Cat Behavior

What carrier is best fear-aggressive cats

-A carrier that can open from the top is useful for fearful and fear-aggressive cats, as well as for sick, painful or limited-mobility cats. -A towel can be used when you have a removable top (slide it in between the top and bottom to keep the animal secure.

Division of behavioural changes in cats

-A change in their cat's behaviour is often what prompts owners to consult a veterinarian, whether the cause of that change is ultimately psychological (a 'problem behaviour') or physiological (eg, a pathology or a hormonal disorder). -It is conventional to divide behavioural problems of cats into those that are essentially adaptive responses insofar as the cat is concerned, but inconvenient or distressing for the owner, and those that have medical causes, such as epilepsy or hyperthyroidism; although, as has been pointed out, 40 in real life many cases comprise elements of both, and variable combinations of adverse early life experiences and psychological stress can lead to or exacerbate medical conditions, such as chronic lower urinary tract signs. -The focus of the remainder of this discussion is exclusively behaviour that can be interpreted as a normal adaptive response to the situation the cat finds itself in.

A second factor that slowed the domestication of the cat

-A second factor that undoubtedly slowed domestication is the cat's hypercarnivory. -All felids require a flesh-based diet, due to a set of ancient mutations that restricted their ability to process plant-derived foods. -In addition to their need for relatively large amounts of sulfurcontaining amino acids (methionine, cysteine, taurine) and the vitamins niacin and thiamine in their diet, they also require essential fatty acids of animal origin in order to synthesise prostaglandins, which most other mammals can make from plant-derived precursors. -Cats also need a constant supply of high quality protein, as they are unable to switch off amino acid catabolism, again tying them to their carnivorous lifestyle. -In this sense they are quite unlike dogs, which can switch to plant-based foods when meat is scarce

Cats' sense of smell

-Akin to most mammals, with the exception of higher primates like ourselves, cats rely on odour both to communicate with one another and to gather information about many aspects of their environment. -Not only are their noses about a thousand times more sensitive than ours, cats possess a second olfactory detection system, the vomeronasal organ. -Lying between the hard palate and the nostrils, this acts as a kind of half-way house between smell and taste, mainly detecting chemicals that have dissolved in saliva as the cat opens its mouth in the characteristic grimace known as 'gaping' or 'Flehmen' (Figure 3). -Reliance on these chemical senses is so removed from our own experience that it is difficult enough for biologists and veterinarians, never mind owners, to imagine what the world must be like for an animal that is far less visually obsessed than we are. -It is therefore unsurprising that what we presume (unable to experience them for ourselves) are disturbances of the olfactory environment make a significant contribution to so many problem behaviours of cats

Teaching a cat a trick

-Although cats are generally (though wrongly) perceived as being less trainable than dogs, learning plays a major part in the way both species behave. -Thus how a given cat reacts to a particular situation will vary considerably depending on its lifetime experience; albeit genetic variation between individuals does also play a part, if only in channelling learning in different directions. -The environment that cats find themselves in, and its match with their formative experiences, also appears to play a critical role

Cat scent marks

-Although domestic cats routinely deposit scent marks on objects in their environment, remarkably little is known about their function. -The external ears, the temples, the cheeks and the corners of the mouth all produce scents, some or all of which must be deposited when a cat cheek-rubs an object or another cat, and there is also a gland beneath the chin that is discharged during chinrubbing behaviour (Figure 4). -Scent producing glands are additionally found between the toes, which presumably leave scent behind whenever the cat scratches with its claws. -There is another cluster of odourproducing structures at the rear end, including the preputial and anal glands, the scent from which can be dispersed by urination and defecation, respectively, as well as skin glands in front of and down the length of the tail

Assessing temperments between cats

-Although the assessment of temperament differences between cats has recently received attention from scientists, this has mostly been based on owners' subjective perceptions of their cats, rather than measuring their behaviour directly: this method interposes an unhelpful curtain of anthropomorphism between the data gathered and genuine and reproducible characteristics of the cats themselves. -A more objectively based tool - the Feline Behavioural Assessment & Research Questionnaire (Fe-BARQ) - has recently been validated, and has demonstrated the complexity of cat-to-cat variation in behaviour, identifying no fewer than underlying types of variation, including playfulness, sociability to people, attention-seeking and fear of other cats. -It may eventually provide clinicians with a useful starting point for assessment of their patients' basic 'personalities'.

How cats interpret odors

-Although there has been very little research into how cats interpret the odours they encounter, the importance they place on them is indicated by the effectiveness of behaviour modifications using odour cues. -Thus, for example, a cat that has lost its characteristic odour due to a period of hospitalisation may be attacked by other cats in the household when it returns. -Anecdotally, the process of introducing two previously unacquainted cats to one another can be smoothed by allowing each several experiences of odour collected from the other, well before any face-to-face encounter

Second example of owners misinterpreting cat behaviour

-As a second example, many owners are annoyed by their cat's instinctive habit of scratching on friable surfaces, behaviour that is perfectly natural from the cat's perspective, and only a problem to the owner. -Scratching can be redirected away from furniture and curtains using standard training techniques, yet declawing (onychectomy) is still widely used, where legal, as a less labour-intensive option. -However, in multi-cat households declawing doubles the risk of house-soiling, possibly because these cats are less able to defend themselves against other cats, so potentially replacing one problem with another while at the same time threatening the cat's welfare.

Intramuscular injection in cats

-At Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, intramuscular injections (abbreviated as IM) in cats are most commonly administered into the lumbar muscles (otherwise known as the epaxial muscles). -In other clinics, the triceps, hamstrings, and quadriceps muscles may be used, but not without risk of nerve damage. -As students at the MUVTH, you will be taught to use the lumbar muscles, labelled in red in figure 1.

Is that cat fully domesticated?

-By comparison with dogs and other common domestic mammals, cats are not yet fully domesticated. -They select their own mates, and retain much of the predatory drive of their wild ancestors, both of which require interventions from their owners to counteract their effects. -There is an increasing trend, especially in urban areas of the United States and in continental Europe, to keep cats indoors throughout their lives, denying them the opportunity to mate, presuming they are not neutered, and also to hunt wildlife, in addition to protecting them from hazards such as diseases and road traffic. -The cost of such confinement to their mental wellbeing has been much debated but inadequately quantified. -In the UK, cats allowed outdoors are frequently neutered and may be fitted with a bell or other deterrent device to reduce their impact on bird and small mammal populations, although the most effective suppressor of 'serious' hunting behaviour is probably a nutritionally complete diet, such as most pet cats in the West receive.

If a cat is restrained using a full burrito wrap what are your cares and considerations as the animal handler? AND what cases/patients would you not perform a full burrito wrap on?

-Cares and considerations: respiration and pulse rate must be monitored throughout and the cat should not be wrapped for more than a few minutes -Do not burrito wrap a cat with respiratory disease or difficulty as this could worsen the respiratory problems and possible push the cat into respiratory distress

Cat Carriers

-Carriers provide safety for both client and cat during transport, and often give a cat a sense of security by being hidden in a secure, closed container. -There are different types of cages. -Carriers should be sturdy, secure and stable for the cat, easy for the client to carry, and quiet so that opening the carrier does not startle the cat. -Some cats like to see out, whereas others are less anxious when covered. -The design should permit easy removal of the cat if it will not come out on its own, or should allow the cat to be easily examined in the bottom of its carrier.

Practical relevance of the classification of cat behavior

-Cats are descended from a solitary, territorial ancestor, and while domestication has reduced their inherited tendency to be antagonistic towards all animals larger than their typical prey, they still place more reliance on the security of their territory than on psychological attachments to people or other cats, the exact opposite to dogs. -Many feline problem behaviours stem from perceived threats to this security, often due to conflicts with other cats. -Others are more developmental in origin, often caused by inadequate exposure to crucial stimuli, especially people, during the socialisation period. Strongly aversive events experienced at any age can also contribute. -A third category comprises normal behaviour that owners deem unacceptable, such as scratching of furniture

Feline behaviour: some fundamental misunderstandings

-Cats are often portrayed as easier to keep than dogs, providing little incentive for owners to consider how best to provide for their newly acquired pet. -Fundamental misunderstandings of feline behaviour and motivation abound. -For example, unlike dogs, which use play as a form of social transaction, adult cats' motivations for 'playing' are focused around predatory behaviour, during which they become largely oblivious to their owner's involvement (see box below). -Many owners believe that their cat's behaviour is driven by emotions such as jealousy and pride, and cognitive abilities such as deliberate deception, none of which are compatible with biologists' current understanding of the feline brain. -A substantial minority believe that their cats are incapable of feeling anxious, the emotional response that is implicated in problematic behaviour more than perhaps any other. -Such misconceptions lead directly to the development of problem behaviours: new owners given basic information on what to expect of their cats, and how to manage their environment, report far fewer problems than owners left to find out for themselves

How do cats avoid conflict?

-Cats avoid situations that may result in physical acts of aggression and do not have obvious signs for diffusing conflict or reconciling. -Instead, they first choose to use distance-maintaining behaviours to diffuse tension and keep strangers at bay.

How cats sense the world

-Cats being mammals, it is easy for owners to presume that the world that they themselves perceive is identical to their cat's. -The biological reality is that subjective impressions of their surroundings differ between our two species at three levels: the information gathered by the sense organs, the manner in which this information is integrated and filtered by the brain, and the emotional reactions that are triggered. -Were more owners to fully comprehend these differences, and react appropriately, many problem behaviours might not escalate to the point of requiring veterinary intervention.

Training a Cat to use a Carrier

-Cats can be trained to use a carrier. -The goal is for the cat to learn to associate the carrier with positive experiences and routinely enter it voluntarily. -This will not mean that the cat still loves it after its vet visit. -For this to happen, the whole journey (closing the cage, walking with the cat in the cage, car journey and visit to the vet clinic) needs to be a good experience and you might have to break the journey into sections when you train your cat for this.

Tolerance points of cats

-Cats have a limited amount of tolerance for handling in clinic, and you can almost think of it like 'tolerance points'. -If the cat hates being in its carrier, that's a point gone. -If you drag a cat out of its carrier when it doesn't want to be...a few more points gone. -It's real easy to burn through all their tolerance for handling by the end of your physical exam, if you're not using cat friendly handling. -By using low stress cat handling techniques, you spend your tolerance points on things like injections and blood draws, instead of burning through them all by stressing the patient out prior to the more invasive procedures.

Cats' hearing and vision

-Cats' sense of hearing and vision are both different to our own, even though the corresponding sense organs are constructed along the same mammalian pattern. -The range of frequencies that cats can detect encompasses all of those that we can hear, except for very lowpitched notes, which cats can probably detect using the sensitive pads on their toes. -Cats can also hear more than an octave above our own range, into the 'ultrasound' region: this is an adaptation that enables cats to eavesdrop on the ultrasonic calls that small rodents use for communication. -In terms of the physics of how the mammalian ear works, this ability is unremarkable, as the hearing range of the ear should go up as it gets smaller. -What is actually unexpected is the cat's ability to hear lowpitched sounds, including men's voices. -This has been traced to a septum that alters the resonant properties of the middle ear, which is also found in other species of small cat, so did not evolve during domestication; rather, it was a lucky accident that enabled even the earliest domestic cats to detect and react to male voices.

Cats' sexual behaviour

-Cats' sexual behaviour is also largely unchanged from that of their wild ancestors. -Pedigree cats being still in the minority, the majority of pet cats are the offspring of unplanned matings that occur when a female comes into season, attracts one or more entire males and engages in wild-type courtship behaviourthat originally evolved to ensure maximum fitness for her offspring. -(Nowadays in the West, the critical factor determining a cat's lifetime reproductive success, both male and female, must be to escape being neutered, 15 but the full effects of this change, which should lead to those cats that are most difficult to socialise producing the most offspring, have not yet permeated through to the behaviour of the typical cat.)

Classification and diagnosis of cat disorders disorders

-Comparisons with other species (most practitioners treat more dogs than cats); -Custom and conjecture (as there has been so little published research, most writings on feline behaviour problems are unavoidably a rehash of what has gone before); -Common-sense extrapolations from what is known about feline cognition and cat-cat social behaviour. it is this last category that forms the basis of this review.

What emotions can cats feel?

-Contrary to what many owners believe, cats are probably incapable of experiencing emotions such as guilt, pride and grief, all of which require a sense of self and/or a concept of past, present and future. -(Cats do appear to grieve for missing feline or human companions, but this behaviour can be neatly explained by the lingering odour of the absentee, undetectable to us but all too real to the cat.) -Simpler emotions, what we might refer to as 'gut feelings', such as anger, affection, fear and anxiety, are generated in the limbic system, which is common to all mammals. due to the differences between their brains and ours, cats may not experience these quite in the way we do, but it is difficult to explain cat behaviour without invoking the triggering of these simpler emotional states.

Cats during the Graeco-Roman period

-During the Graeco-Roman period, domestic cats were transported both east and west, into areas where they came into contact with and could interbreed with native wildcats of different subspecies, Felis silvestris silvestris in Europe and the desert wildcat Felis silvestris ornata in what is now Pakistan and western india. -The dNAof today's pet cats shows little if any trace of either, 9 although there were descendants of indian desert cats living in Turkey in the seventh century, 12 and it is conceivable that some of their descendants remain as part of the local pet population, even today. -The slender oriental body plan that subsequently gave rise to the Siamese and similar breeds evolved in genetic isolation13 (wild Felis silvestris does not occur in the Far East) and is an adaptation to humid environments; its dNA does not point to descent from the superficially similar desert wildcat, as was once thought.

How to pill a cat

-Easiest way is to put it in a treat -Restrain the cats head, holding below the zyogmatic arches (not mandible) -Lift and extend the head so the nose is facing upwards -Elongate neck, and the mouth will begin to open -Use finger to open mouth and place pill deep in mouth -Lower cats head and keep the mouth closed so the pill is swallowed

Why Low Stress Handling is Important when working with Cats

-Fear is the most common cause of aggression in cats. -A visit to a veterinary clinic is a fearful experience for even the friendliest of cats. -A cat who is not used to the sensory experiences (noise, lights, smells, touch, etc.) at the clinic is likely to be even more reactive during their visit.

Problems in kittens who were not socialized

-Hand-raised kittens that do not receive any contact with other cats during the socialisation (to humans) period are anecdotally considered to be at enhanced risk of developing problems such as nervousness, aggression and a reduced ability to cope with changes in their environment. others may become overattached to their raisers or subsequent owners, attempting to suckle from fingers or elbows even when adult

steps you would take to train a cat to ENJOY using a carrier.

-If the cat responds favourably to treats, catnip and/or toys, place these in the open carrier as positive reinforcement to encourage the cat to enter the carrier at home -Some owners may find it helpful to train the cat to enter the carrier using a word or clicker as a cue -Individual cats repsond differently to treats; use them if that makes the cat less stressed or anxious

A history of cats in Europe

-In Europe, the second millennium witnessed intermittent persecution of cats and their owners, slowing the process of domestication; pet cats remained a rarity, perpetuating genotypes that maintained wild-type hunting and reproductive behaviour. -As a consequence, the behavioural differences between today's pet cats and their wild ancestors may be traceable to changes in as few as a dozen genes -It was not until the 19th century that keeping a cat primarily for its company became at all widespread in Western Europe or the United States, and the trend towards cats becoming the most popular pet in both regions only took off a few decades ago.

Cat 'play' behaviour

-In cats, the behaviour that we label as 'play' is invariably focused on some kind of object, whether that be a commercially produced toy, a leaf blowing in the wind, or (less advisably) the owner's fingers or toes. -In contrast to dogs, where many of these 'games' have a social purpose, the way in which cats play with objects is precisely what would be predicted if those objects were potential items of prey. -Fur- or feather-covered exteriors are preferred over other textures, as are toys with 'legs', and also toys that disintegrate during play, convincing the cat that it is making progress towards a 'kill'. -Apparently spontaneous movements of the object activate and intensify play, irrespective of whether there is a human agent involved. -The movements of the cat's limbs and jaws precisely mimic those made towards prey that is the same size and shape as the 'toy': cats play with mouse-sized toys as if they were mice, rat-sized toys as if they were rats. -Hunger causes play to become more intense, and emboldens cats to interact with large toys that they would normally be wary of, in just the same way that a hungry cat will double its efforts to achieve a kill. -If play was a purely social activity, it should be suppressed, not activated, by hunger. -This is not to say that cats do not enjoy playing with toys. -Each segment of the predatory sequence, from stalking through to closequarters interaction with the prey, is rewarding in itself, whether or not the cat's efforts eventually result in consumption of food. -For cats that readily engage in play, brief 'games' can be used as positive reinforcement, providing a useful alternative to food and petting when training them

Chemical compounds produced by the cat's facial glands

-It is claimed - though the primary data appears only in a patent application - that the various facial glands of domestic cats produce several chemical compounds (or mixtures) that have distinct behavioural effects. 33,34 one named F3 is widely used in behaviour modification in its commercial form (Feliway; Ceva). -It is stated that this mimics a chemical signal that cats deposit around their familiar home ranges and 'helps in organising the environment by classifying it into known objects and unknown objects'. -From an adaptationist perspective this seems an unlikely hypothesis

The importance of assessing a cats behaviour

-It is vital to assess the behaviour of a patient before handling them - to keep yourself, your colleagues, the patient, and the owner safe. -Many patients become nervous, and as a result display fear aggression, in a veterinary clinic setting. -Often these fearful patients are giving off signals to indicate they are feeling anxious and uncomfortable before they become aggressive towards you. -It is the handlers job to pick up on these signals before approaching! -If you realise a patient is showing signs of fear from a distance, you need to know how to change your approach and how to use low stress handling techniques (such as using treats) to diffuse this fear. -If, from a distance, you see evidence of aggression in your patient you will likely need to change your approach and gather equipment such as towels, or cat handling gloves. -Changing your approach may be enough to reduce the fear in the patient and remove the need for extra restraint equipment, BUT you should always have the extra equipment close at hand.

How to transport cats in a carrier

-Keep one hand on the cat while you close the door -To open, open the door a small amount -If the cat is friendly stroke them, and then put hand under belly and grasp front legs

Two types of mammalian chemical signals

-Mammalian chemical signals are formally divided into two types: pheromones, which have a communicative function common to all individuals within a species, and 'signature mixtures' that identify each individual to others (and quite possibly to the individual that deposited the scent upon returning later to the same site). -Pheromones are deployed in situations where it is advantageous to both the emitter and the receiver that some simple message is understood, and so vary little between individuals; the odour given off by a female in season is a case in point (note F3 is marketed as a 'pheromone'). -Signature mixtures vary from one individual to another and have to be learned by recipients. -The anal gland secretions of cats fall into the category of signature mixtures, differing reproducibly from one cat to another, and it seems likely that this is also true of the cheek gland secretions.

Cause of behavioural disorders in cats

-Most behavioural disorders seem to result from the cat being prevented from achieving emotional equilibrium, either due to a perceived or actual external threat, or frustration at being prevented from performing its natural behaviour. -Such cats are conceived of as experiencing distress, which then leads to changes in behaviour such as enhanced aggression or flight behaviour, or attempts to manipulate the olfactory environment by changing the location of scent-marking, including urination and defecation. -Cats may perceive threat when their access to an adequate home range is or becomes restricted, including being kept indoors, changes in household routine, or evidence that other cats or other animals are intruding into the cat's core areas: changes in odour profile must play a large, possibly predominant role in all of these scenarios. -More direct social stressors include physical conflict with other cats, both within and outside the owner's house, and with humans. -The latter may be due to the cat having adopted inadequate or malfunctional strategies for reacting to certain people or, indeed, all humans, usually a consequence of inadequate socialisation, or having received aversive experiences at the hands of its owners, such as physical punishment

Some tips for lowering fear levels of cats in hospital and during handling

-Move slowly and quietly when handling -Learn and practice low stress handling methods -Less is more when it comes to restraint for example don't forcefully hold onto a cat if your goal is for it to stay on the table, and it's already being compliant - try giving pats to make it WANT to stay on the table itself, rather than needing to be restrained -Consider examining fearful or nervous cats on their own bedding, or within their own cage, where appropriate. If the top of the carrier comes off, the cat can sit in the bottom half and be examined there - they will feel more secure, and be more compliant -Handle for as short a period as possible and allow the cat breaks -Don't force interactions such as pats if the cat is fearful, especially in a clinic setting they would likely prefer to be left alone -Use a Feliway hormone spray or diffuser Environmental enrichment will likely make them feel more comfortable i.e. hiding places, toys and blankets that are familiar, space away from other pets, if in clinic space away from dog smells and noises is ideal -Consider all of your options - sedating an intolerant cat does not mean you 'lost' - it's just another technique. It's easy to get stuck into 'let's just get this done' and force a patient past its tolerance limits - this does not help long term and rarely helps short term

Non-pedigree cat temperment

-Non-pedigree pet cats also vary in temperament and therefore in their susceptibility to different problems. -Early attempts to classify the main personality types suggested that there are three broad categories: cats that are confident and inquisitive, cats that appear timid and nervous, and cats of both kinds that are more orless active than the norm. -The bold/shy axis, which has also been detected in many other species, can have a genetic basis in cats, although some elements are undoubtedly learned. -Problematic behaviour is presumably affected by many genes; one of these, coding for an oxytocin receptor, has been recently identified as contributing to irritability. -More such identifications will doubtless follow, offering the possibility that genetic typing may eventually become a tool in the veterinary behaviourist's armoury.

Owners misinterpreting cat behaviour

-Owners' lack of understanding of normal cat behaviour can lead to errors in management which, in turn, impact negatively on welfare. -To take one common example, housesoiling; many owners do not appreciate that cats that use indoor litter trays rely on cues such as location, odour and texture of the substrate when choosing where to eliminate. -The cat may not 'know' that the litter box is the place that the owner wants them to urinate and defecate, but some owners evidently believe the opposite, attributing motivations such as 'spite' to the cat when a change in its environment causes it to urinate elsewhere in the house. Under these circumstances, punishing the cat for its supposed transgression is likely to lead to a vicious spiral in which the anxiety that caused the original incident becomes magnified at every recurrence

Saphenous Venepuncture without a Towel Wrap

-Place cats head between your arm and grasp front legs. -Grab back legs with other hand -Lift the cat up and put the cat on their side, with their back against you -Place pressure of the medial saphenous vein

How to do a Jugular venepuncture in a cat

-Place the cat in front of you -Place your index fingers under its mandible -Lift neck -Do not block vein -Use circular motions to distract cat -Can use other hands to hold front legs

Global importance of learning about cat behavior

-Psychological distress of some kind is the primary cause of many of the behavioural problems presented to clinicians, but surveys indicate that many more cats display the same clinical signs without their owners ever seeking help. -The welfare of this 'invisible' group could be improved by veterinarians taking a more proactive approach to educating their clients about the behavioural needs of pet cats.

Resolution of cat soiling

-Resolution of house-soiling requires comprehension of the cat's perspectives, including a location that smells very slightly of urine and faeces (to the cat's nose, and probably unnoticeable to the owner), thus indicating a location that has been used previously; but equally, not strongly, which might otherwise indicate an area that has been over-used and would in the wild present a risk of infection by parasites. -In multi-cat households, individual cats that tend to avoid one another will be especially wary while urinating and defecating, but very often such cats will not have been provided with multiple litter trays.

Odor's role in cat meetings

-Seemingly, what each animal learns from this process is that the cat bearing the unfamiliar odour is in the vicinity (how else would its smell have got there?) but has not presented any threat. -When the other cat is eventually introduced, the resident cat will be able recognise it by its odour (and vice versa) and both will be less likely to default to defensive mode. -Other pre-exposures to unfamiliar scents in neutral or deliberately rewarded contexts presumably work through a combination of habituation and positive association: examples include habituation to the odour of items brought into the house in preparation for a new baby. olfactory enrichment is effective for cats in rehoming centres, and therefore probably for pet cats also.

What do cats do when they encounter an artificial odour?

-Since it is implausible that any artificial odour could match that of the cat in whose house it was being dispersed, the cat should logically interpret the synthetic odour as belonging to some other cat that has invisibly scent-marked its territory. -Lack of clarity as to the mode of action of Feliway may explain why different investigators have found very different levels of efficacy

The cat brain

-Some inferences can be made about feline cognition based upon what we now know about dogs, since their brains are both constructed according to the carnivore pattern, and are therefore substantially different to our own. -Relative to the size of their bodies, cats' brains are less than half the size of ours, and much of the difference is due to our comparatively huge cerebral cortex, the 'thinking' part of our brains. -Cats' brains have relatively large areas devoted to olfaction, and also to balance (the cerebellum), as befits their lifestyle. in terms of behaviour, the structure of their brains suggests that cats almost certainly live much more in the present than we do, neither ruminating on the past nor planning for the future.

Warning signs of aggression in cats include

-Tail twitching -Flattening of the ears -Stiffening -Dilation of pupils / narrowing of pupils -Hissing and/or spitting

Using a Towel Wrap to access the Saphenous Vein

-The cat in the above video is very friendly and did not need its head restrained for this procedure, for other cats this may not be possible. -The Burrito Wrap and the Scarf Wrap can both be used to restrain a cat for saphenous venepuncture. -The head is left exposed in the scarf wrap, while the head is covered with the full burrito wrap.

Cat diet

-The cat's basic nutritional requirements were not properly understood until the 1970s, so it has only been since then that cats have been able to reproduce successfully without supplementing their diet through hunting. -This provides one explanation for their persistent habit of patrolling and attempting to defend a hunting territory, even when well fed by their owners: too few generations have passed since this has no longer been a necessity for their fundamental motivations to have changed appreciably (although in theory these might be reduced in the future by directed breeding)

The cat eye

-The cat's eyes are adapted to provide accurate vision in very low light. -They are large by comparison with our own, with even larger pupils, both factors maximising the amount of light entering the eye. -The reflective tapetum behind the retina further increases the efficiency of the eye (and also gives the cat the eye-shine that inspired the eponymous roadmarkings). -Most of the detectors on the retina are rods, with relatively few of the cones that give us our daytime colour vision; cats are not only red-green colour blind, but when their brain interprets the information coming from the retina, it prioritises outline, brightness and especially movement over colour, almost the exact opposite to ourselves.

Using the Modified Scarf Wrap to Restrain a Cat for Cephalic Venepuncture

-The cats at the Feline Unit are very friendly. -They are routinely handled for procedures and are selected for their friendly behaviour. -Not all cats are like this and many will resist being handled in the way shown in the video above. -They will also probably need their head restrained more than our friendly cat in the video. -Another option for restraining wriggly cats for cephalic venepuncture is to use the Modified Scarf Wrap (see Page 11 of this lesson).

Cephalic venipuncture in cats

-The cephalic vein is commonly used as a site for blood collection, catheter placement, and giving intravenous ('into the vein') drugs . -The cephalic vein is easily occluded and a better choice than the jugular vein for obtaining samples in cases of suspected coagulopathy. -Safe and effective restraint of the patient is essential for obtaining a good quality blood sample or placing a catheter effectively.

Optimum period for cat learning

-The corresponding optimum period for learning how to interact with other cats has not been studied systematically, which is unfortunate, since incompatibilities between cats in the same or neighbouring houses cause a significant proportion of problem behaviours.

First phase of cat evolution

-The first phase, for which it must be said there is little supporting archaeological evidence, appears to have been essentially evolutionary, as a small number of wildcats found themselves capable of adapting to the new niche created by the concentrations of rodent prey around the poorly protected food stores of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. -With the advent of cereal-growing, this niche would have become yet more profitable, permitting a genetic separation between those wildcats that occasionally raided farmsteads but otherwise retained their normal hunting behaviour, and those few cats that happened to have the right temperament to live permanently within human settlements, thereby generating the new subspecies Felis silvestris catus that eventually became the pet cat of today. -Tolerance of humans would have been essential to allow these cats to exploit both the prey and the shelter (crucially, denning sites) available within these early villages. -At some point within the first 1000 years or so of this developing relationship, our ancestors began to transport cats from place to place, as shown by the appearance of cats on Cyprus (which has no native wildcat) about 9000 years ago

After watching the above video describe when a full burrito wrap may be used to restrain a cat.

-The full burrito wrap is good for cats that like to hide i.e. more timid cats will likely prefer to have their heads covered so they feel safer -Remember if your patient feels safe they are less likely to struggle, making the procedure more comfortable for them and easier for the handlers. -This wrap will allow you to: listen to the cat's heart, palpate the cat's abdomen, perform a cystocentesis, perform a medial saphenous venepuncture, or examine the cat's back end

The general framework for understanding feline behaviour

-The generally accepted framework for understanding the normal behaviour of the household cat is by extrapolation from its wild ancestors and feral counterparts, rather than direct observation of behaviour in the home (in stark contrast to human psychology, in which the evolutionary approach is a relatively new player and still pretty controversial). -Our understanding of the derivation of the domestic cat from its ancestral species, the African/Arabian wildcat Felis silvestris lybica, has been revolutionised by recent analyses of the dNA of both living cats and museum specimens from around the world, doubling the archaeologists' estimate of the time since domestication began, from 5000 to 10,000 years ago, towards the end of the Neolithic period.

What is the saphenous venepuncture in a cat

-The medial saphenous vein is commonly used as a site for blood collection and is also frequently used for catheterization in dogs. -The medial saphenous vein is easily occluded and is a better choice than the jugular vein for obtaining samples in cases of suspected coagulopathy. -Safe and effective restraint of the patient is essential for obtaining a good quality blood sample or placing a catheter effectively.

The most important determinant in how a cat reacts to humans

-The most important determinant of how a cat reacts to humans is its experiences during the socialisation period, which in this species runs from 2-9 weeks of age, earlier than in the dog. -Kittens that have not been handled by the age of 9 weeks do not approach people spontaneously, and usually become 'feral', the most likely scenario being that their mother was also feral and therefore chose to give birth and nurse her kittens in some outof-the-way location. -This is not to say that 9- week-old kittens have learned everything about people that they ever will; rather, handling during the socialisation period opens a window that enables continued positive interaction with humans and promotes learning of how to interact with them (Figure 2). -This process seems to be particularly formative during the next 4 months or so, such that for most cats the style in which they interact with people becomes fixed by the time they are about a year old.

Second phase of cat evolution

-The second phase, domestication proper, began in Egypt about 5000 years ago, which is where we have the first archaeological evidence for cats as pets. -It is unclear whether and to what extent this marked another change in the cat's behavioural genetics, this time towards people, or a cultural shift in how cats were perceived - pet dogs, the obvious precedent, had already been popular for many centuries. -Subsequently, cats achieved considerable religious significance in Egypt, before being transported all over the known world during the Classical period, beginning around 2500 years ago. -The first cats to arrive in Britain were probably brought there by Phoenician traders, about 300 BCE. -For the next 1000 years or so most cats would have been pets second and mousers first. -Unlike dogs, which would have been most helpful when trained to perform whatever tasks were required of them, cats control vermin most effectively when left to their own devices, counteracting any tendency for cats to become ever more sociable as they adapted to living at increasingly higher densities.

Social organization of cat colonies

-The social organisation of the cat colonies that form around abundant food sources has proved of considerable interest to biologists, because so few other species in the cat family live in permanent groups, the prime exceptions being the lion and the cheetah. -Unlike both of these, males of the domestic cat do not cooperate with one another; it is the females that form the nucleus of social groups, in which related individuals assist one another in the raising of kittens. -The behaviours that knit these groups together - mutual flank-rubbing and grooming (Figure 1) - have obvious parallels in the way that many pet cats behave towards their owners, 10 including rubbing around their legs and attempting to lick their hands, for example.

Cats with a behavioural problem at a clinic

-The vast majority of cats that are presented at clinics for behavioural problems are neitherferal nor hand-raised, but nonetheless display considerable variation in 'personality' from one individual to another. -Pedigree cats as a whole do appear to be more likely to be presented with problem behaviours. However, this may be due as much to owner expectations and emotional and financial investment as to differences in the cats' experiences - ordinary domestic cats or 'moggies' are typically raised informally in family surroundings and rehomed at 8 weeks, whereas pedigree cats are often bred in purpose-built housing and are normally homed at 12-16 weeks of age, potentially restricting their socialisation. -There are undoubtedly genetically based differences in temperament between breeds, but there is little hard data on how these translate into the prevalence of behavioural disorders

Evidence base for learning about cat behavior

-This review identifies three areas in which basic research is inadequate to support widely employed concepts and practices in feline behavioural medicine. -First, classification of cats' problem behaviours relies heavily on approaches derived from studies of their behavioural ecology and, to some extent, extrapolation from canine studies. -Few studies have focused on cats in the home, the environment in which most behavioural disorders are expressed. -Secondly, cats' chemical senses (olfactory and vomeronasal) are far more sensitive than our own, making it difficult for owners or clinicians to fully comprehend the sensory information upon which they base their behaviour. -Thirdly, although the concept of psychological distress is widely invoked as an intervening variable in behavioural disorders, there are still no reliable measures of distress for pet cats in the home.

The earliest feline behaviour

-To begin with, these cats would probably have been almost as solitary and territorial as their wild counterparts, a tendency that persists, albeit in a diluted form, in our pet cats. -However, with the emergence of the first towns, the quantity of vermin available in a small area would have increased to more than could feed a pair of cats and their offspring, and tolerance of the proximity of other cats would have become an important adaptation, gradually evolving into the cooperative social behaviour seen in today's farm cat colonies

Cephalic Venepuncture without a Towel Wrap

-Tuck your elbow around your side and go over the cat -Grab the arm with the shaved arm -Hold off the vein and twist the skin to expose it -Restrain the head by placing hand under the cats chin

Biological factors influencing behaviours in cats

-Unlike dogs, derived from the highly social wolf, domestic cats are descended from a solitary territorial ancestor. -Until the latter half of the 20th century, cats were mainly valued for their abilities as independent hunters, for which a social bond with humans or other cats was unnecessary. -Cats have specialist nutritional requirements that impeded their becoming wholly dependent on their owners. -Cats prioritise territory over social interaction with their owners, the opposite to dogs. -During their domestication, cats evolved a simple, female-based, social system, but their default is still to be antagonistic towards unfamiliar cats (dogs have lost the wolf's natural aggression towards members of other packs). -Multi-cat households are usually artificial assemblages of unrelated individuals, and therefore chronic antagonism is likely between at least some pairs of individuals. -Cats residing in adjacent households are unlikely to interact amicably

Stress-hypothesis in cats

-While perceived threat may be conceptually useful in diagnosing unwanted behaviour, it has not proved straightforward to derive reliable independent measures of distress in pet cats. -For example, the stress hypothesis predicts that multi-cat households should contain a higher proportion of stressed individuals than among single cats; however, three recent independent studies have been unable to confirm this. -The Cat-Stress-Score, a composite behavioural measure validated for use on caged cats, is not easy to apply in domestic situations. -Physiological methods might be more useful for clinicians, but cortisol, the hormone that is widely used to assess chronic stress in other species, seems to be difficult to interpret in cats, whether measured in faeces or in urine. -Chronic distress can induce a range of non-specific signs, including vomiting, diarrhoea, anorexia, fever, lethargy, feigned sleep and inhibition of grooming or overgrooming

Three zones of cat territories

1) Core territory - where cats eat, sleep, and play • Usually the house, or part of it • Needs to be safe, secure, & no intrusion by cats from other social groups 2) Home range - includes toilet sites, observation platforms • Shared by cats in immediate neighbourhood 3) Hunting ranges - shared by larger numbers of cats

Two functions of scratching

1) Maintain claw function 2) Olfactory and visual communication • Significant locations • Other marking: urine spray, facial rub

hen you are first learning to pill a cat, it is a good idea to break the procedure down into steps. What are the steps you might take to break this procedure down into manageable 'chunks'.

1. First try to lift the cat's head up a few times 2. Then add opening the mouth with one finger 3. When it is open, you can start touching the tongue of the cat to pretend giving it a pill and close its mouth 4. Once you're comfortable with your technique, add the pill -If the cat responds favourable to treats, use these in place of the pull to start with. You can also use treats, or other things the cat enjoys (e.g. strokes), after each step - to make the experience positive for the cat

What are the three S's of cat behaviour?

1. Selection (genetic/inherited characteristics) 2. socialization (learning from previous experiences) 3. stimulation (current situation

Key points

1. The conceptual basis for the classification of cats' behavioural (non-medical) disorders is much less secure than a quarter-century of generally concordant literature might suggest. 2. There has been very little research into the behaviour of cats in 'normal' households (ie, those that do not seek advice from clinicians), but it seems likely that in many of these the owners are simply tolerant of behaviour that others consider problematic. The population of owners, and thus cats, seen by clinicians may therefore select itself more on the basis of owner psychology than cat welfare. 3. The widespread assumption that many disorders are due to general psychological distress has not been proven. Explanations will have to be found as to why some cats respond in one way, others in another; why some cats seem to have their own ways of coping, at least to their owners' satisfaction, while others do not.

Information gathering tools: timelines

A timeline (see box above) can be a particularly useful component of a comprehensive behavioural history, ensuring a chronological record is obtained. This is relevant in cases of undesirable indoor elimination and the clinician needs to establish, where possible, the chronology of the deposits if multiple locations are being used. In all cases the triggers identified by the owner for the indoor elimination need to be investigated, such as the arrival of a new cat in the household or the neighbourhood (Figure 3). It is also important to gather information about any other emotional triggers that may not have been recognised as problematic by the owner. Noting the occurrence of potential physical and social triggers onto the timeline, together with issues related to physical health, will help to identify temporal relationships between them and the problematic elimination behaviour. Clients may not necessarily be aware of the significance of events and, in order to ensure that important information is not missed, the clinician will need to ask appropriate questions. These would include: ✜ Have you recently travelled and left the cat home alone? ✜ Have new family members (human or pet) been added to the home in the past year? ✜ Have there been any structural changes in your home, such as a new kitchen or major redecoration? ✜ Have there been any significant changes in your neighbourhood?

Marking or elimination?

Accurate and comprehensive history taking is essential in order to determine the underlying motivations and distinguish between marking and elimination. Importantly, a recent study has highlighted the risk of misdiagnosis, in cases involving urine deposits, if only a single sign is used as the basis for diagnosis.5 The sensitivity and specificity of some of the commonly accepted features for differentiating between unacceptable indoor elimination and marking in cases of periuria - namely posture to urinate, attempt to cover the soiled area and volume of urine deposited - were recently calculated by the investigators, a research group at Lincoln University, UK.5 Traditionally, it has been suggested that a standing posture is indicative of a marking issue, while a squatting posture indicates elimination. Attempts to cover soiled areas and deposition of large quantities of urine have been used as diagnostic features in cases of unacceptable elimination, while the absence of covering behaviour and deposition of small or medium deposits have been used to identify a marking motivation. While these features were all significantly associated with the expected related form of periuria in this study, they did not show high levels of specificity and sensitivity.5 The consequence of this is that using any one of these features as a single criterion when differentiating between potential motivations for deposits of urine in unacceptable locations in the home is unreliable. The study found that if the volume of the deposits is used as a single criterion, with large volumes taken to determine that a cat is engaged in elimination-related rather than markingrelated behaviour, then 36% of cases with elimination problems would be missed. Conversely, if a small to medium volume of urine is used as confirmation that a cat is marking, 26% of indoor elimination cases would be misdiagnosed.5 The criterion of deposition of urine on vertical surfaces being associated with marking behaviour was shown in this same study to be less likely than volume of deposits to lead to misdiagnosis of elimination-related housesoiling. However, deposition of urine on horizontal surfaces being used as a criterion for elimination-related behaviour was less reliable, and a quarter of cats in this category were found to have a marking issue. The commonly used differentiating criteria of posture during urine deposition and the presence or absence of attempts to cover the urine were seen to be more reliable than position of the deposits, but using either of these two criteria alone for diagnosis was also shown to be flawed. The results of the study highlight the importance of undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the case, focused on excluding the differentials, rather than relying on solitary indicators or simply gathering positive evidence in support of one particular diagnosis.

Affiliative behaviours in cats

Affiliative behaviours in cats help to cement their relationships. Groups of cats who mix scents, to create a group social odour, are likely to be stable and made up of relaxed individual cats. -Intrusion by an unrelated individual is poorly tolerated as it is interpreted as a threat to resource availability - this results in intense aggression towards strangers. -Aggression is a SIGN and an outward manifestation of an emotional state experienced by the animal

Restraint for IM Injection in cats

An intramuscular injection is usually quite painful. For this reason, we recommend using a towel wrap technique for this procedure. The Full Burrito Wrap is a good one to use - and helps our anxious cats to feel secure.

List 3 features of normal cat behaviour that dictate how we handle them

Any three of the following: semi-social, antagonistic towards unfamiliar cats, intense aggression towards strangers, do not have obvious signals for diffusing conflict/reconciling, distance-maintaining behaviours affiliative behaviours

Cat drinking behaviour

Away from feeding area

Dog vs cat domestication

By comparison with dogs, cats are not yet fully domesticated. They select their own mates, and retain much of the predatory drive of their wild ancestors, both of which require interventions from their owners to counteract their effects.

Cat behaviour influenced by socialization?

CAs that fit into our society NEED to be socialised • Need to understand what is expected of them • Cats will learn how to live in their environment whether owner purposefully trains them (or not) Animals learn from experience, so: • What is a "socialisation period"? • When animal most sensitive to learning When is it? • 2 - 9 weeks (vs. dogs: 3 - 12 weeks) • Implications? Who do we need to target for feline socialisation? -> breeders need to provide adequate socialisation e.g., 20 mins handling per day

Cat signals for diffusing conflict

Cats do not have obvious signals for diffusing conflict (vs. dogs = social spp.) • Communication -> avoid physical conflict by maintaining distance OR run/hide

Define middening

Deposition of faeces outside of the litter box or tray, for the purposes of communication among cats

Define Periuria

Deposition of urine in 'unacceptable' places (irrespective of underlying cause)

Define house-soiling

Deposition of urine or faeces on objects or on vertical or horizontal surfaces in locations unacceptable to the owner (irrespective of underlying cause)

Define urine marking, urine spraying

Deposition of urine, usually on vertical surfaces outside of the litter box or tray, for the purposes of communication among cats

Define Dysuria

Difficulty passing urine, painful urination

Displacement behaviours in cats

Displacement behaviours: occur when an animal is conflicted between two drives • e.g., scratching, sniffing the ground, grooming • Can mean stress levels are going up or coming down • Require context to interpret

Aggression in Cats

Domesticated cats have a simple, female-based, semi-social system, but their default is still to be antagonistic towards unfamiliar cats (versus dogs - who have lost the wolf's natural aggression towards members of other packs).

Global importance to house soiling

Early diagnosis of physical health disorders that are associated with indoor elimination is extremely important in terms of safeguarding feline welfare. As we become more aware of the interplay between physical and emotional health, the significance of identifying suboptimal social and physical environments in terms of optimising the welfare of domestic cats is also being recognised. The potential for indoor elimination problems to cause considerable human distress highlights the importance of the concepts of One Health and One Welfare

Diagnosising the cause of house soiling: involvement of physical disease

FIC should always be considered as a causal factor,2 since pain associated with passing urine can lead to negative associations with the litter box location and subsequent onset of unacceptable indoor elimination. Similarly, medical conditions such as chronic pain and diseases causing polydipsia and polyuria, such as diabetes or renal failure, may coexist with indoor elimination and be involved in the aetiology. Other medical considerations include age-related conditions such as hyperthyroidism, cognitive dysfunction and neurological and sensory impairment.3,5 Full clinical examination and additional tests, where necessary, is the first step in the investigation of these cases.6 However, studies have shown that there is a high prevalence of medical issues in the domestic feline population, and finding a physical health-related problem does not necessarily indicate that it is causal in relation to the reported housesoiling.5 The potential for involvement of environmental factors, both social and physical, will also need to be investigated.

Annotate the image below with the body language the cat is displaying (e.g. crouching). What is the cat feeling?

Fearful

When are cats vocal?

Four major types of interaction: 1. Agonistic - growls, yowls, snarls, hisses 2. Sexual 3. Mother-young - trill or chirrup 4. Cat-human - miaow +/- trill/chirrup

The three main factors behaviour is influenced by

Genotype, environment, and learning/experience • KEY to preventing behavioural problems • Understand why cat behaves like it does • Manage, modify, or accept behaviours

What are the TWO most common uses for cephalic venepuncture?

Giving drugs into the vein, and placing a catheter

Cat behaviour influenced by stimulation

Has the cat been exposed to this stimulus before? • Does the cat have agency in this situation? • Does it have control over the situation and/or it's response? • Is the situation predictable to the cat? During socialisation period • Need to expose kittens to novel things • Unthreatening way • The importance of play? --> kittens develop confidence & learn how to interact & communicate through play

Information gathering tools: house plans

House plans (see box below) can be used to provide information about the indoor physical environment and the location of feline resources within it. They can additionally be used to illustrate the house-soiling sites, and it is helpful for these to be numbered in chronological order of deposition or discovery where possible. Information about the frequency of deposition at each site can also be included.10 In multistorey homes, plans of each floor will be needed unless the cat(s) do not have access to any areas.

Most common feline behavioural problem

House soiling • Need to educate about normal behaviour & management • Number of litter trays? • Where? • Size? • Arthritic cats? • Type of litter?

Evaluating house soiling in cats

House soiling = urinating or defecating in undesired place • Feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) • Another medical cause (not FIC) • Marking • Elimination problem

Interspecific social interactions

If cats are living in multi-species pet households the potential for latrine facilities to be perceived as not safe and secure may be understandable. For example, the presence of a dog drooling in expectation of a warm snack while the cat is attempting to defecate in a litter box might well be expected to lead to avoidance of the litter box in the future! Relationships with humans in the household should also be investigated, as social tension between cats and their caregivers may lead to lowered feline self-confidence and consequent seeking out of more protected toileting locations. Examples might include households in which inappropriate gadgets, such as water pistols or rattle cans, have been used to stop the cat behaving in certain ways or where humans have been over-enthusiastic in their social interactions, such as picking the cat up to show it affection, and inadvertently caused a feline perception of confrontation. In addition to considering individual relationships, it should also be identified when latrine facilities are located in areas with the potential for high levels of human activity (eg, in a hallway), as this could lead to the cat feeling vulnerable while using them.

Litter box considerations

In addition to marking the locations of litter boxes onto a house plan it will be important to gather information about the suitability of the facilities provided. Litter boxes should be located well away from other resources such as food and water bowls and resting places. One exception to this may be the need for litter facilities to be closer to resting locations for elderly cats or those with pain-related medical issues. Information about the style of litter box, litter material used and the cleaning regimen is all going to be important in determining whether the facilities can be considered optimal from a feline perspective. In multi-cat households it has been suggested in one study that the presence, in the litter box, of elimination deposits from incompatible cats may create an aversive scent signal and lead to avoidance of that location.7 It has been shown that cats prefer a clean litter box to a dirty one, but the same study concluded that the identity of the previous user had no impact on preferences.7 While the presence of odour from urine and/or faeces did not impact litter box preferences in that study, the presence of odourless fake urine and/or faeces did. These results suggest that chemical communication may be less important in litter box preferences; and highlight regular removal of physical/visual deposits as being a key factor in promoting litter box usage.

Clean appropriately to stop house soiling

In addition to providing suitable latrine locations it is important to reduce the attraction to undesirable locations. Removing the scent from deposits in unacceptable locations is therefore a crucial part of the treatment plan - it is essential that no residue is left from the cat's perspective. Avoid any form of cleaning product that merely masks the scent to the satisfaction of the humans in the household (see box on the left) . It is also important to remember that scents may have different effects on cats than they do on humans. While ammonia and chlorine are often associated with a sensation of cleanliness for humans they can be perceived as indicators of urine deposition for cats. Similarly citrus fragrance is very popular with people but is aversive from a feline perspective. Selection of cleaning materials to be used generally within the house is therefore something that cat owners need to consider carefully.

Treatment of elimination-related house-soiling problems

In cases of unacceptable indoor elimination the ultimate aim is to re-establish appropriate associations with locations and substrates. In order to achieve this it is important to optimise the cat's environment, not just in terms of latrine facilities (which involves ensuring access to optimal latrine sites outdoors where applicable, as well as optimising the litter box facilities in the home), but by providing for all of the recognised feline environmental needs (see article in Part 2 on environmental and behavioural modification). The approach to treatment incorporates three key aspects: ✜ Dealing with potential disease (see earlier) ✜ Addressing emotional motivations ✜ Optimising litter facilities

Define Pollakiuria

Increased frequency of urination

Clinical challenges to house soiling

Indoor elimination problems necessitate a clinical approach combining knowledge from the fields of physical and emotional health and an understanding of normal feline behaviour. They also require comprehensive history-taking skills as well as effective communication skills and a degree of empathy for owners who are often finding their pet's behaviour very distressing

Chronic stress in cats

Inhibition of feeding, grooming, urination & defecation or over-eating (dependent on personality type) Increased resting or 'feigned' sleep Hiding Increased dependency or social withdrawal (dependent on personality type) Defensive aggression towards people/cats Extreme vigilance and heightened startle response (jumping at the slightest noise) Lack of play activity Changes in general patterns of behaviour e.g. spending significantly more time indoors, irrespective of normal seasonal changes Inappropriate urination or defecation Urine spraying indoors Over-grooming, pica (wool eating) Increased facial rubbing, scratching on surfaces Displacement activity (repetitive out-of-context behaviour) Redirected aggression (onto a target that is not the original source of threat) Ambivalent behaviour (approach/withdraw, conflicting signals occurring almost simultaneously)

Investigation of unacceptable indoor elimination

Investigation of house-soiling cases, as with any behavioural medicine case, can be time consuming and challenging, and requires a comprehensive behavioural history (Figure 3). A logical approach to history taking needs to be combined with observation of the environment of the cat, either directly through house visits or indirectly via videos and house plans. This will not be possible within a standard general practice veterinary consultation and specific time will need to be allocated for investigation of these cases. Tools, including questionnaires, timelines, house plans and affiliative behaviour maps, can help to increase the efficiency of information collection.

Optimising litter facilities

It can be helpful to provide some optimum litter facilities in addition to any litter boxes that are already available in the home and use a diary of elimination habits to establish each cat's preference. Although there are some guidelines for optimising latrine facilities (see box above), every cat is an individual and the best and most practical way to ascertain the optimal facilities for each cat is to offer choice and remove any unused trays, if appropriate.

Owner perception

It has been suggested that factors such as the owner's perception of the cat's bond to them may play a role in clinical cases of house-soiling. In a recent study cats with a perceived 'affectionate bond' were more common among latrinerelated elimination cases compared with cases of indoor marking or control cats.5 This requires more investigation and the potential for owner perception to influence tolerance of housesoiling problems is also worth consideration.

What is the MAIN role of purring in cat communication?

It indicates that the cat is soliciting contact and care -Purring can be a friendly greeting call, but cats also purr when they are seriously ill or in severe pain. We now believe that purring functions as a signal care and contact from affiliated cats/humans. This is important to know when working with cats who may be experiencing poor welfare, while still purring

If you were to use the technique in the video to carry a cat using your left hand, which hand would you place between the front legs of the cat?

Left hand

Why do cats mark?

Like writing a note/communication: • To advertise sex • Territory marking • Identification • Passive aggression • Anxiety

Risk factors and triggers

Living in a multi-cat household has been shown to be a significant risk factor for eliminationrelated house-soiling, although increased feline population density within the home appears to have a greater influence on the incidence of marking.5 The availability of access to the outdoors has been associated with a lower incidence of elimination behaviour in undesirable indoor locations and it has been suggested that this may be related to less frequent litter box use, and a resulting increase in cleanliness, when cats have the option to eliminate outside (Figure 2).7 Unacceptable indoor elimination refers to the deposition of urine and/or faeces but the majority of reported clinical cases involve urination. The finding that the risk of faecal elimination in unacceptable indoor sites is five times higher in cases where eliminationrelated periuria is also reported, compared with cases of indoor marking or controls,5 is consistent with the fact that commonly reported triggers for unacceptable urination in the home, such as suboptimal litter facilities, are relevant to all elimination behaviours.

Unacceptable elimination: problem solving Location preference

Make location unattractive or unavailable e.g., food bowl, bed, plastic sheet, tin foil, close door • +/- place litter tray in location and move 5cm per day

Which of the two methods shown in the photos is BEST for handling a cat for jugular venepuncture?

Method 2 Method 2 will allow the person taking blood to access the jugular vein. The handler has her fingers in the way of the jugular vein in method 1.

Define feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC)

Multi - factorial condition characterised by one or more lower urinary tract signs (see definition of feline lower urinary tract disease) for which a single underlying cause cannot be determined; also known as idiopathic feline lower urinary tract disease

Myths vs reality about cats who are aggressive in a vet clinic

Myths -They are uncooperative -They are naughty/nasty/bad -They are being dominant -They are not controlled by their owners properly -They are tortoiseshell Reality -They are fearful -They are in pain Fear is the most common cause of aggression. Our aim is to 'first do no harm' and not create a behaviour problem. Basic training can help with control, but fear trumps training. Dominance relates to access to, or defense of, a resource - it is not a personality trait. Pain is also a common cause of aggression in cats.

Define Feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD)

Non-specific term for any of several urinary tract conditions manifested by haematuria, pollakiuria, periuria, stranguria, dysuria, or a combination of these signs

Practical relevance of house soiling

One of the reasons why cats enjoy such a high level of popularity as domestic pets is the fact that they are clean. When there is a breakdown in this fastidious behaviour and elimination occurs outside of the litter box or tray, the strain on the cat-owner bond and on human relationships within the household can be considerable.

Information gathering tools: Questionnaires

One way of encouraging a logical approach and ensuring that all potentially relevant information is collected during history taking is with the use of questionnaires. Numerous examples exist in the literature;8,9 the home life and environment questionnaire in the article in Part 1 on behavioral awareness in the feline consultation is one such example. As every case is unique it follows that there is no perfect questionnaire; most behaviour specialists develop their own and then refine it over months and years of experience of dealing with individual cases. The aim is to collect information about a range of factors that may influence the elimination behaviour of the cat. These will include: the physical environment, both inside and outside the home; the social environment, in terms of feline relationships and interactions with humans and other species; and the husbandry and management of the cat(s). Details about the deposits of urine and/or faeces found within the home will also be needed.10

Define elimination, toileting

Physiological micturition or defecation

Define Haematuria

Presence of blood or red blood cells in the urine

How to restain a cat for a cephalic venepuncture

Restrain a patient for cephalic blood sampling or catheter placement ensuring that: 1. All necessary equipment is close at hand prior to the procedure. 2. The patient's behavior and temperament is assessed before handling and decisions made regarding sedation or muzzle use. 3. The patient is correctly restrained on the floor or table as appropriate. 4. The vein is correctly occluded. 5. Local pressure is applied to the venipuncture site after needle removal if necessary. 6. The patient is returned to its cage appropriately. 7. All sharps and waste are handled and disposed of as per the clinic protocol.

Standard for the saphenous venepuncture in a cat

Restrain a patient for saphenous blood sampling or catheter placement ensuring that: 1. All necessary equipment is close at hand prior to the procedure. 2. The patient's behavior and temperament is assessed before handling and decisions made regarding sedation or muzzle use. 3. The patient is correctly restrained on the floor or table as appropriate. 4. The vein is correctly occluded. 5. Local pressure is applied to the venipuncture site after needle removal if necessary. 6. The patient is returned to its cage appropriately. 7. All sharps and waste are handled and disposed of as per the clinic protocol.

External physical environment

Restriction to a totally indoor environment is sometimes assumed to be a factor when cats are reported to be eliminating in undesirable locations in the home, but the onset of indoor elimination due to difficulty accessing previously utilised outdoor latrines is also reported anecdotally. Information about the external physical environment will be relevant in these cases, especially in terms of the feline population density in the neighbourhood and any alterations to the local environment that may have reduced access to desirable elimination locations, such as house building on previous open spaces or paving of gardens. For those cats that are restricted to indoor life, the potential relevance of the external environment should not be overlooked. For example, visual intrusion from other cats through windows (Figure 3), patio doors and transparent cat flaps can lead to a perception of threat to the safety of indoor latrines.

Full Burrito Wrap for cats

STEP 1: Place your cat in the centre of a clean towel. Leave enough towel at the front of the cat to fold over the cat's head. ~15 cms works well STEP 2: Holding the cat steady by placing a hand over its shoulders, fold the towel over its head. Make sure your body is up against the back of the cat - to act as a backstop STEP 3A: Wrap one side snugly over the cat STEP 3B: The towel should not be loose once it is wrapped over the cat STEP 4: Wrap the towel back over the other side STEP 5: Continue to wrap the towel around and tuck it under the cat FINAL RESULT: The wrap should be snug, but not too tight. Adjust the towel around the cat's face to ensure there is breathing room. Check the cat frequently - to make sure it is comfortable and breathing well TIP: You can now turn the cat onto its side and loosen the towel around its hind end to gain access to the medial saphenous vein -Not all cats like their head to be covered - these cats would benefit from a towel wrap technique that allows their head to be free e.g. the Scarf or Modified Scarf Wrap

Steps for the scarf wrap for a cat

Step 1: The cat should be placed 5-10 cms from the front edge of a clean towel and ~30 cms from one side. Use gently hand pressure along the spine to keep the cat in place. Keep your body up against the back of the cat to act as a backstop. STEP 2: Bring the front of the towel over the front paws. Wrap the short side of the towel snugly around the cat's neck - like a scarf. STEP 3: Snugly wrap half of the towel around the body and begin to bring that same corner of the towel around the front end. REMEMBER to keep your hand a good distance from the face! STEP 4: Continue bringing that towel corner all the way around the head as seen in the image above. The towel should be snug but not suffocating the cat! Finish this wrap by wrapping the other half of the towel snugly around the cats neck also. STEP 5: Once snugly wrapped you can gently ease the cat into lateral recumbency. REMEMBER: the cat needs to feel secure and supported at all times otherwise they will struggle. -For catheter placement, the lateral saphenous is used. The medial saphenous in cats can be used for blood collection.

Define Stranguria

Straining to urinate without success (eg, related to a blockage)

Modified Scarf Wrap for saphenous venepuncture

The Modified Scarf Wrap allows us access to the cat's front leg and can be used for cats that don't like their head covered. This towel wrap will allow you to: -Perform cephalic venepuncture, or Place a cephalic catheter -Examine the cat's head, back half of the body, or one front leg

Elimination related to primary environmental or social factors

The ability of cats to reliably use litter facilities provided within the home makes it easy for owners to go out to work and spend time on their own leisure pursuits without worrying about whether the cat is desperate to toilet. -The fact that the majority of kittens are already reliable in their use of the litter box when they arrive in their new home increases the perception that kittens are easier than puppies and adds to their popularity. -Dealing with cases of unacceptable elimination involves understanding normal feline toileting and identifying why this particular cat is finding its preferred location or substrate more attractive than the litter facilities provided by the owner or the available locations in the outdoor environment. -Consideration of the influence of the social and physical environment, and the associated emotional motivations, in these cases is as equally within the remit of the veterinary profession as identification of potential contributing physical diseases.

describe when a scarf wrap may be used to restrain a cat.

The scarf wrap is preferable for cats that don't like their heads covered. It is also a better option if your cat is stressed or has any respiratory difficulty.

Marking due to anxiety

Theory: To be confident a cat needs to live in an environment that contains enough of its own smell • Low self-esteem (anxiety) -> needs more smell • Cats with the flu may spray more - Why?

Owner psychology vs cat welfare: a mismatch

There appears to be a considerable mismatch between the occurrence of potentially problematic behaviour in the pet cat population, and its prevalence in terms of numbers of enquiries to advice services and cases presented to practitioners (Figure 5). Behaviour that causes inconvenience or embarrassment to owners, especially urination and defecation in undesired locations, is over-represented in clinical surveys; behaviour that may be perceived as 'just what cats do', such as aggression between cats living in neighbouring households, is under-represented, even though these may be different expressions of the same underlying issue. In one door-to-door survey, over half of all owners reported that their cat was fearful of unfamiliar people and/or neighbourhood cats, yet it seems that few owners perceive such behaviour as a problem worth addressing, regardless of its effect on their cat. Thus although owners, and especially those who seek professional help, are likely to have their cat's best interests at heart, their conception of what constitutes good welfare in their pet may be significantly skewed

Addressing emotional issues

To address the potential for the negative emotional motivations of fear-anxiety and frustration to be playing a role in cases of unacceptable indoor elimination it is important to ensure that the environment provides for the 'five pillars' of feline environmental needs. These are described in the 2013 guidelines produced by the AAFP and ISFM,11 and also discussed in the article in Part 2 on environmental and behavioural modification. -Paying attention to provision of a safe place, an environment that respects the feline sense of smell, positive, consistent and predictable human social interaction, and outlets for play and predatory behaviour, is equally as important as ensuring that there are multiple and separate environmental resources within the home. In other words, as well as requiring optimal facilities in order to encourage acceptable elimination behaviour from cats housed in a domestic environment, it is important to consider the requirement for optimised emotional health.

True or false: New owners given basic information on what to expect of their cats, and how to manage their environment, report far fewer problem behaviours than owners left to find out for themselves

True

How cats communicate

Visual Visual communication is mainly used by cats for regulating aggressive behaviour - offensive or defensive. It is also used for friendly intentions. Vocal There are four major types of vocal interaction: 1. Agonistic - growls, yowls, snarls, hisses 2. Sexual 3. Mother-young - trill or chirrup 4. Cat-human - miaow +/- trill/chirrup Tactile Examples of tactile communication in cats include: allorubbing, allogrooming, touching noses, resting together Olfactory Olfactory messages last over a period of time and give messages to other cats remotely. Examples include: urine spraying, claw scratching, tactile rubbing

Feline perception: why 'inappropriate toileting' is no longer appropriate terminology

When cats deposit urine and faeces in the house through elimination the behaviour has traditionally been referred to as 'inappropriate toileting'. In fact there is nothing inappropriate about toileting since it is a physiological response to a full bladder and bowel and is always rewarding from an internal perspective. The cat chooses a location that meets its needs. When that location is not compatible with the human caregiver's it is important to ask why the location that they have provided is not considered appropriate by the cat. Kersti Seksel, a veterinary specialist in behavioural medicine in Australia, has urged people to adopt the terminology 'unacceptable elimination', in order to emphasise that the location of the deposits is unacceptable to humans. The semantics are important: the word 'inappropriate' implies that the cat is doing something wrong, whereas 'unacceptable' or 'undesirable' emphasises the responsibility of caregivers to optimise the environment that their feline companions live in. Essentially, latrine locations that are considered acceptable by people must also be considered appropriate by cats.

Normal feline elimination

When cats deposit urine and faeces through elimination they look for quiet and secluded locations where they will not be disturbed. -The chosen substrate is usually conducive to creating an indentation in which to eliminate and then raking to cover the deposit after the elimination has occurred -In house-soiling cases related to elimination (as opposed to marking), the location of the deposits and the location of the litter boxes needs to be evaluated; the latter in terms of their ability to offer privacy and seclusion. -The litter material has the potential to create aversion to the use of the litter box, and features of the litter box itself, such as its size and whether it is hooded, have also been proposed as potential contributing factors. -Litter box management in terms of hygiene and frequency of cleaning is important too and should be investigated.

Feline social groups within the household

While cats may coexist under the same roof, this does not necessarily mean that they belong to the same social grouping. It is important to remember that cats do not have an inherent tolerance of feline strangers. Ideally, cats will live with genetically related individuals, thus sibling groupings may stand the best chance of success. Cats can also cohabit successfully with non-related cats if they are introduced early enough and in the right way (see accompanying article on aggression in multicat households). For a multi-cat household it is, therefore, important to determine not only how many cats there are but how many social groupings exist within the household. Owners should be asked to spend time observing their cats and looking for affiliative behaviour patterns such as allogrooming (reciprocal social grooming by cats) and allorubbing (reciprocal social rubbing between cats) in order to establish how many social groups are living within the home. Observation also helps to highlight some of the more passive manifestations of social tension that are often overlooked. Owners are more likely to conclude that there is social tension if there is fighting and hostile vocalisation, yet more passive behaviours, such as staring and avoidance, are also important signs of feline hostility (see article in Part 1 on understanding feline emotions). It should be suggested that owners observe their cats over a 7 day period and record interactions such as rubbing and grooming on an affiliative behaviour diagram (see box below). Those cats that do not engage in these affiliative behaviours will find it stressful to be expected to share important resources such as resting places and entry/exit points. The relevance of social groups in relation to problems of unacceptable indoor elimination is their impact on the availability of resources, including latrine facilities, in terms not only of the number of resources but also their location. Sharing of facilities between social groups is considered to be a potential stressor leading to increased risk of eliminationrelated house-soiling. Another influence of feline compatibility in this context relates to the increased risk of social tension in the location of the latrines (Figure 4). Anything that increases negative emotions of fear-anxiety or frustration has the potential to increase avoidance behaviour in relation to the provided facilities and promote seeking of alternative more secure locations for toileting.

Acute stress in cats

any of the following signs may be evident: Immobility Body - crouched directly on top of all fours, shaking Belly - not exposed, rapid breathing Legs - bent Tail - close to the body Head - lower than the body, motionless Eyes - fully open Pupils - fully dilated Ears - fully flattened back on the head Whiskers - back Vocalisation - plaintive miaow, yowling, growling or silent Hissing, growling, shaking, drooling Involuntary urination, defecation Aggression if approached

Determining the cause of unacceptable elimination in cats with litter/substrate aversion:

cat will not use particular litter but may use another one if given a choice

Location aversion: determining the cause of unacceptable elimination in cats

move tray to NEW area, if cat uses it then it is location aversion (multi-cat households - moving may not make any difference because another cat interferes with victim)

Location preference: determining the cause of unacceptable elimination in cats

place litter tray in area cat choosing to use, with usual litter, and it will be used

Steps for the modified scarf wrap

step 1: gently place the cat on top of the clean towel on a clean table top step 2: gently, but firmly wrap the shortest side snugly around the cat's neck - like a scarf step 3: pull the entire short side of the towel over the cat so that all of the cat is covered - except its face. Then pull the front adge forward. Take care putting your hand in front of the cats face step 4: Wrap the scarf under and around the cat's neck Step 5: Gently, but firmly wrap the other side of the towel over and around the front of the cat Step 6: Make sure you leave the head and one leg (the left lef in the case of our soft toy here) exposed by gently pulling the towel under the elbow step 7: The towel wrap should allow the cat to be comfortable, but should be relatively firm to prevent the cat wriggling free Step 8: Gently move the cat to the edge of the table if needed. Keep your body close to the rear of the cat to prevent backward movement. Always keep one hand on the cat at all times -The cephalic vein can now be accessed by holding the cat's exposed leg at the base of its elbow and gently extending the limb foreward

Why force based methods to handle cats is bad

we are likely to cause more harm than good. This can result in: -Injury to yourself and others - loss of $$$ and work days -The cat's behaviour being made worse - not better -The cat's life being endangered - euthanasia as a result of a behavioural problem

Determining the cause of unacceptable elimination in cats with litter/substrate preference:

when a variety of litters placed near new substrate the cat will ignore them

Substrate preference unacceptable elimination in cats

• At 5 - 7 weeks kitten starts to use litter or soil • Develops preference for what it likes to urinate and defecate in • Can decide that it likes substrate we don't want it to use

How to control inappropriate play in cats

• Avoid control JUST aimed at stopping inappropriate play • e.g., loud noise, throwing things, squirting water • Increase anxiety -> increase arousal -> increase intensity of response • Teaches cat what not to do, but no info on what to do instead • Instead: teach cat that current interaction -> no consequence • But more appropriate ones -> positive outcome -> change behaviour

Calming body signals from cats

• Calming signals: behaviour patterns used to avoid conflict, prevent aggression, & calm others down Cat calming signals include: • Yawning • Lip-licking • Blinking • Looking away • Whisker twitching • Tail tucking • Vocalising

Unacceptable elimination: problem solving subsrate aversion

• Can decide doesn't like a substrate if associated with traumatic incident • Treat by providing alternative substrate • Clean litter

Substrate eversion unacceptable elimination in cats

• Cat learns to avoid a particular substrate if they associate it with painful or frightening experience • Filthy, smelly litter • May stand outside box and urinate or defaecate over the rim

How to control inappropriate play in cats with activites

• Cats often very owner-focused • Limited opportunities for activity without owner • Provide appropriate enrichment/optimization • Encourage activities independent of owner • e.g., feeding enrichment devices • Teach appropriate play with cat • Toys distant from body • Do not respond when cat initiates inappropriate play • May need protective gear! e.g., thick socks, boots • Initiate play when cat relaxed and not seeking attention • Cat learns that play session are regular • But not when it tries to initiate them

What do cats prioritize?

• Cats prioritise territory over social interaction (vs. dogs) • Problem behaviours = perceived threat to secure territory • Access to RESOURCES

When do use drugs when problem solving unacceptable elimination in cats

• Chronic anxiety • UE longer than 6 months? • Behaviour modification alone not working? • Use early, increases chances of success

How to problem solve marking in cats

• Cleaning! Neutralise, enzymatic cleaners (e.g., laundry powder) • Restrict access to area sprayed or make sprayed area unattractive • Move food bowl or bed to sprayed area • Environmental optimisation ("enrichment") • Resources • Activity feeding

Cats in history

• Domestic cats descended from solitary territorial ancestor (vs. dogs) • Domestic cats are crepuscular (vs. wild cats) • Cats were valued for their independent hunting ability - social bond with humans / other cats unnecessary • Cats stalk their prey - how useful are bells?

How to evaluate inappropriate playing in cats

• Establish motivation for showing behaviour • Changed over time? • Consequence of behaviour changed --> emotional conflict for cat • Anxiety --> increased intensity of behaviour Ask owner: • How they responded when behaviour first started (reinforced?) • How they respond now (anxiogenic?)

Kitten problem behaviours

• Exuberant play • NO play with human body parts - hands, fingers, toes • Aggression • Play-related aggression - stalking and pouncing on owners! • Aggression when handled - long periods of social grooming = abnormal for cats • Fear/anxiety-related aggression - certain situations -> teach calm (DS/CC) • Scratching - normal behaviour, need to teach them where is appropriate • Litterbox problems - accessibility, away from food, cleaned regularly

Feline social system

• Flexible semi-social system - NOT asocial/solitary • Adult female feral cats cooperate • Resist newcomers/unfamiliar cats • Affiliative behaviours strengthen bonds in social group

Evaluating cat scratching behaviour

• ID current function of behaviour - observe cat / ask detailed information • Determine location of scratching • Is it 'significant'? e.g., diff social groups passing, unpredictable owner --> marking function • Cat anxious/vigilant • 1 or 2 distinct locations? --> working nails • Scratching in presence or absence of owners? • Once established, occurrence influenced by owner reaction • Access to suitable scratching surface? • Suitable material, tall enough • Location? • Cat's access to site?

How to control cat scratching when its a marking behaviour

• ID why location of marking is significant to cat • Multi-cat household - scratching at where diff social groups pass Resolve by providing: • Important resources in core areas • Alternative entrance/exits • 3D space in passing places - avoids direct contact

When is cat vision used?

• Mainly used in regulating aggressive behav - offensive or defensive • Also for friendly intentions

Unacceptable elimination: problem solving Location aversion

• Make location safer and more attractive to the cat • Modify environment (e.g., higher walls, larger, privacy) • Old/arthritic cat - low tray walls, size of tray large enough to perch and turn around, pain relief

Behavioural biology of scratching

• Need suitable surfaces • Vertical grain/thread • High enough to reach and drag nails down • Stable enough to lean into • Some cats prefer horizontal surfaces • e.g., top of fences, carpets • Or lie upside down e.g., underside of beds

Unacceptable elimination in cats

• Need to evaluate location of deposits AND location of toileting area provided (e.g., litterboxes) • Is toileting area private and secure? • Litter material/substrate could also cause problems • Plus features of litter box e.g., size

Cat feeding behaviour

• Obligate carnivores - specialist nutritional requirements • Feral cats = small meals often - what about CA cats? • Stimulate normal feeding behaviour - how? • Neutering - impact?

How is inappropriate play in cats reinforced by humans?

• Often reinforced by humans • If cat values social interaction (including play) --> behaviours that achieve interaction reinforced --> more likely to occur • Example: • Cat brings toy --> owner ignores cat • Cat jumps off kitchen shelf onto owner's shoulder --> owner reacts

How should an owner respond to a cat scratching furniture?

• Owner should not respond when cat claws at furniture • Doesn't matter if owner response perceived as aversive OR positive • Avoids reinforcing or causing anxiety in cat

How can cats manage interactions to avoid conflict?

• Physical avoidance • Marking (crossed out) • Calming or appeasement signals • Warning signals • Social hierarchy (crossed out)

What causes inappropriate play in cats?

• Play behaviour influenced by experiences in developmental period • Kitten play: develop/refine motor skills for predation • Learn suitable substrates for these behaviours • First play with any objects e.g., leaves, twigs • Queen shows appropriate substrate --> prey items • Human inappropriate play with kittens à adult cats direct play at humans

Unacceptable elimination: problem solving subsrate preference

• Prevent access to preferred substrate if possible • Supply other substrates • Give range of litter and allow cat to ID its preferred substrate • Clean and deodorise

How to control cat scratching when its to work nails

• Provide suitable scratching surface & location • Clean existing surface - enzymatic cleaners • Cover existing surface e.g., thick plastic • New scratching post near unacceptable site --> gradually move

external/outdoor threat

• Remove reasons other cats hanging around - food, bird table, rubbish, fences/posts • Prevent access by other cats - magnetic collar/microchip cat door • Block visual - close curtains • Provide appropriate marking sites - cat palace, don't wash bedding • Clean outside of house where marking occurring

Internal/Indoor Conflict

• Resource distribution • Scent swapping • Isolating and/or reintroduction • Reduce number of cats - rehome • Control children/escape zone

Types of unacceptable elimination in cats

• Substrate preference/aversion • Location preference/aversion

Location preference and aversion of unacceptable elimination in cats

• Unpleasant experience in litter tray (e.g., noises, dogs, other cats, children, washing machine) • Prefers to GO somewhere else • Finds that new location has what the cat requires (may be quiet, no other cats, etc.)

Medical/veterinary check up of cats for house soiling

• Urinalysis ('urine analysis') • UTI/FLUTD - especially if urinating in bath/shower • Diarrhoea - GIT disease

What is marking?

• Urine spray - vertical surfaces, objects • Can be urine pools - horizontal surfaces • Posture - more often standing • Versus: elimination posture? Also: • Faeces • Paw glands - clawing • Face and head glands - rubbing

What information do we need to address the house soiling problem in cats?

• Urine/faeces/both • Volume • Frequency • Posture • Area/location - house plan • Substrate & cleaning regime • Age of onset • Presence/absence of owner • Owner reaction • Stressors? • Resources - house plan • Cats in house - multi-cat? • Social groups/resources

Cat behaviour influenced by selection

• What type of kitten would you recommend? • What type of kitten are breeders selecting for? • Influences cat's temperament • Tom? • Queen? • Ideal time to home a kitten? ~ 7 - 9 weeks of age

Tactile cat communication

● Allorubbing ● Allogrooming ● Touching noses ● Resting together

How do cats use their olfactory (nose) to communicate?

● Last over a period of time ● Give messages to other cats remotely ● Urine spraying, claw scratching, tactile rubbing ● Flehmen (vomeronasal organ)

The four important differential diagnoses to consider for house soiling in cats are:

✜ Feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC); ✜ A medical aetiology (other than FIC); ✜ Marking (using urine and/or faeces as a communication tool) - most commonly urine spraying; ✜ Elimination (physiological deposition of urine and/or faeces) - related to primary environmental and social factors.