Parâmetros clínicos de gatos domésticos (Felis catus) expostos à Catnip (Nepeta cataria), ao Feliway® (Feromônio Facial Felino) e às práticas cat friendly

Abstract

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) and Feliway® (Feline Facial Pheromone) are commercial products known for their behavioral setting and stress-reducing effects in cats. Recommended as a positive reinforcement by the “Cat Friendly Practices” guidelines of the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) and by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM), its effects on clinical parameters still remain scientifically unknown. Taking this in account, this research sought to demonstrate whether such products, together with Cat Friendly practices, could be used during the routine of the veterinary hospital clinic without harming the clinical parameters examined by a veterinarian. Therefore, eight healthy cats were transported, approached, handled, and clinically evaluated according to Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines. The baseline clinical data of each animal were obtained in a home environment, and the effects of the investigated substances (Catnip, Feliway®) and placebo (0.9% saline solution) were subsequently tested in the following week in a standardized hospital environment prepared exclusively for reception of the cats, located on the premises of the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Uberlândia (HOVET-UFU). The substances tested proved to be incapable of changing clinical parameters and hiding changes that cats would already have had during the physical examination. Additionally, they were also no able to change cat’s naturally behavior. It was observed that most cats showed unfavorable behavior in the first visit (87.5%) and just 25% after the third one, demonstrating that Cat Friendly management since the first visit, still makes all the difference.