ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT FOR INPATIENT CATS

Abstract

Many pathologies can affect felines, which routinely determines the need for veterinary care. The environment in which the cat is inserted is extremely important, and in most veterinary clinics and hospitals where these animals are kept in hospital, there are less than ideal conditions. Environmental enrichment is a tool that seeks to improve the quality of life of the animal, thus enabling the anticipation of recovery and consequently better prognosis for the animal. In order to minimize a possible level of stress that the hospital environment can determine to the animal, an experimental study was carried out at the Unigran Veterinary Clinic in Dourados - MS, in which 3 healthy cats (2 males and 1 female) with an approximate age of three years they were kept in an inpatient environment to conduct a behavioral study of them through video recordings and subsequent analysis using ethogram. The videos were made in two moments, the first being the hospitalization cubicle without environmental enrichment, while the second was introducing items (sandbox, bed and toys) as enrichment. Environmental enrichment helped moderately some animals, in reducing the time spent on some of their behaviors included in the form of stress, as well as it was observed that animals in general at the time when the management of environmental enrichment was carried out had greater interaction with the human being and in this way it can be recommended the use of ways that can make the environment closer to that found in the feline's home.