Percepção de tutores sobre o enriquecimento ambiental como ferramenta para melhoria do bem-estar degatos domésticos (Felis catus)

Abstract

The breeding environment must be thought of in order to meet the behavioral motivations of these animals so that they feel safer and at the same time can express their natural behaviors, and the provision of environmental enrichment (EA) is a practice that has been used to if it achieves such goals. In this context, due to the little that is known about the management of indoor cats, about the perception of guardians about the importance of environmental enrichment and its impacts on the quality of life and well-being of felines, this study was proposed. In this study, an online questionnaire with 30 questions was used, consisting of multiple choice and forced choice questions, sent to cat owners, over 18 years old who met the criterion of owning at least one cat. Answers were obtained from 607 owners, from 22 different states and the Federal District. According to the survey, 88.8% of owners reported that their animals spend more time in the same environment as the tutor (74.8%) and in their absence, 57% have access to the entire house. According to the analysis, among the behaviors, 50.2% reported that the animals did not show any of the behaviors, excessive fear was the most frequent behavioral problem (18%), followed by destructive behavior (14.8%), agitation (14 %), inappropriate elimination (11.7) aggressiveness (10.9), excessive vocalization (10%) and excessive licking (3.3%). According to the findings, 73.3% stated that environmental enrichment is important. As for the provision of environmental enrichment, it was observed that tutors do not provide toys with an attractive odor; 62.3% of homes have high points, but not designed for animals; 90.3% claim not to challenge the animal during feeding; 93.7% say that the animal has access to view the external environment; 38.2% do not provide.scrapers. Regarding the approximation of the animal to the human, 58.5% of the tutors stated that they do not walk with the animals; 47.6% do not brush and 64.1% often play with their animals. We conclude that most of the studied cat keepers believe that knowledge about animal welfare and environmental enrichment is important, but a significant percentage neither use nor know enrichment tools that could be used with their animals; The lack of knowledge about environmental enrichment and its consequent use in raising cats may explain, in part, the occurrence of behavioral problems observed in animals; And, the awareness and guidance of cat tutors by specialized professionals on the subject of animal welfare and conditioning factors becomes essential in improving the quality of life of animals and the human-animal relationship.