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Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats

Environmental enrichment is critical for alleviating stress in laboratory felines. However, there is a paucity of information about suitable enrichment for cats. This study aimed to determine preferred enrichment options of individually-housed, castrated male domestic short hair cats (Felis catus) u...

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Autores principales: Kennedy, Claudia J., Thomson, Andrea E., Griffith, Emily H., Fogle, Jonathan, Lascelles, B. Duncan X., Meeker, Rick B., Sherman, Barbara L., Gruen, Margaret E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6071041/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29970792
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v10070353
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author Kennedy, Claudia J.
Thomson, Andrea E.
Griffith, Emily H.
Fogle, Jonathan
Lascelles, B. Duncan X.
Meeker, Rick B.
Sherman, Barbara L.
Gruen, Margaret E.
author_facet Kennedy, Claudia J.
Thomson, Andrea E.
Griffith, Emily H.
Fogle, Jonathan
Lascelles, B. Duncan X.
Meeker, Rick B.
Sherman, Barbara L.
Gruen, Margaret E.
author_sort Kennedy, Claudia J.
collection PubMed
description Environmental enrichment is critical for alleviating stress in laboratory felines. However, there is a paucity of information about suitable enrichment for cats. This study aimed to determine preferred enrichment options of individually-housed, castrated male domestic short hair cats (Felis catus) used in a longitudinal study of the effects of chronic feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection, and to determine if the FIV status of the cats affected enrichment preferences. Preference testing was performed with two types of grooming brushes, three different interactive play options, including a laser, ball, and petting interaction with a familiar investigator, and two types of toenail conditioning objects. We found that cats elected to be brushed, preferred social interaction and play with the laser to the ball, and preferred to scratch on an inclined-box toenail conditioning object compared to a horizontal, circular toenail conditioning object. There were individual preferences for enrichment opportunities. There were no differences in preferences between FIV-infected and sham-infected cats. These enrichment preferences may be used to advise laboratory animal facilities and researchers about how to best accommodate the behavioral needs of laboratory cats.
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spelling pubmed-60710412018-08-09 Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats Kennedy, Claudia J. Thomson, Andrea E. Griffith, Emily H. Fogle, Jonathan Lascelles, B. Duncan X. Meeker, Rick B. Sherman, Barbara L. Gruen, Margaret E. Viruses Article Environmental enrichment is critical for alleviating stress in laboratory felines. However, there is a paucity of information about suitable enrichment for cats. This study aimed to determine preferred enrichment options of individually-housed, castrated male domestic short hair cats (Felis catus) used in a longitudinal study of the effects of chronic feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection, and to determine if the FIV status of the cats affected enrichment preferences. Preference testing was performed with two types of grooming brushes, three different interactive play options, including a laser, ball, and petting interaction with a familiar investigator, and two types of toenail conditioning objects. We found that cats elected to be brushed, preferred social interaction and play with the laser to the ball, and preferred to scratch on an inclined-box toenail conditioning object compared to a horizontal, circular toenail conditioning object. There were individual preferences for enrichment opportunities. There were no differences in preferences between FIV-infected and sham-infected cats. These enrichment preferences may be used to advise laboratory animal facilities and researchers about how to best accommodate the behavioral needs of laboratory cats. MDPI 2018-07-03 /pmc/articles/PMC6071041/ /pubmed/29970792 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v10070353 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kennedy, Claudia J.
Thomson, Andrea E.
Griffith, Emily H.
Fogle, Jonathan
Lascelles, B. Duncan X.
Meeker, Rick B.
Sherman, Barbara L.
Gruen, Margaret E.
Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats
title Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats
title_full Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats
title_fullStr Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats
title_full_unstemmed Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats
title_short Enrichment Preferences of FIV-Infected and Uninfected Laboratory-Housed Cats
title_sort enrichment preferences of fiv-infected and uninfected laboratory-housed cats
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6071041/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29970792
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v10070353
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