Multimodal Environmental Enrichment for Domestic Cats

Chapter 200


Multimodal Environmental Enrichment for Domestic Cats




Enriched environments permit animals to perceive sufficient control and predictability so that they can engage in the widest range of general and species-typical activities possible for the situation. The goal of therapeutic environmental enrichment (EE) is to ensure that these conditions are present for all animals under our care. EE for all pets appears to be at least as important for long-term health and welfare as immunization and parasite prevention, and deserves at least as much attention during veterinary visits, when client attitudes and behaviors related to their cats are forming and most malleable. Multimodal efforts have proven particularly useful in cats with chronic, idiopathic lower urinary tract signs.


Applied to domestic cats, EE means providing opportunities to engage in important species-typical as well as general activities. The available conditions should promote expression of these normal behaviors. Appropriate EE provides preventive health care by maintaining an environment in which cats thrive; the result is sustained good health and positive interactions that the owner can enjoy. Owners confine most pet cats to spaces much smaller than their natural ranges; the smallest reported range is approximately 29,000 square feet (Liberg et al, 2000), more than 10 times the area of the average American home. Owners often keep cats indoors or allow access to small outdoor spaces that may contain perceived threats. Cats kept in these environments live akin to zoo animals, and, as with zoo animals, environmental quality can exert important effects on their health and welfare. Cats retain their drive to engage in species-typical behaviors regardless of environment. The motivations to explore, hunt, climb, scratch, and mark territory are not left at the door of the captive environments of house cats. Viewed from this perspective, EE is essentially husbandry, whose original meaning was “the administration and management of a household.” Unfortunately, when owners are not educated that these behaviors are normal and are helped to provide opportunities for cats to engage in them, we risk depriving cats of appropriate outlets for their expression.


Additionally, an increasing number of cats are obtained as kittens from humane organizations. These animals are at increased risk of adverse experiences early in life, which can bias the activity of the central nervous system toward enhanced perception of threat (Buffington, 2009). Effective EE has been found to mitigate these changes in some studies of rodents, cats, and humans.


Although many indoor cats appear to survive perfectly well by accommodating to a wide range of surroundings, we advocate for environments that permit cats to thrive, rather than environments that meet minimum requirements for survival. Cats have a variety of unique behaviors and needs; we encourage owners to maximize their pet’s health and welfare by providing a diverse, behaviorally enriched environment free from physical, psychologic, and social threats. Our current approach is to let clients choose the most appropriate intervention for their particular situation, after which we try to create and communicate a workable plan to implement changes. In our experience, the effectiveness of EE depends not only on the cat, but also on the housing situation, the client, and the quality and dedication of the veterinary team overseeing and supporting the client’s efforts.



Assessing the Environment


Veterinary caregivers may consider the possibility of environmental influences on the health and welfare of any cat brought to the veterinarian for care of sickness behaviors in the absence of an identifiable medical cause. Sickness behaviors are a group of nonspecific behavioral and clinical signs including vomiting, diarrhea, voiding dysfunction, decreased food and water intake, fever, lethargy, somnolence, enhanced painlike behaviors, and decreased general activity, body care activities (grooming), and social interactions (Stella et al, 2011). Although these behaviors are well-documented responses to infection and a variety of structural disorders, they also can occur in response to adverse environmental events. Thus sickness behaviors can result both from peripheral (i.e., afferent) and central (i.e., efferent) pathways. The repeated observation that these behaviors largely resolve after exposure to an enriched environment provides additional evidence of a central nervous system disorder resulting in a chronic multisystem illness variably affecting other organs, as opposed to peripheral, organ-based problems (Buffington, 2011).


The health and welfare of pet cats also may be inferred from observation of their behaviors (Table 200-1) or the reports of clients. Pet cats enjoying good health and welfare typically engage in variable combinations of exploratory and interactive (“positive”) behaviors. In contrast, cats suffering poor health or welfare tend not to engage in these behaviors but more commonly show “negative” behaviors suggestive of illness or threat. Negative behaviors may occur in response to threat, fear, or anxiety, or in response to pain or some structural disease process. The specific reason for the negative behavior can be difficult to determine; the field of assessment of the quality of life of companion animals is in its infancy and is sorely in need of well-validated and clinically useful instruments.



If the history or physical examination findings suggest that the environment may be adversely affecting the cat’s health or welfare, the source of the problem may lie in either inanimate (physical) features, animate (human and other animal) features, or both. To improve the environment, we usually begin by ensuring an “environment of plenty”: plenty of places to eat, drink, rest, and eliminate. We then can attempt to identify challenges or threats to the cat’s perception of control and predictability that affect its interactions with other animals (including humans).



Space


General environmental needs for captive animals include enough safe space to provide opportunities for exploration, food acquisition and consumption, elimination, and resting. Regardless of the size of the cat’s living space, it must provide a reasonable level of perceived controllability, consistency, and predictability. The smaller the space, the more attention must be paid to the cat’s opportunities to move freely through the space in all three dimensions. Living space that keeps cats free from fear and distress and that provides a predictable daily routine over which the cat perceives it has some control is a basic feature of an enriched environment. Confined cats need unrestricted access to spaces that are safe from perceived threats, such as loud noises, dogs, other cats in the household, outdoor cats approaching the windows, and pursuit by small children. Cats seem to prefer soft resting surfaces such as pillows or fleece beds that are in warm areas, such as safely heated beds or sunny windows (the thermoneutral zone of unacclimated adult cats appears to lie between 30° and 38° C [86° and 100° F]). Owners of multicat households need to provide enough space to permit each cat to keep a social distance of 1 to 3 meters (horizontally as well as vertically) from other cats. Although some cats that are very comfortable with one another rest together and groom and rub (mark) each other, most cats use common resting, perching, and hiding locations at different times of the day. Hence owners of more than one cat need to provide safe, comfortable, and private locations for each cat to avoid creating competition for scarce resources.


Cats are prey as well as predators in nature, so climbing for observation and safe vantage is an important feline behavior. When this behavioral need is explained to owners, they usually enjoy providing acceptable opportunities for cats to climb, while protecting areas they do not want the cat to access. Then owners perceive the cat’s climbing proclivity as natural rather than as an objectionable annoyance. Providing perching options throughout the house offers the cat both safety and a vantage point above people and other animals from which to view the surroundings. Examples of climbing structures include cat towers, window shelves, and wooden stepladders (which the cat also can scratch). Placing such structures near windows also permits the cat to safely survey the outdoor environment.



Food and Water


Although available commercial diets adequately meet the nutrient requirements of domestic cats, there is more to nutrition than nutrients. Hunting behavior and hedonic aspects of food (its look, feel in the mouth, taste, and smell) all contribute to the cat’s feeding experience.


Providing food in ways that best mimic cats’ natural preferences can provide additional enrichment. For example, owners can accommodate cats’ natural predatory habits and increase their daily activity by offering food in puzzle toys, such as balls or other devices designed specifically for cats to release dry food or treats when physically manipulated. Another option is a hollow toy that can be stuffed with frozen wet food, which requires cats to wait for the food to thaw and then work to remove the contents.


Play behaviors also may be part of prey-seeking behaviors in cats (although this relationship is controversial). Play behaviors appear similar to the natural predatory sequence of stalking, chasing, pouncing, and biting. Many cats enjoy playing with items they can pick up, toss in the air, and pounce upon. A safe way for owners to accommodate their cat’s play drive is to use toys that permit a reasonable distance between the cat and the owner’s body parts. Encouraging play and biting behaviors with hands and feet, on the other hand, may teach the cat that it is rewarding to stalk, pounce on, and bite the owner, which leads to play-related aggression problems. Examples of appropriate play objects are wand toys, battery-propelled toys that mimic prey, balls placed inside a box or bathtub, catnip-filled toys, and laser pointer games. Laser pointer use always should be followed by presentation of a treat or toy to reward the cat for the “hunt” and to avoid frustration.


Cats can display strong food preferences based on foods they encountered early in life, although these can be modified by later experience. Some cats also develop decreased preference for foods that have formed a large part of their diet in the past, the so-called monotony effect, and display preferences for novel foods. Food refusal is also a common feline response to environmental threat. The explanation for these seemingly contradictory food-related attitudes may lie in the role of the environment in food preference. In threatening environments, animals often avoid new foods, whereas in enriched environments they often prefer new foods.


Because cats evolved as solitary hunters of small prey, the provision of separate feeding containers out of sight of other cats’ food facilitates “solitary” feeding and reduces the risk of conflict over resources. Food containers should be located in quiet areas, away from appliances that may begin operating unexpectedly and protected from interruption by other animals. Ideal placement permits the cat to eat without being disturbed. Cats with free access to food usually prefer to eat several small meals throughout the day as opposed to one or two large meals, and most will hunt for prey when given the option. Although free access to food may allow frequent feeding sessions, this feeding strategy removes the opportunity for expression of cats’ natural predatory instincts that food puzzles provide, and may contribute to development of obesity and other health problems.


Cats also need adequate access to clean, fresh water and sometimes display preferences regarding its presentation. Some cats seem to prefer that their vibrissae do not touch the sides of containers during drinking, and some seem to enjoy drinking running water from faucets or fountains. Owners can be invited to investigate these preferences with their cats.

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Jul 18, 2016 | Posted by in PHARMACOLOGY, TOXICOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS | Comments Off on Multimodal Environmental Enrichment for Domestic Cats

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