Feline Lifestyles: Couch Potato or Party Animal?

摘要

Is your kitty a couch potato or a party animal? Funny as this question might sound, phrased differently, it can elicit useful information about a cat's lifestyle. Whether a cat spends its time primarily indoors or outdoors, alone or with other cats, or interacting with or avoiding humans can affect its health and its health risks. Fitting clients' descriptions of their feline companion animals' lifestyles into the continuum of feline lifestyles can help the veterinary staff determine what conditionsto be on the lookout for and what preventive care to recommend for their patients. The continuum of feline lifestyles is a developing concept. Although there are a few published accounts describing the various categories of outdoor and indoor cats, the classification of primarily indoor cats remains largely undefined. Moreover, the concept of "lifestyle" as it relates to cats is fluid. At a minimum, it encompasses activity level, access to the outdoors, interaction with other cats, interaction with humans, quality of nutrition, and access to veterinary care. It may also include degree of mental stimulation, opportunity for exercise, opportunity to breed, and geographic location (urban, suburban, or rural). Finally, lifestyle and quality of life may beconsidered overlapping concepts.