Annals of Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW. Animal ...

14 K. Fiszdon, K. Góral, J. Narojek
culated at 0.213. However, current age
does not influence the behavior.
Scratching of walls and furniture was
more frequent when the cat was the only
animal in the household (Tab. 1) and
respective V-Kramer coefficient was
0.156. Other animals were usually cats
(73 cases) and dogs (23 cases). It can be
presumed that multi-animal households
are better designed to presence of animals,
e.g. there are more devices to satisfy
their natural needs and instincts.
Another factor, influencing the behavior,
was age of children in the household
(V = 0.395) (Tab. 1). Scratching was significantly
more frequent in households
with children aged 14–18 years and 5–10
years. It was found this phenomenon difficult
to explain. Fewest cases of scratching
– 33.3% were reported in cats
born, reared and kept in one home.
Over twice as many cases were reported
in cats born in homes and purchased/
/adopted by new families (69.2%),
whereas it appeared in appr. 50% of cats
adopted from strays. These differences
are, however, not statistically significant,
due to distinctly different numbers of
cats in respective groups.
Distinct differences in frequency of
scratching behavior, depending on family
size. It was highest in case of single persons,
lowest in case of childless couples
(Tab. 1), yet these may have been merely
incidental.
Other factors were not found to influence
this behavior.
Urination/defecation in places other
than provided
The second most frequent troublesome
behaviour was urination/defecation in
inappropriate places. Although this behaviour
cannot be considered abnormal
(the question remains whether it is natural
in feline ethogram, it is nevertheless
extremely bothersome for owners. It was
reported in 64 cats, i.e. 23.8% of survey
population, and also in 32.5% of all cats,
showing any behavioural problems (Fig.
1). Similar results were presented by
Blackshaw (2003), who claims it counts
1/3 of all behavioural problems in cats.
These percentages are distinctly higher
than reported by Voith (1981) in his
survey on 376 of problematic cats, who
found it in 24% of all cases. It has to be
admitted that Beaver (2003) reports this
problem in as many as 64.2% of 179 cats;
owners regard urination/defecation in
random places as major problem.
As shown in Table 2, age was an important
factor, influencing the behavior. It was
most frequent in cats over 8 years of age
(38.1%), while it was twice less frequent
in young and middle-aged specimens.
V-Kramer coefficient was calculated at
0.179. Horzinek (2004) and Kudła (2006)
suggest that cats over 8 years of age develop
specific changes in their brains, similar
to those found in Alzheimer patients.
This disease, together with many others,
often occurring in elderly animals, may
be a reason for defecation/urination in
places other than provided.
Presence of other animals in households
was found to influence this behaviour
(V = 0.159). Table 2 shows that it was
almost two times more frequent in homes,
where other animal(s) were kept. Considering
places and objects, marked with
urine and/or faeces, it can be assumed
that this behaviour was related to territory
marking Bergman et al. (2002), suggest
that when more than one cat is present
in the household, frequency of marking