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Home » Archive » 2023 » Veterinary Session

Veterinary session

The characteristics of national cat ownership and the incidence of behavioral problems with special attention to PTSD
Puskás Laura - year 5
University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Department of Veterinary Forensics, Law and Economics
Supervisor: Dr. Sátori Ágnes

Abstract:

In my thesis the goal was to assess the current state of national cat ownership, the incidence of behavioral problems in cats, with special attention to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although the study is not representative, the big sample size made it possible to reach comprehensive conclusion. Between 01/04/2023 and 03/06/2023 cat owners filled a questionnaire consisting of 64 questions. 2490 people filled in the questionnaire.

Responsible animal keeping among cat owners has become a typical trend in the country. According to the results 92.6% of respondents consider their cat a member of their family. The owners find the physical needs and mental wellbeing of their pets important. More people are getting their cat neutered (94.4%) and the application of microchips are also more common (44.1%). 51.5% of the keepers are taking their cats to the veterinarian once a year and 21.1% more often. However some kind of behavioral problem was present at most of the cats, like compulsive behaviour, anxiety or elimination problems. Among the most common ones were noise phobia (46.1%), fear of fire works (27.8%) and overgrooming (17.6%).

Many research has examined the behavioral problems of cats, nevertheless no research has been done about cat PTSD therefore this became our focus point. According to the incoming data almost two thirds of the cats (66.5%) have experienced a traumatic event, due to which more than third of them (35.4%) presented a change in behaviour. 0.7% of the cats in the survey was diagnosed with PTSD, furthermore at 9.2% there was a suspicion. 64.3% of the owners think that a cat can be affected by PTSD, however 22.8% of them were not sure about their knowledge in the subject. This raises the necessity to draw the attention of veterinarians and pet owners to the syndrome. Cats are exceptionally sensitive to stress and chronic stress can cause many health issues for them, therefore the importance of this topic is outstanding for them. A construction of a standard questionnaire specific to cats would be useful in the future as it could be a guideline for specialists and owners as well.

During the research we obtained a comprehensive picture about the recent practice of national cat ownership, the incidence of behavioral problems and about post-traumatic stress disorder which has not been explored before.



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