Questions and answers we did not get to during the live webcast
Did you have/collect any information on the cats in your study and their level of sociability prior to entering the shelter?
During the intake exam, and in the enclosures post exam, cats were assessed by the veterinary behaviourist and determined to be eligible medically and behaviourally for the study. In order to be included in the study from a behaviour perspective, they had to be showing high levels of fear in the presence of a human, as evidenced by hiding, trying to escape or freezing, being in an alert state, and showing tense body language (e.g., laying ventrally or crouching, dilated pupils, fast respiration, etc.). Those that were not showing these signs, or were showing signs of sociability, were not included in the study (and moved on a lot quicker to adoption )!
How many different homes did the cats in the study come from?
All the cats (n=37) came from three separate hoarding environments in staggered intakes.
Why use gabapentin instead of diazepam and similar meds?
We would love to study other medications as well down the road. For this study, we used gabapentin because it is inexpensive, shows benefits when given as needed in fear inducing scenarios (e.g., vet clinic, TNR), and due to reported anecdotal success in behaviour modification programs for fearful cats in shelters. However, I would really love to test other medications with behaviour modification programs, and perhaps compare gabapentin to other medications for ongoing progression in shelters. We are currently surveying shelter staff in Canada, the USA and Mexico trying to learn what medications people are using and having success with in shelters for reducing fear and anxiety. If you have 20 minutes to spare, we would love to hear form anyone working or volunteering in a shelter on this topic, regardless of if you prescribe medication or not!
English Survey - https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5sQ7egMpUSbvwBU
French Survey – https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6tXWevsgBDBwQjc
Spanish Survey - https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ai1Pw2XKkcdvXbU
Any details on what the behaviors were that distinguished the very fearful cat (who was euthanized) from the rest of the cohort?
Unfortunately for both of the study cats that were euthanized, ultimately the very difficult decision was made based on their daily welfare in care being apparently severely compromised, and their poor prognosis within the shelter or homes. Both cats were hiding 100% of the time, not eating, drinking or using the litter box, and showing extreme fear when people were near (e.g., trying to escape, very dilated pupils and very rapid breathing). And very unfortunately, as a result, these two cats were euthanized.
Do you think this would help with cats that have petting-induced aggression?
I believe it could be beneficial for creating a positive association with being petted, especially if being very careful to keep the cat under its threshold of what would induce aggression. However, while we did have cats showing aggressive behaviour in this study (apparently motivated by fear) that had good success with this program, we didn't encounter this exact scenario of petting induced aggression, so I am sorry to say I don't have specific use examples of this. In a few scenarios we did notice petting preferences for cats (e.g., some didn't like near their ears touched etc.) which I expect could have been motivated by pain due to an underlying medical condition, or perhaps negative previous experiences.
How did you time spay/neuter with this study? Did any cats in this study also present with infectious disease (URI, ringworm, etc) at intake that required immediate treatment and were they included in this study?
We would usually get them spayed or neutered a week after they had been in the shelter, once they had a chance to acclimatize. If a cat was showing higher levels of fear and was not consistently eating, drinking or using the litter box, we would try to delay their procedures. However, all cats were spayed or neutered within their time in the shelter, and we did not wait until they finished BMOD to do this. We did have suspected URI in all the cats (some confirmed, however we did not do population-wide testing), but thankfully all improved in the shelter. One cat was very pregnant when she entered the shelter, so she had kittens in foster, then entered the shelter in the next cohort. Aside from that, we did not pause BMOD or the study for specific care, however we recorded the days and times of various treatments (e.g., spay/neuter, swab, giardia baths), and monitored for any dips in behavioural measures. The data is unfortunately so controlled to do formal analysis on a population level, but anecdotally, often these procedures seemed to cause a small dip in BMOD progress, but would return to normal within approximately a day. However, there was one unfortunate case where a cat was getting ear drops, got neutered, and then continued ear drops, and had a very drastic decline in behaviour. This did make us realize that while we could see great progress among these cats, it appeared it could be precarious in some cats, and from this it seems important to consider what is the most needed medical care to provide while they are behaviourally so vulnerable.
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alison gibson
Senior Media Specialist
Maddie's Fund
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