Читать книгу Animal Behavior for Shelter Veterinarians and Staff - Группа авторов - Страница 103

Some dogs can be adept at hiding their illnesses, but cats are even better at it. This may be due to the cat’s unusual position of being both predator and prey, depending upon the environment. Anorexia is often the first sign noted by caretakers of sick cats. The fastidious nature of the cat contributes to the ability to mask signs of disease. For example, if cats have diarrhea, they are likely to clean themselves, removing all signs of the mess, until they become too ill to do so. The more sedentary and nocturnal nature of the cat may also cause caretakers to overlook inactivity due to illness until it becomes severe. Unkempt hair coat in a cat should be immediately noted and a possible cause investigated because the cat must be either ill, injured, or otherwise impaired in its movement in order for it to stop grooming itself.

A variety of different studies have suggested that monitoring sickness behaviors in the cat may be an excellent means of evaluating feline welfare and that cats’ behavior is a more reliable indicator of their level of stress than their physiological responses (Stella et al. 2013). One study demonstrated that the presence of unusual external events is enough to increase the risk of sickness behaviors in cats (Stella et al. 2011). When cats are exposed to multiple unpredictable stressors, including exposure to unfamiliar caretakers, an inconsistent husbandry schedule, and discontinuation of play time, socialization, food treats, and auditory enrichment, they demonstrate a higher incidence of sickness behaviors (Stella et al. 2013). These behaviors include increased vomiting (Stella et al. 2013), decreased food intake, avoidance of elimination for 24 hours, and elimination outside the litterbox (Stella et al. 2011).