Housing conditions and behavioural problems of indoor cats as assessed by their owners

Housing conditions and behavioural problems of a sample of 1177 cats were described by their 550 owners. Indications for inadequate housing in the light of species-specific needs were analysed. A total of 65.1% of the cats were Domestic European Shorthairs and 78.7% were castrated animals. A total of 87% of the responding cat owners were female. A total of 59% of the households had more than one cat (mean 2.2). On average 1.8 of the 2.3 members living in a household dealt with the animals. The average cat could use 34 m(2) of the living space and had five different resting places, whereas the owner's bed being the favourite in 52% of the cases. 14% of the owners allowed their cats to run free outside without restriction; 55% let their cats out under various levels of control. Feeding most often took place (79%) in the kitchen; 24% of the cats had communal food bowls. A total of 51% of the cats had to share their cat-toilet, and 22% of the cats were fed in the same room as they had to use for elimination behaviour. More than one toilet in different rooms were available to 28% of the cats. In 644 cats (54.7% of the sample) the owners complained of one or more behavioural problems with their cats, The self-assessed problems most often mentioned were: states of anxiety (16.7% of 1177 cats); scratching on furniture (15.2%); feeding problems (10.9%); aggression (10.5%); inappropriate urination and spraying (8.2%) and defecation in the house (5.1%). The relationship between the occurrence of problems (yes/no) and animal-, owner- and housing- related factors was analysed by chi(2)-test. Neutered females exhibited problems most often. People without children kept cats more often than others, but they also complained more often about their cats. Quality of the human-cat relationship was also relevant: people who interacted with their pets for several hours spread over the day mentioned problems with them less often. In 568 cats the owners had tried to treat the problems themselves. States of anxiety and scratching on furniture caused relatively fewer attempts to correct the behaviour than other problems. In many cases the owners were unable to solve the problems on their own. These findings show that there are deficiencies in indoor cat housing and that owners need help to correct them. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.