Abstract
Chronic exposure to stressful environments can negatively impact cats' health and welfare, affecting behavioral, autonomic, endocrine, and immune function, as with cats in shelters. Low-stress handling practices likely improve shelter cat welfare, but data supporting improved outcomes remain limited. Cardiac activity, particularly heart rate variability (HRV), is an indicator of stress and emotional state in humans and non-human animals, tracking important body functions associated with stress responsiveness, environmental adaptability, mental, and physical health. HRV studies in cats are limited, involving mainly anesthetized or restrained cats. This pilot study tested the feasibility of obtaining HRV data from unrestrained cats, using a commercially available cardiac monitoring system (Polar H10 with chest strap), compared with data from a traditional ambulatory electrocardiogram. Simultaneous data for the two systems were obtained for five adult cats. Overall, the Polar H10 monitor assessments of HRV were lower than the true HRV assessment by ambulatory ECG, except for SDNN. Correlation between the two systems was weak. Possible reasons for the lack of agreement between the two methods are discussed. At this time, our results do not support the use of Polar H10 heart rate monitors for studies of HRV in cats.
Highlights
Chronic exposure to stressful environments can negatively impact cats’ health and welfare [1, 2]
Polar HR monitoring systems are well-regarded for data accuracy and reliability, and have been used in a number of published research studies on dogs [12, 30, 36, 37], there was not strong and consistent agreement between data from the Polar H10 chest-strap sensors and the Holter ECG recorders for the cats in our study
Possible reasons for this lack of agreement are listed below. These results would not support the use of Polar H10 HR monitors with chest strap attachment for studies of HRV in free-ranging cats
Summary
Chronic exposure to stressful environments can negatively impact cats’ health and welfare [1, 2]. Heart rate variability (HRV) is an indicator of stress and emotional state in humans and non-human animals [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Recent research demonstrates the importance of HRV as an indicator of important body functions associated with stress responsiveness, environmental adaptability, and mental and physical health [15]. In humans, decreased measures of HRV have been associated with adverse outcomes in cases of cardiovascular disease and lupus disease activity [16]. Elevated stress responses, such as those caused by chronic environmental stressors (in humans, stressors present in a poor work environment), enhance the risk of cardiovascular disease [17]. Assessment of HRV is common in animal research [8], and has been performed in cats on a limited basis [e.g., [18, 19]]
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