number of unowned cats in Denmark is much lower than previously assumed.本研究针对丹麦某乡村区域的家养家猫（Felis catus）的饲养管理变化展开调查，调查覆盖两个相隔24年的时间节点。1998年与2022年，研究人员向该区域47平方公里范围内及附近23个农场的户主发放了相同的问卷。另有两家猫类登记机构提供了1998年家猫标记、植入微芯片及登记数量的相关补充数据。研究团队借助2021年丹麦全国猫主概率抽样调查收集的数据，将本研究的研究群体与丹麦其他乡村区域进行对比，结果显示本研究区域能够较好地代表丹麦乡村地区的整体情况。1998年至2022年间，家养家猫的总数量略有下降。农场饲养家猫的模式发生了重大转变：无论是以养殖为主要生计的经营性农场（即农户以此为主要收入来源的农场），还是休闲农场，家猫数量均出现大幅下滑，后者同期数量减半。但住宅内饲养的家猫数量近乎翻倍，相应地，拥有室内活动权限的家猫占比也显著提升。猫主愈发倾向于采取家猫管理措施，其中绝育猫的占比大幅提升：拥有室内活动权限的公猫绝育率从61%升至98%，无室内活动权限的公猫绝育率从13%升至70%。此外，完成标记、植入微芯片并完成登记的家猫占比也从8%大幅升至64%。饲主行为的这一变化使得非预期出生的幼猫数量大幅减少，后续被处置的幼猫数量也随之降低。本研究结果证实了乡村地区人猫关系的转变，乡村猫主的家猫管理方式正日益向城市猫主趋同。此外，本研究结果也有助于解释近期的一项研究发现：丹麦无主家猫的数量远低于此前的预估。