Cargando…
Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score
BACKGROUND: Populations of unowned unsocialised cats are present worldwide. Generally, there is concern about their welfare. Low body condition score (BCS) is a potentially relevant indicator that is relatively easy to assess: emaciated cats are likely to have welfare problems while thin cats may be...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9869495/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36691036 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13028-023-00665-2 |
_version_ | 1784876779507286016 |
---|---|
author | Nielsen, Søren Saxmose Thuesen, Ida Sofie Mejer, Helena Agerholm, Jørgen Steen Nielsen, Stine Thorsø Jokelainen, Pikka Thamsborg, Stig Milan Sandøe, Peter |
author_facet | Nielsen, Søren Saxmose Thuesen, Ida Sofie Mejer, Helena Agerholm, Jørgen Steen Nielsen, Stine Thorsø Jokelainen, Pikka Thamsborg, Stig Milan Sandøe, Peter |
author_sort | Nielsen, Søren Saxmose |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Populations of unowned unsocialised cats are present worldwide. Generally, there is concern about their welfare. Low body condition score (BCS) is a potentially relevant indicator that is relatively easy to assess: emaciated cats are likely to have welfare problems while thin cats may be at risk of becoming emaciated. The objective of this study was to assess the association of low BSC with a selection of factors relating to the host, disease, and infection in unowned unsocialised domestic cats. We necropsied 598 euthanised unowned unsocialised cats from Denmark. We recorded each cat’s age-group, sex, and neuter status, together with its pregnancy status, the season and location of trapping, as well as gross lesions at necropsy. We also tested for feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukaemia virus, recorded presence of ectoparasites, and a subsample of the cats were also tested for endoparasites. Cats with no or sparse adipose deposits were categorised as having low BCS, and logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with low BCS. RESULTS: Of the cats, 11.4% had low BCS. Season, age-group and sex were associated with low BCS and confounded potential associations with other variables. Intact adult males and females in spring and early summer were at highest risk of low BCS. When these factors were taken into account, cats with biting lice had 2.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4–5.4) times higher odds of low BCS, and cats with gastro-intestinal findings (i.e., enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes, abdominal hernia, diarrhoea, obstructive foreign bodies, or diaphragmatic hernia) had 50 (95% CI 10–417) times higher odds of low BCS, than cats with no such findings. Cats with low BCS were primarily adult intact cats with tooth lesions and skin lesions, ear mite infection, and positive test result for feline immunodeficiency virus. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight associations that can be used to define a risk profile: low BCS, notably in summer-autumn, in an unowned unsocialised cat was associated with underlying, less visible problems. Thus, low BCS can be more than a step towards being emaciated; it can also be an indicator of other underlying welfare problems. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9869495 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-98694952023-01-24 Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score Nielsen, Søren Saxmose Thuesen, Ida Sofie Mejer, Helena Agerholm, Jørgen Steen Nielsen, Stine Thorsø Jokelainen, Pikka Thamsborg, Stig Milan Sandøe, Peter Acta Vet Scand Research BACKGROUND: Populations of unowned unsocialised cats are present worldwide. Generally, there is concern about their welfare. Low body condition score (BCS) is a potentially relevant indicator that is relatively easy to assess: emaciated cats are likely to have welfare problems while thin cats may be at risk of becoming emaciated. The objective of this study was to assess the association of low BSC with a selection of factors relating to the host, disease, and infection in unowned unsocialised domestic cats. We necropsied 598 euthanised unowned unsocialised cats from Denmark. We recorded each cat’s age-group, sex, and neuter status, together with its pregnancy status, the season and location of trapping, as well as gross lesions at necropsy. We also tested for feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukaemia virus, recorded presence of ectoparasites, and a subsample of the cats were also tested for endoparasites. Cats with no or sparse adipose deposits were categorised as having low BCS, and logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with low BCS. RESULTS: Of the cats, 11.4% had low BCS. Season, age-group and sex were associated with low BCS and confounded potential associations with other variables. Intact adult males and females in spring and early summer were at highest risk of low BCS. When these factors were taken into account, cats with biting lice had 2.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4–5.4) times higher odds of low BCS, and cats with gastro-intestinal findings (i.e., enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes, abdominal hernia, diarrhoea, obstructive foreign bodies, or diaphragmatic hernia) had 50 (95% CI 10–417) times higher odds of low BCS, than cats with no such findings. Cats with low BCS were primarily adult intact cats with tooth lesions and skin lesions, ear mite infection, and positive test result for feline immunodeficiency virus. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight associations that can be used to define a risk profile: low BCS, notably in summer-autumn, in an unowned unsocialised cat was associated with underlying, less visible problems. Thus, low BCS can be more than a step towards being emaciated; it can also be an indicator of other underlying welfare problems. BioMed Central 2023-01-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9869495/ /pubmed/36691036 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13028-023-00665-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Nielsen, Søren Saxmose Thuesen, Ida Sofie Mejer, Helena Agerholm, Jørgen Steen Nielsen, Stine Thorsø Jokelainen, Pikka Thamsborg, Stig Milan Sandøe, Peter Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score |
title | Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score |
title_full | Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score |
title_fullStr | Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score |
title_full_unstemmed | Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score |
title_short | Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score |
title_sort | assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in denmark based on associations with low body condition score |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9869495/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36691036 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13028-023-00665-2 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT nielsensørensaxmose assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore AT thuesenidasofie assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore AT mejerhelena assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore AT agerholmjørgensteen assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore AT nielsenstinethorsø assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore AT jokelainenpikka assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore AT thamsborgstigmilan assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore AT sandøepeter assessingwelfarerisksinunownedunsocialiseddomesticcatsindenmarkbasedonassociationswithlowbodyconditionscore |