Detweiler Katelyn B, Rawal Samona, Swanson Kelly S, de Godoy Maria R C
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
J Nutr Sci. 2017 May 15;6:e17. doi: 10.1017/jns.2017.19. eCollection 2017.
The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether access to a running wheel increases voluntary physical activity in adult female and male domestic cats. Eight neutered domestic shorthair male cats (mean age 8·6 (sd 0·05) years) and eleven intact domestic shorthair female cats (mean age 3·3 (sd 0·14) years) were group housed for 22 h daily and individually housed during the feeding period. Voluntary physical activity was measured using accelerometers. Experimental design consisted of 1 week of baseline physical activity measurement, followed by 3 weeks of wheel habituation, and 1 week of physical activity measurement post-wheel habituation. Female cat voluntary physical activity levels increased ( < 0·05) post-habituation during the dark period, resulting in an altered ( < 0·05) light:dark activity ratio, whereas male cat voluntary physical activity levels remained unchanged post-habituation. Food anticipatory activity did not differ pre- and post-habituation. However, it corresponded to a numerically greater proportion of daily physical activity for males (17·5 %) . females (12 %). In general, female cats were more active than male cats. Habituation to a running wheel appears to be an effective method to increase voluntary physical activity of younger female cats. Thus, running wheels might be a potential strategy in the prevention or management of feline obesity.
本研究的目的是评估使用跑步机是否能增加成年雌性和雄性家猫的自主身体活动。八只绝育的家养短毛雄性猫（平均年龄8.6（标准差0.05）岁）和十一只未绝育的家养短毛雌性猫（平均年龄3.3（标准差0.14）岁）每天群居22小时，喂食期间单独饲养。使用加速度计测量自主身体活动。实验设计包括1周的基线身体活动测量，随后是3周的跑步机适应期，以及跑步机适应期后的1周身体活动测量。雌性猫在适应期后的黑暗期自主身体活动水平增加（<0.05），导致明暗活动比改变（<0.05），而雄性猫在适应期后自主身体活动水平保持不变。食物预期活动在适应期前后没有差异。然而，它在雄性猫每日身体活动中所占比例在数值上更大（17.5%），雌性猫为（12%）。总体而言，雌性猫比雄性猫更活跃。适应跑步机似乎是增加年轻雌性猫自主身体活动的有效方法。因此，跑步机可能是预防或管理猫肥胖的一种潜在策略。
