McGlone John J, Garcia Arlene, Thompson William G, Pirner Glenna M
a Department of Animal and Food Sciences , Texas Tech University , Lubbock , Texas , USA.
b Operations , Animal Biotech , Dallas , Texas , USA.
J Appl Anim Welf Sci. 2019 Apr-Jun;22(2):127-138. doi: 10.1080/10888705.2018.1446341. Epub 2018 Mar 27.
Introducing a new cat into a household with one or more resident cats can be a significant source of stress for the cats involved. These studies sought to determine if rabbit maternal-neonatal pheromone (2-methyl-2-butenal [2M2B]) in litter impacted cat social behaviors and litter box use. Study 1 determined that cats preferred to eliminate in litter containing 2M2B; other semiochemicals tested did not change litter box use. Cats prone to aggression were identified in an intermediate pilot study, and eight pairs of these cats were selected for Study 2. In Study 2, cat pairs were provided litter containing either vehicle or 2M2B for 24 hours. Cats experiencing control litter displayed more aggression during the first 6 hours (p < .01) and spent more time using the litter box 12 hours and 18 hours after pairing compared with cats experiencing litter with 2M2B (p = .02). These results suggest 2M2B-infused cat litter may act as an interomone in cats housed domestically to prevent initial occurrences of aggression and may improve cat welfare in multicat households.
将一只新猫引入已有一只或多只常住猫的家庭，可能会给相关猫咪带来巨大压力。这些研究旨在确定兔母体-新生儿信息素（2-甲基-2-丁烯醛[2M2B]）是否会影响猫的社交行为和猫砂盆使用情况。研究1确定，猫咪更喜欢在含有2M2B的猫砂中排便；所测试的其他信息化学物质并未改变猫砂盆的使用情况。在一项初步的中间研究中识别出了易出现攻击行为的猫咪，并从这些猫咪中挑选了八对用于研究2。在研究2中，为每对猫咪提供含有赋形剂或2M2B的猫砂，持续24小时。与使用含2M2B猫砂的猫咪相比，使用对照猫砂的猫咪在最初6小时内表现出更多攻击行为（p <.01），且在配对后12小时和18小时使用猫砂盆的时间更长（p =.02）。这些结果表明，含有2M2B的猫砂可能作为一种体内信息素，用于防止家养猫咪最初出现攻击行为，并可能改善多猫家庭中猫咪的福利。
