Prevalence of 17 feline behavioral problems and relevant factors of eachbehavior in Japan

摘要

Undesirable behaviors exhibited by cats are regarded as feline behavioral problems. Likecanine behavioral problems, feline behavioral problems are commonly reported by owners.Thus, in order to advise cat owners appropriately, veterinarians, particularly generalveterinary practitioners, are encouraged to have sufficient knowledge of these problems.However, in ordinary Japanese homes, only a small number of feline behavioral problemshave been investigated in terms of prevalence and relevant factors. Comprehensive surveydata may improve understanding of feline behavioral problems. In the present study, wedistributed an online survey including general information and questions about 17 felinebehaviors which can be problematic for owners, to investigate: (1) the prevalence offeline behavioral problems, (2) the most common behavioral problems, and (3) relevantfactors for each behavior. We collected 1,376 valid responses. Among all cats, 75.7%exhibited at least one behavioral problem. “Pica” and “Showing fear while on theexamination table” were the most frequently reported behavioral problems. To identifyfactors related to the expression of each behavior, we conducted multiple logisticregression analyses, with the presence of behaviors as objective variables and cats’general information as explanatory variables. Age, sex, breed, number of cats in thehousehold, and type of residence were each associated with more than one behavior. Thepresent study revealed the prevalence of 17 feline behavioral problems in Japanese homesand relevant factors of each behavior. These findings will help veterinarians understandand address feline behavioral problems.