Why Do People Feed Free-roaming Cats? The Role of Anticipated Regret in an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior in Malaysia

Free-roaming cats are common in residential and public areas in Malaysia and approach people for food. However, the psychological determinants of public feeding are unknown. This study investigated public perceptions of feeding free-roaming cats, based on an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). It consisted of qualitative belief-elicitation interviews with 25 participants, followed by a quantitative survey of 167 participants, representative of the country’s population. The majority (87.2%) of the sample had fed free-roaming cats. The mean intention score (4.88 out of 7) indicated the public was likely, and would make an effort, to feed free-roaming cats in the future. The public’s benevolence toward animals largely explained the findings, based on generally positive attitudes and perceptions of moderate social credence and capability and confidence, underpinned by affective and cognitive beliefs. An important finding was the role of anticipated regret in predicting and explaining intentions, which contributed variance over and above that explained by the TPB constructs. The extended framework is explained by the influence of anticipated regret on the perceived evaluation of potential TPB outcomes, which in turn leads to the behavior becoming less volitional. Therefore, future TPB studies of people’s interactions with animals, such as free-roaming cats, should take account of affective and emotional antecedents of behavior, such as anticipated regret, to improve explanatory power. The study also has implications for managing public feeding of free-roaming cats, such as drawing on and strengthening the Malaysian public’s positive attitudes and emotional concern to redirect current feeding practices toward more constructive animal welfare initiatives. Such humane approaches align with the public’s sensitivity toward animal welfare and the historical development of cat population control from lethal methods to humane non-lethal methods to ensure adequate care.     

Rotavirus electropherotypes in Malaysian children.

A 12-month study was carried out on the molecular epidemiology of rotavirus in urban and suburban Malaysian children. Analysis of faecal samples from 973 hospitalized diarrhoeic children by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis detected 268 rotaviruses (28%). All isolates were group A rotaviruses, which produced 22 electropherotypes: 16 (91.5%) with long RNA migration patterns and 6 (8.5%) with short patterns. One of the long-pattern electropherotypes was the predominant strain (71.1% of the total electropherotypes) isolated during this study. Although 3 other strains were detected sporadically over the study period, 16 others were present only during the first 7 months and 2 others were confined to the last 5 months. Long- and short-pattern electropherotypes were found to co-circulate extensively. There was a significant association of short-pattern electropherotypes with infection in older children. In addition, the prevalence of vomiting and mean duration of diarrhoea were significantly associated with different electropherotypes.