ABSTRACT

Preference responses of cats for scratching fabrics commonly used on furniture were evaluated during four consecutive days in three Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that rescue companion animals. Cats were grouped and their choices were registered at a group level (no individual identification). Daily choices for chenille, suede, synthetic leather, or waterproof grosgrain fabrics were evaluated for the cats’ groups. A preference for chenille and non-preference for synthetic leather and waterproof grosgrain was found, independent of the NGO. In conclusion, although not using chenille does not assure that cats stop scratching furniture – especially if no other option to scratch is available – synthetic leather and waterproof grosgrain seem to be less attractive fabrics for these animals. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these findings apply to cats in a home scenario, when just one or a few individuals are usually present and only one type of fabric covering furniture is commonly available. Although we did not investigate the effect of providing scratching posts for these animals, we recommend such posts are available in the environment as scratching behavior is important to cats.

摘要

三个救助伴侣动物的非政府组织 (NGO) 连续四天评估了猫对抓挠家具上常用织物的偏好反应。猫被分组，并且它们的选择在组级别上进行登记（没有个体识别）。针对猫组对雪尼尔、麂皮、合成皮革或防水罗缎面料的日常选择进行了评估。结果发现，与非政府组织无关，人们偏爱雪尼尔，不偏爱合成皮革和防水罗缎。总之，虽然不使用雪尼尔并不能确保猫停止抓挠家具——特别是在没有其他抓挠选择的情况下——但合成皮革和防水罗缎对于这些动物来说似乎不太有吸引力。需要进一步的研究来调查这些发现是否适用于家庭场景中的猫，因为通常只有一个或几个人在场，并且通常只有一种织物覆盖家具。尽管我们没有调查为这些动物提供抓板的效果，但我们建议在环境中提供此类抓板，因为抓板行为对猫很重要。