Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Hill's Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Behav Processes. 2022 Sep;201:104712. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104712. Epub 2022 Jul 26.
Many cats show signs of fear and stress during veterinary examinations and procedures, with environmental stimuli such as noise contributing to these responses. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of background noise commonly heard in veterinary clinics (people talking, kennel doors shutting, dogs barking) on behavioural and physiological responses in companion cats. In Experiment 1, owned cats underwent a mock physical examination in a veterinary clinic with (n = 16) or without (n = 16) a pre-recorded noise track. A second experiment was conducted to assess cat responses to noise outside of handling and a clinic environment. In Experiment 2, shelter cats were either exposed (n = 15) or not exposed (n = 15) to the same noise track while allowed free movement in a small enclosure. Physiological and behavioural responses previously validated as negative responses in cats (e.g., indicative of fear, stress and aversion) were recorded, and outcome variables were compared between treatments. For both experiments, cats exposed to the noise track showed higher heart and respiratory rates. Noise was not associated with behavioural changes during the physical examination; however, cats who were freely moving showed more behavioural signs of fear and/or stress during noise exposure compared to the no noise conditions. These results show that high levels of background noise elicit physiological stress responses in cats, while ceiling effects of the examination and exposure to the clinic environment likely prevented treatment-related behavioral differences from being detected during the physical examination. It is recommended that those working with cats in environments with high levels of background noise limit cat exposure to these noises to reduce cat fear and stress.
许多猫在兽医检查和手术过程中表现出恐惧和压力的迹象，环境刺激如噪音加剧了这些反应。本研究旨在调查兽医诊所常见的背景噪音（人声、狗舍门关闭、狗叫声）对伴侣猫行为和生理反应的影响。在实验 1 中，家猫在兽医诊所进行模拟体检，一组（n=16）有预先录制的噪音，另一组（n=16）没有。第二项实验是为了评估猫在不进行处理和不处于诊所环境时对噪音的反应。在实验 2 中，收容所的猫在允许自由移动的小围栏中，暴露于（n=15）或不暴露于（n=15）相同的噪音。先前在猫身上验证为负面反应的生理和行为反应（例如，恐惧、压力和厌恶的表现）被记录下来，并对处理组之间的结果变量进行比较。对于两个实验，暴露于噪音的猫的心率和呼吸率都更高。噪音与体检期间的行为变化无关；然而，与无噪音条件相比，自由移动的猫在噪音暴露期间表现出更多的恐惧和/或应激行为迹象。这些结果表明，高水平的背景噪音会引起猫的生理应激反应，而检查的上限效应和暴露于诊所环境可能阻止了在体检期间检测到与治疗相关的行为差异。建议在背景噪音水平较高的环境中与猫一起工作的人限制猫接触这些噪音，以减少猫的恐惧和压力。
