Carrier training cats reduces stress on transport to a veterinary practice

•Cats were accustomed to a cat carrier and transport by car.•Training was effective in reducing signs of stress during the car ride.•Duration of the veterinary examination was shorter in trained cats.•Owners should train their cats to make the veterinary visit less stressful. Transport to and visiti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied animal behaviour science 2018-09, Vol.206, p.64-74
Main Authors: Pratsch, Lydia, Mohr, Natalia, Palme, Rupert, Rost, Jennifer, Troxler, Josef, Arhant, Christine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carrier
Cat
Cats
Clinical trials
Ear
Parameters
Personnel management
Physiology
Posture
Reinforcement
Reliability analysis
Software reliability
Stress
Stress response
Stresses
Temperature
Training
Transport
Veterinary examination
Veterinary medicine
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•Cats were accustomed to a cat carrier and transport by car.•Training was effective in reducing signs of stress during the car ride.•Duration of the veterinary examination was shorter in trained cats.•Owners should train their cats to make the veterinary visit less stressful. Transport to and visiting a veterinary practice frequently is stressful for cats and their owners. Handling a fearful cat can be a challenge for the veterinary team and stress can influence physiological parameters. This study investigated whether carrier training reduced stress during a 10 min transport by car and increased compliance during the veterinary examination. A blinded randomized controlled trial with a paired sample design (training group (TG): N = 11; control group (CG): N = 11) consisting of two visits to a sham veterinary practice was carried out. After all cats had completed the first visit, the training group received 28 sessions of positive reinforcement based carrier training over a period of six weeks. Thereafter, all cats underwent the second veterinary visit. Stress levels during the car ride were assessed on video recordings using a modified version of the Cat Stress Score (CSS) (inter-rater reliability: rs = 0.81, p  0.90, p 
ISSN:0168-1591
1872-9045
DOI:10.1016/j.applanim.2018.05.025