Indoor cats scavenging behind closed doors.

Abstract

We report a rare case of postmortem scavenging by cats in Japan involving the skeletonized remains of a woman in her 80s discovered in a locked, garbage-filled room. The body was missing many bones, including vertebrae other than the atlas with odontoid process. The remaining bones were extensively damaged, with destruction of the zygomatic arches, mastoid processes, vertebral facets of the atlas (C1), and epiphyses of the long bones. The bones showed distinctive features such as punctures, denticulated edges, and narrow grooves, consistent with felid dentition. Notably, the damage extended beyond soft tissue consumption, indicating scavenging behavior likely driven by extreme starvation. No evidence of scavenging by canines or rodents was observed, and this case highlights the forensic challenges in identifying postmortem scavengers. This is a well-documented, yet extreme, case of scavenging by cats causing extensive bone destruction. These findings provide valuable insight for future investigations with a long death-postmortem interval and advanced decomposition in domestic environments.