Greater Manchester Animal Hospital, 411 Eccles New Road, Salford, M5 5NN, UK.
Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, College Road, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK.
BMC Vet Res. 2019 Dec 3;15(1):434. doi: 10.1186/s12917-019-2183-3.
Thousands of injured, stray and relinquished cats are received at the RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital each year. A significant and challenging proportion of these cats are confiscated from multicat households by RSPCA Inspectors, due to the owners' inability to care for them. These households share many characteristics of animal hoarding, including poor owner compliance with suggested welfare improvements and recidivism. The relatively poor adoption potential of animals from such households are a perennial problem for the charity. The aim of this study was to determine if offering female cat neutering assistance to multi-cat owners significantly improved colony welfare.
Ten multicat households with a history of public complaint to the RSPCA were recruited. An RSPCA veterinary surgeon (VS) initially assessed the overall welfare of each household's cat population, individual cat welfare and the living environment. All entire female cats aged over 8 weeks were neutered and basic animal care education provided. Follow up visits were completed two and 12 months later to reassess welfare parameters and population numbers. The total number of cats was 176 across ten households (range 7-33, median 16). All owners consented to having all entire female cats spayed. At the first visit, mean individual cat welfare scores ranged from 5.4-8.7/ 16 across the 10 households, where 16 represented best possible welfare. Overall household mean welfare scores were significantly improved at both the 2 month and 12 month revisits (p = 0.011 and p = 0.01 respectively) when compared to the initial visits. By the end of the study period, three out of the ten households had voluntarily relinquished all of their cats, and overall there was a 40% reduction in the number of cats.
Animal hoarding has previously been an intractable welfare concern with little evidence informing intervention techniques. These results show that positive veterinary engagement on site, focused on preventative care and population control, can yield significant improvement in welfare scoring systems in relatively short timescales. Promptly collecting and neutering all female cats at a site, combined with advice and support, show promise in improving welfare.
每年，RSPCA 大曼彻斯特动物医院都会接收数千只受伤、流浪和被遗弃的猫。这些猫中有相当大的一部分是由 RSPCA 检查员从多猫家庭中没收的，因为这些猫的主人无法照顾它们。这些家庭与动物囤积有许多共同特征，包括主人对改善福利建议的配合度差和累犯。从这些家庭收养动物的相对较差的潜力是慈善机构的一个长期问题。本研究的目的是确定为多猫主人提供母猫绝育援助是否能显著改善群体福利。
招募了 10 个有 RSPCA 投诉史的多猫家庭。一名 RSPCA 兽医（VS）首先评估了每个家庭的猫群的整体福利、每只猫的福利和生活环境。所有 8 周以上的所有母猫都进行了绝育手术，并提供了基本的动物护理教育。在 2 个月和 12 个月后进行了随访，以重新评估福利参数和种群数量。十个家庭共有 176 只猫（范围为 7-33，中位数为 16）。所有主人都同意让所有的母猫都做绝育手术。在第一次访问时，10 个家庭的每只猫的福利评分从 5.4-8.7/16 不等，其中 16 代表最佳的福利。与初次访问相比，在 2 个月和 12 个月的复查时，整个家庭的平均福利评分显著提高（p=0.011 和 p=0.01 分别）。在研究结束时，10 个家庭中有 3 个自愿放弃了他们所有的猫，总的来说，猫的数量减少了 40%。
动物囤积一直是一个难以解决的福利问题，几乎没有证据表明干预技术的有效性。这些结果表明，现场积极的兽医干预，重点是预防保健和种群控制，可以在相对较短的时间内显著提高福利评分系统。在现场迅速收集和绝育所有母猫，并提供建议和支持，显示出改善福利的前景。
