The effect of a hiding box on stress levels and body weight in Dutch shelter cats; a randomized controlled trial

While staying in an animal shelter, cats may suffer from chronic stress which impairs their health and welfare. Providing opportunities to hide can significantly reduce behavioural stress in cats, but confirmation with physical parameters is needed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 14; no. 10; p. e0223492
Main Authors:	van der Leij, W J R, Selman, L D A M, Vernooij, J C M, Vinke, C M
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 14-10-2019 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Adaptation Analysis Animal shelters Animal Welfare Animals Behavior Behavior, Animal Biology and Life Sciences Body Weight Body weight loss Cats Clinical trials Domestic cats Engineering and Technology Epidemiology Food Health aspects Health risks Housing, Animal Internet Medical research Medicine and Health Sciences Parameters Physical properties Public health Quarantine Research and Analysis Methods Shelters Social Sciences Society Stress Stress (Psychology) Stress management Stress response Stress, Psychological Studies Veterinary medicine Weight loss Netherlands United Kingdom > UK
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Summary:	While staying in an animal shelter, cats may suffer from chronic stress which impairs their health and welfare. Providing opportunities to hide can significantly reduce behavioural stress in cats, but confirmation with physical parameters is needed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of a hiding box on behavioural stress levels (scored by means of the Cat-Stress-Score) and a physical parameter, namely body weight, during the first 12 days in quarantine for cats newly arrived cats at a Dutch animal shelter. Twenty-three cats between 1 and 10 years of age were randomly divided between the experimental (N = 12) and control group (N = 11) with and without a hiding box. Stress levels were assessed on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12 according to the non-invasive Cat-Stress-Score (CSS). Body weights were measured on days 0, 7 and 12. Finally, adoption rates and length of stay (LOS) were determined. Major findings of the study are: (1) the mean Cat-Stress-Score decreased with time for all cats, but cats with a hiding box showed a significant faster decrease in the CSS, reaching a lower CSS-steady state seven days earlier than the control group; (2) nearly all cats in both groups lost significant body weight during the first two weeks; (3) hiding boxes did not significantly influence weight loss; (4) no differences were found in the adoption rates and the LOS between both groups. Hiding enrichment reduces behavioural stress in shelter cats during quarantine situations and can therefore be a relatively simple aid to shelter adaptation. It offers no prevention however against feline weight loss, which indicates a serious health risk for shelter cats.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Undefined-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Current address: Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Current address: Department of Animals in Science and Society, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Current address: Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0223492