Do humans or free-ranging domestic cats kill the most animals in one year?

The domestic cat is criticised almost daily on the internet for being a manic, indiscriminate killer of animals. The human is hardly ever criticised for killing animals. The only people who criticise humans are vegans and animal advocates but their voice is quieter than that of the cat critic lobby.

Well, the first point to note when answering the question in the title is that all we have for cats killing animals are estimates. Or guesstimates. You can't genuinely count on the number being accurate and it is probably the worst case scenario. So here goes:

Free-ranging domestic cats kill around 21 billion animal per year worldwide. This is a midpoint between the max and min estimates.

We know how many animals humans kill as there are records. And the total livestock animals we kill per year amounts to 92.2 billion. I think we can fairly add around 1 billion non-livestock animals to that number making 93.2 billion. That's probably a big underestimate but I stick with it.

And so humans kill 4.4 times the number of animals per year compared to free-ranging domestic cats.

I think humans need to look at themselves in a mirror. It is also worth saying that the farm animals killed often lead horrible lives until they are killed. I mean they are often abused all their lives until slaughtered.

Cats, by contrast, often kill dying birds and infirm mammals. Do you ever see a dead bird lying on the ground? No, because their dead bodies have been scavenged by a variety of predators including the free-roaming cat and the feral cat.

I would doubt that the scientists put this into the equation when estimating the number of animals killed.

The human is the victor in this competition. Oh, one last point, many millions of animals are abused for the fun of it by humans worldwide. Cats don't abuse animals for fun.

Almost forgot: cats have to kill animals as they are programmed hyper-carnivores. They can't eat plants as the nutrients aren't there. Humans are omnivores. We can leave animals alone entirely and probably be healthier. 

There are many studies which say that a vegan diet is healthier than a conventional meat diet.

RELATED: Cat caregivers should try a vegan diet for just TWO MONTHS for real health benefits.

Why do dogs eat anything but cats are picky?

Cat are not picky eaters per se. There is one major reason and one minor reason why dogs eat anything can cats are pickier:

• Dogs are omnivores which means that they eat a variety of both plant and animal foods and;
• There may be an issue with bitter taste receptors in the cat which makes them pickier.

Strangely, the articles on this topic seem to hint that the major difference is that cats have more bitter taste receptors than dogs but it seems obvious to me that it must be because dogs are omnivores and cats are strict carnivores.

You can almost stop the discussion there because the range of foods available to an omnivore is much wider than that which is available to a carnivore. This naturally means that dogs are able to eat almost anything while cats have to eat prey animals such as mice and birds or manufactured foods that mimic these prey animals. 

Cats might eat a little bit of grass to aid in digestion or to obtain the folic acid from the grass but by and large domestic cats are genuinely carnivorous and you won't see them eating plant type foods. P.S. there are seven possible reasons by cats eat grass - click this to read about them! P.P.S. the snow leopard is the world's best cat plant eater!

It is just not in their character and their character has been created through evolution over eons. Don't forget that the carnivorous nature of domestic cat is directly inherited from the North African wildcat which is a small wildcat living in semiarid conditions.

Click this to read about the bitter taste receptors of cats.

Note: cats are not picky eaters. Just sensible and in line with their evolved anatomy.