Each year the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) holds an Animal Welfare Forum. The subject of the 1995 meeting was the cat, and the full text of the eight papers presented at the Forum have now been published as part of Volume 208, Issue 4 (15 February 1996) of the Journal of the AVMA. The themes ranged from the origin and nature of the domestic cat (Joan Miller) to feral cats in the United Kingdom (Jenny Remfry). There were also contributions on feline behaviour and welfare (Gary Landsberg), new developments in feline vaccines (James Richards), population medicine and infectious diseases (Johnny Hoskins), cats and their people (R Lee Zasloff), surgical neutering and nonsurgical alternatives (Mark Bloomberg) and animal shelter issues (Carter Luke).