Modeling Interventions in the Owned Cat Population to Decrease Numbers,Knox County,TN |
| |
| Authors: | Evan P. Lancaster Ejebagom J. Ojogbo Steven I. Rekant Janelle R. Scott Heidi Weimer |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Mathematics, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA;2. Mathematics and Computer Science, Fisk University, Nashville, TN, USA;3. Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Greenport, NY, USA;4. Schuyler Veterinary Clinic, Schuyler, NE, USA;5. Knoxville, TN, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | To find management strategies for controlling the owned cat population in Knox County, TN, the authors formulated a mathematical model using biological properties of such nonhuman animals and spay actions on certain age classes. They constructed this discrete-time model to predict the future owned cat population in this county and to evaluate intervention strategies to surgically sterilize some proportion of the population. Using the predicted population size and the number of surgeries for specific scenarios, they showed that focusing on specific age classes can be an effective feature in spay programs. |
| |
| Keywords: | Owned cat population spay strategies mathematical model |
|
|
