Our aim was to collect baseline data on the age, gender, breed, reproductive status and husbandry (housing, diet, vaccination, veterinary attention) of pet cats living in Sydney. Accordingly, a cross-sectional survey of 2768 households was conducted using a postal questionnaire. The 2006 Sydney residential phone book was used as the sampling frame. Nonresponders were re-mailed the questionnaire on two further occasions, two and four weeks after the first postings. Completed questionnaires were received from 884 households. No pets were kept by 387 (43.8%) respondents. Dogs and cats were owned by 295 (33.4%) and 198 (22.5%) of households, respectively, with 7.8% of households having both cat(s) and dog(s). Fish and birds were the next most popular pets. Of the 198 cat-owning households, 54.0% kept only cat(s), while 46.5% kept cats with other pets. The distribution of cat ownership across Sydney was non-uniform. Each cat-owning household kept 1.3 cats on average, with the majority keeping one (75.8% households) or two (18.7%). For the 260 cats, the mean age was 7.1 years, the median 6 years, with a range of 3 months to 22 years. There were significantly more female (143; 55%) than male cats (117; 45%). Only 7 cats (2.7%) were sexually entire, and these were all ≤ 6-years. Crossbred cats outnumbered pedigree cats by a ratio of 3.3:1. The Burmese was the most common breed, followed by the Persian. The median age of pedigree cats (5.5 years) was significantly lower than for domestic crossbred cats (7.0 years). Most cats were housed both indoors and outdoors (72.6%), with 19.7% being restricted to indoors and/or "pet park enclosures". Pedigree cats were significantly more likely than crossbreds to be housed indoors. Most cat owners fed their cats a combination of commercial dry and canned food (38.1%),  These authors contributed equally to this work

Serum samples from 340 pet cats presented to three inner city clinics in Sydney Australia, 68 feral cats from two separate colonies in Sydney, and 329 cattery-confined pedigree and domestic cats in eastern Australia, were collected over a 2-year period and tested for antibodies directed against feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) using immunomigration (Agen FIV Rapid Immunomigration test) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods (Snap Combo feline leukaemia virus antigen/FIV antibody test kit, IDEXX Laboratories). Western blot analysis was performed on samples in which there was discrepancy between the results. Information regarding breed, age, gender, housing arrangement and health status were recorded for all pet and cattery-confined cats, while the estimated age and current physical condition were recorded for feral cats. The FIV prevalence in the two feral cat populations was 21% and 25%. The majority of FIV-positive cats were male (60-80%). The FIV prevalence in cattery-confined cats was nil. The prevalence of FIV in the pet cat sample population was 8% (27/340) with almost equal prevalence in 'healthy' (13/170) and 'systemically unwell' (14/170) cats. The age of FIV-positive pet cats ranged from 3 to 19 years; all FIV-positive cats were domestic shorthairs with outside access. The median age of FIV-positive pet cats (11 years) was significantly greater than the median age of FIV-negative pet cats (7.5 years: P<0.05). The prevalence of FIV infection in male pet cats (21/172; 12%) was three times that in female pet cats (6/168; 4%; P<0.05). With over 80% of this pet cat population given outside access and continued FIV infection present in the feral population, this study highlights the need to develop rapid, accurate and cost-effective diagnostic methods that are not subject to false positives created by concurrent vaccination against FIV. This is especially important in re-homing stray cats within animal shelters and monitoring the efficacy of the new vaccine, which has not been challenged against Australian strains. The absence of FIV within cattery-confined cats highlights the value in routine screening and indoor lifestyles. This study provides cogent baseline FIV prevalences in three cat subpopulations which can be used for appraising potential disease associations with FIV in Australia.

African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a deadly disease of pigs which spread through southeast Asia in 2019. We investigated one of the first outbreaks of ASFV in Lao People's Democratic Republic amongst smallholder villages of Thapangtong District, Savannakhet Province. In this study, two ASFV affected villages were compared to two unaffected villages. Evidence of ASFV‐like clinical signs appeared in pig herds as early as May 2019, with median epidemic days on 1 and 18 June in the two villages, respectively. Using participatory epidemiology mapping techniques, we found statistically significant spatial clustering in both outbreaks (p < 0.001). Villagers reported known risk factors for ASFV transmission – such as free‐ranging management systems and wild boar access – in all four villages. The villagers reported increased pig trader activity from Vietnam before the outbreaks; however, the survey did not determine a single outbreak source. The outbreak caused substantial household financial losses with an average of nine pigs lost to the disease, and Monte Carlo analysis estimated this to be USD 215 per household. ASFV poses a significant threat to food and financial security in smallholder communities such as Thapangtong, where 40.6% of the district's population are affected by poverty. This study shows ASFV management in the region will require increased local government resources, knowledge of informal trader activity and wild boar monitoring alongside education and support to address intra‐village risk factors such as free‐ranging, incorrect waste disposal and swill feeding.

This study examines pastoralists' perception on climate change and impacts on cattle production from ten study villages of Monduli District in Tanzania. This study drew empirical data from 130 cattle owners and 81 participants from focus group discussions in the study villages. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data respectively. Findings from this study indicate that pastoralists are well aware of the general climate trends in their location, its variability and the impacts of extreme weather events on cattle production. The main climate changes perceived by pastoralists include more erratic and reduced amounts of rainfall, rise in temperature and prolonged and frequent periods of drought. Pastoralists mainly view population pressure and tree cutting as the major causes of climate change. Further, this study found that there are no existing climate risk programmes and early warning systems across the district. Importantly, pastoralists reported the negative impacts of climate change on cattle production. The severe recurrent drought periods result in shortage of forage and water, leading to cattle starvation and malnutrition. Pastoralists reported massive cattle deaths and outbreaks of diseases such as contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and tick-borne diseases. Further, reduction in milk production and poor livestock market prices were also reported as negative impacts on cattle production. Given the range of negative impacts of current climate change and extreme weather events on cattle production, the implications of climate change must be taken into account to ensure longer-term survival and sustainability of pastoralist communities through strengthening of climate risk awareness programs and early warning systems across the district. Further, this study recommends that government and non-governmental organizations should improve institutional support to pastoralists in order to help them deal with the negative impacts of climate change on livestock production.