It is often stressful for cats to be placed in cages in a shelter and environmental enrichment (EE) of the caging is one mechanism for mitigating this stress. The behavioural style of 72 cats was assessed as bold or shy. They were then randomly allocated (approximately balanced by behavioural style) to one of the following EE treatments in single standard cages: a hiding box (BOX), a perching shelf (SHELF), or no additional EE (CTRL) and their behavioural and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) responses were examined. Continuous focal observations of activity, location in the cage, and posture were conducted using video recordings of two 4-h periods/day/cat, over a period of 10 days. Food intake and Cat-Stress-Scores (CSS) were recorded daily. Faecal samples were collected for analysis of FGM. The data were analysed using repeated measures models with fixed effects of day, treatment group, behavioural style, and their interactions. Cats in BOX had significantly lower FGM, and consumed significantly more food daily, than did cats in CTRL. Shy cats had a significantly greater probability of registering a CSS ≥ 3 and had a significantly greater CSS on days 1–3 than bold cats, and within the treatment group BOX, shy cats spent a significantly greater percentage of time in the hiding box than bold cats. Day in study was a significant factor for daily food intake and percentage of time spent eating – which tended to increase across time – and for percentage of time spent grooming – which tended to decrease across time. These results suggest that the caging was a stressor that was partially mitigated by the inclusion of EE (a hiding box), that the stress responses of bold and shy cats differed, and that the stress diminishes with time. The results confirm the benefit of the provision of a hiding box in singly housed caging.

将猫放在庇护所的笼子中通常很压力，笼养环境（EE）是缓解这种压力的一种机制。72只猫的行为风格被评估为大胆或害羞。然后将它们随机分配（按行为方式大致平衡）到单个标准笼子中的以下EE处理之一：一个隐藏盒（BOX），一个栖息架子（SHELF）或没有其他EE（CTRL）及其行为和粪便检查了糖皮质激素代谢物（FGM）的反应。通过连续10天的两个4小时周期/天/猫的视频记录，对活动，笼子中的位置和姿势进行连续的焦点观察。每天记录食物摄入量和猫-压力分数（CSS）。收集粪便样品用于分析FGM。使用重复测量模型分析数据，这些模型具有固定的天数，治疗组，行为方式及其相互作用。与CTRL中的猫相比，BOX中的猫的FGM显着降低，并且每天消耗的食物明显更多。害羞猫的CSS≥3的可能性要大得多，并且在第1-3天的CSS会比胆大的猫大得多，在BOX治疗组中，害羞的猫在隐藏盒中花费的时间百分比要比胆大的猫大得多。猫。研究中的一天是影响日常食物摄入量和进食时间百分比的重要因素，而进食时间百分比通常会随着时间的增加而增加；而修饰时间的百分比则随着时间的推移而减少。这些结果表明，笼养是一种应激源，但由于包含了EE（藏身箱）而得以部分缓解，胆大和害羞的猫的压力反应有所不同，并且压力随着时间的推移而减少。结果证实了在单独容纳的笼子中提供隐藏盒的好处。