Abstract
Identifying and preventing the occurrence of separation-related problems (SRP) in companion animals are relevant to animal welfare and the quality of human-pet interactions. The SRP are defined as a set of behaviors and physiological signs displayed by the animal when separated from its attachment person. In cats, SRP has been insufficiently studied. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop a questionnaire for cat owners which identifies behaviors that may indicate SRP, as well as relates the occurrence of SRP to the management practices applied in the sampled cats. The associations of SRP with cats’ characteristics, as well as owner, environmental, and management traits were investigated. The questionnaire was developed based on the scientific literature about separation anxiety syndrome in dogs and a few papers in cats, and it was completed by 130 owners of 223 cats. Analysis of owners’ answers was done through categorization and acquisition of relative frequencies of each response category, followed by Fisher’s exact test, chi-square tests in contingency table and Multiple Correspondence Analysis. Among the sampled animals, 13.45% (30 / 223) met at least one of the behavioral criteria we used to define SRP. Destructive behavior was the most frequently reported behavior (66.67%, 20 / 30), followed by excessive vocalization (63.33%, 19 / 30), urination in inappropriate places (60.00%, 18 / 30), depression-apathy (53.33%, 16 / 30), aggressiveness (36.67%, 11 / 30) and agitation-anxiety (36.67%, 11 / 30) and, in lower frequency, defecation in inappropriate places (23.33%, 7 / 30). The occurrence of SRP was associated with the number of females living in the residence (P = 0.01), with not having access to toys (P = 0.04), and no other animal residing in the house (P = 0.04). Separation-related problems in domestic cats are difficult to identify due to the limited amount of knowledge regarding the issue. The questionnaire developed in this study supported identification of the main behaviors likely related to SRP in cats and could be used as a starting point for future research.
Highlights
Behavioral problems in companion animals are among the main causes of abandonment in many countries, such as the United States of America, Japan and the United Kingdom [1,2,3,4]
Due to the importance of questionnaire studies, which enable the identification of relevant biological, social and cultural factors, this study aimed to develop a questionnaire for cat owners which identifies the most typical behaviors characteristic of separation-related problems (SRP), as well as relates the Separation-related problems in domestic cats occurrence of SRP to the management practices applied in the sampled cats
Separation-related problems in domestic cats are behavioral disorders that are difficult to identify due to the very limited amount of research conducted to date
Summary
Behavioral problems in companion animals are among the main causes of abandonment in many countries, such as the United States of America, Japan and the United Kingdom [1,2,3,4]. An experiment conducted to verify the attachment of cats towards their owners, using a modified version of the Ainsworth test, found that cats showed a higher frequency of exploratory and playful behaviors when accompanied by their owners, in comparison to when they were alone or accompanied by an unknown person [20, 21]. Those cats showed a lower frequency of alert and inactivity behaviors when their owners were present [20]. It becomes relevant to study whether those animals can develop separation-related problems (SRP)
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