Patronek G J, Glickman L T, Beck A M, McCabe G P, Ecker C
Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1996 Aug 1;209(3):582-8.
To identify feline and household characteristics associated with relinquishment of a pet cat to an animal shelter.
Case-control study.
Households that relinquished cats for adoption (case households) and a random sample of current cat-owning households in the same community (control households).
Potentially modifiable risk factors with the highest population attributable risk for relinquishment were owners having specific expectations about the cat's role in the household, allowing the cat outdoors, owning a sexually intact cat, never having read a book about cat behavior, cats having daily or weekly inappropriate elimination, and inappropriate care expectations. Frequency of inappropriate elimination and aggression toward people were not associated with declaw status, but these behaviors were more common among sexually intact cats, compared with sterilized cats. Owners of cats in case households were more likely than owners in control households to cite cost of sterilization as a reason a cat was sexually intact. Cats found as strays and cats acquired with minimal planning were at decreased risk of relinquishment.
The identified risk factors can be modified by cat owners and veterinarians to decrease the estimated 4 million cats euthanatized annually in animal shelters. Owner education programs are needed as well as increased awareness on the part of cat owners and veterinarians of the importance of resolving feline inappropriate elimination problems.
确定与将宠物猫送到动物收容所相关的猫和家庭特征。
病例对照研究。
将猫送去领养的家庭（病例家庭）以及同一社区中随机抽取的当前养猫家庭（对照家庭）。
对于送养而言，人群归因风险最高的潜在可改变风险因素包括主人对猫在家庭中角色有特定期望、允许猫外出、养未绝育的猫、从未读过关于猫行为的书籍、猫每天或每周有不适当排泄行为以及有不适当的护理期望。不适当排泄的频率和对人的攻击性与去爪状态无关，但与绝育猫相比，这些行为在未绝育猫中更为常见。病例家庭中猫的主人比对照家庭的主人更有可能将绝育费用作为猫未绝育的一个原因。被发现为流浪猫以及领养时计划最少的猫被送养的风险降低。
猫主人和兽医可以改变已确定的风险因素，以减少动物收容所每年估计400万只猫被安乐死的数量。需要开展主人教育项目，同时提高猫主人和兽医对解决猫不适当排泄问题重要性的认识。
