Cat

Toys and technicians: 2 keys to a successful enrichment program for singly housed felines

Social or group housing is well known as the ideal environment for maintaining cats in a research setting as it allows specific behaviors such as play, grooming, and climbing. When social housing is not possible, enrichment items and personnel interactions...

Year Published: 2014Topics: Disease/Experimental Model, Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Nowlan, S. Y., Burlingame, L. A., Na, J. et al. 2014. Toys and technicians: 2 keys to a successful enrichment program for singly housed felines. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 583. (Abstract #P132).

Dynamics of the access of captive domestic cats to a feed environmental enrichment item

Providing feed enrichment to captive felids that are obligate carnivores is crucial for eliciting natural hunting behaviours. However, studies of the efficacy of enrichment techniques usually analyse the whole group, overlooking the different behaviours of individual animals towards the enriched...

Year Published: 2014Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Damasceno, J., Genaro, G. 2014. Dynamics of the access of captive domestic cats to a feed environmental enrichment item. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 151, 67-74.

Behavioral ethogram as a health assessment tool in a feline vaccine study

For infectious disease studies, assessment of feline health is traditionally limited to metrics such as body temperature (BT), change in body weight (BW), and clinical signs (CS). Recently, behavioral ethograms designed for assessment of rabbits and rodents were demonstrated to...

Year Published: 2014Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Burlingame, L. A., Na, J., Dunbar, M. et al. 2014. Behavioral ethogram as a health assessment tool in a feline vaccine study. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 610. (Abstract #P227).

Laboratory animal behavior

The study of laboratory animal behavior has increased steadily over the last decade, with expanding emphasis on a variety of commonly used species. In the United States, this trend was initially focused on species for which there was a regulatory...

Year Published: 2015Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Human-Animal Interaction, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Baboon, Bird, Capuchin, Cat, Cattle, Chicken, Chimpanzee, Dog, Fowl, Gerbil, Goat, Guinea Pig, Hamster, Lemur, Macaque, Marmoset, Mink, Mouse, Other Nonhuman Primate, Owl Monkey, Rabbit, Rat, Rodent, Sheep, Squirrel Monkey, Vervet (African Green Monkey)

Citation: Bayne, K. A., Beaver, B. V., Mench, J. A. et al. 2015. Laboratory animal behavior. In: Laboratory Animal Medicine, 3rd edition. Fox, J. G., Anderson, L., Otto, G., et al. (eds). Elsevier, Inc., Amsterdam, NL. pp. 1617-1651.

Cats prefer species-appropriate music

Many studies have attempted to use music to influence the behavior of nonhuman animals; however, these studies have often led to conflicting outcomes. We have developed a theoretical framework that hypothesizes that in order for music to be effective with...

Year Published: 2015Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Snowdon, C. T., Teie, D., Savage, M. 2015. Cats prefer species-appropriate music. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 166, 106-111.

The effects of social interaction and environmental enrichment on the space use, behaviour and stress of owned housecats facing a novel environment

Every day, millions of domestic cats are held temporarily in captive environments, such as boarding catteries and rescue shelters. Being in confinement can potentially invoke high levels of stress for these animals. Therefore, there is a need to develop appropriate...

Year Published: 2015Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Rehnberg, L. K., Robert, K. A., Watson, S. J. et al. 2015. The effects of social interaction and environmental enrichment on the space use, behaviour and stress of owned housecats facing a novel environment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 169, 51-61.