Effects of early social separation on the behaviour of kittens of the domestic cat
Por:
Martinez-Byer, Sandra, Hudson, Robyn, Bánszegi O., Szenczi, Peter
Publicada:
1 feb 2023
Ahead of Print:
1 feb 2023
Resumen:
For many mammals the presence of the mother and/or siblings is an
important component of an individual's early developmental environment,
and lack of these social influences can have long-lasting effects on
morphological, physiological, and behavioural development. Surprisingly,
little is known about the effects of premature maternal and sibling
separation in the domestic cat, even though hand-raising is rather
common due to the large number of orphaned and rescued kittens. In this
study we assessed 62 nine-week-old kittens (32 mother-reared, 14 orphans
hand-raised with siblings and 16 hand-raised orphan singletons) in three
behavioural tests: a handling (struggle) test, a food defence (meat)
test, and a separation/confinement test. Additionally, we used infrared
thermography to evaluate stress-induced changes in eye and nose
temperatures in the separation/ confinement test. We found no
differences in body weight between groups at weaning at 9 weeks of age,
but we found behavioural differences between the control and the two
orphan groups in all three tests. Compared to control, mother-reared
kittens, orphans raised with siblings and orphan singletons struggled
sooner in the struggle test, plus vocalised more and exhibited greater
locomotor activity in the separation/confinement test. In the meat test,
only the orphans raised with siblings, but not the singletons, started
consuming the raw meat stimulus sooner than control individuals. Facial
thermography showed a general trend for eye and nose temperatures to
decrease in response to the separation/confinement test, with no
differences between rearing conditions. Our findings show that the early
social environment is influential in shaping the long-term behaviour and
physiology of kittens. The behavioural differences between mother-reared
and hand-raised individuals should be considered for the well-being of
the animals when fostering and during the adoption process. Our results
suggest that, as expected, developing without the presence of the mother
and raised by humans (with or without siblings) has an effect on the
behaviour of kittens to weaning age and possibly even into adult life.
Filiaciones:
Martinez-Byer, Sandra:
Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Unidad de Posgrado, Edificio A, 1er Piso, Circuito de Posgrados, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, Mexico City, CP 04510, Mexico
Hudson, Robyn:
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, Mexico City, CP 04510, Mexico
Bánszegi O.:
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, Mexico City, CP 04510, Mexico
Szenczi, Peter:
CONACyT - Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Unidad Psicopatología y Desarrollo, Calz. México-Xochimilco 101, Tlalpan, Mexico City, 14370, Mexico
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