Misinterpretation of study

Cat owners can carry on stroking their 4-legged friends without worry

2013-10-16

(Press-News.org) The actual aim of the study was to find out whether cats are more stressed when they live in large groups together or, whether the strict hierarchy of larger groups reduces stress. Neither could be confirmed in the present study, which was published in the journal Physiology & Behavior. The number of cats per household had no influence on the stress of the animals. Rather, stress in domestic cats depends more on the socialization of the animals, on the relationship with humans, on the space available to them or on the access to food.

Every cat feels and reacts differently

The researchers studied 120 cats in 60 Brazilian households. These were divided into three different categories: group I: 23 single-cat households, group II: 20 multi-cat households with two cats; group III: 17 multi-cat households with three to four cats. The cat owners were asked to classify their pets as "bossy", "timid" or "easy going" in order to assess the personality. Furthermore, the cat owners reported how much each cat liked to be stroked. The researchers measured the stress levels of the animals by analysing the stress hormone metabolites (glucocorticoid metabolites GCM) in the collected faecal samples.

The Majority of the Cats Like to be Stroked

85 out of 120 cats were considered by their owners to "enjoy" being petted. There were only four cats in the category "disliking" being stroked. Those cats probably avoided the "stroker". The remaining 13 animals "tolerated" the stroking and were more stressed than the others. "Precisely these 13 animals led to the misinterpretation of the study" explains Palme, "Cats are in no way generally stressed when they are stroked. It depends much more on the situation and the character of the individual animal."

The scientist Prof. Rupert Palme of the Institute of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, was responsible for the biochemical analysis of the faecal samples in the study.

INFORMATION:

„Are cats (Felis catus) from multi-cat households more stressed? Evidence from assessment of fecal glucocorticoid metabolite analysis" by D. Ramos, A. Reche-Junior, P.L. Fragoso, R. Palme, N.K. Yanasse, V.R. Gouvêa, A. Beck and D.S. Mills was published on the 8th September in the journal Physiology & Behavior. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.08.028

About the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna

The University of Veterinary Medicine (Vetmeduni Vienna) is the only academic and research institution in Austria that focuses on the veterinary sciences. About 1000 employees and 2300 students work on the campus in the north of Vienna, which also houses the animal hospital and various spin-off-companies. http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at

Scientific Contact:

Prof. Rupert Palme
Institute for Medical Biochemistry
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna)
rupert.palme@vetmeduni.ac.at

Distributed by:

Heike Hochhauser
Public Relations
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna)
T +43 1 25077-1151
heike.hochhauser@vetmeduni.ac.at

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Quantum particles find safety in numbers

2013-10-16

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers have uncovered a novel effect that, in principle, offers a means of stabilizing quantum systems against decoherence. The discovery could represent a major step forward for quantum information processing. The laws of classical physics provide an adequate description of how our Universe behaves on the macroscopic scales that are accessible to our everyday experience. In the world of classical mechanics, the state of a physical system and its future evolution is fully determined by the instantaneous locations and ...

How do ADHD medications work?

2013-10-16

Philadelphia, PA, October 16, 2013 – There is a swirling controversy regarding the suspicion that medications prescribed for the treatment of ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) primarily act to control disruptive behavior as opposed to having primary effects on the ability to attend to the environment. Thus, there is a continued need to better understand the neural basis of ADHD medication effects. A new study in Biological Psychiatry now provides evidence that methylphenidate and atomoxetine, two FDA-approved medications for the treatment of ADHD, both ...

Glowing neurons reveal networked link between brain, whiskers

2013-10-16

DURHAM, N.C. -- Human fingertips have several types of sensory neurons that are responsible for relaying touch signals to the central nervous system. Scientists have long believed these neurons followed a linear path to the brain with a "labeled-lines" structure. But new research on mouse whiskers from Duke University reveals a surprise -- at the fine scale, the sensory system's wiring diagram doesn't have a set pattern. And it's probably the case that no two people's touch sensory systems are wired exactly the same at the detailed level, according to Fan Wang, Ph.D., ...

Defining the graphene family tree

2013-10-16

Oxford, October 16, 2013 - There has been an intense research interest in all two-dimensional (2D) forms of carbon since Geim and Novoselov's discovery of graphene in 2004. But as the number of such publications rise, so does the level of inconsistency in naming the material of interest. The isolated, single-atom-thick sheet universally referred to as "graphene" may have a clear definition, but when referring to related 2D sheet-like or flake-like carbon forms, many authors have simply defined their own terms to describe their product. This has led to confusion within ...

Cuckoos impersonate hawks by matching their 'outfits'

2013-10-16

New research shows that cuckoos have striped or "barred" feathers that resemble local birds of prey, such as sparrowhawks, that may be used to frighten birds into briefly fleeing their nest in order to lay their parasitic eggs. By using the latest digital image analysis techniques, and accounting for "bird vision" - by converting images to the spectral sensitivity of birds - researchers have been able to show for the first time that the barred patterns on a cuckoo's breast may allow it to impersonate dangerous birds of prey. This might enable cuckoos to frighten other ...

Ancient Syrians favored buying local to outsourcing production

2013-10-16

An archaeologist at the University of Sheffield has found evidence that, contrary to a widely held theory, ancient Syrians made their stone tools locally instead of importing finished tools from Turkey. The discovery, newly published online in Journal of Archaeological Science, has implications for our understanding of how early cities developed in these regions and how the geographic origins of raw materials affect developing states. During the Early Bronze Age, around 5300 to 3100 years ago, blades made of chert and obsidian remained important despite the advent ...

Software uses cyborg swarm to map unknown environs

2013-10-16

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed software that allows them to map unknown environments – such as collapsed buildings – based on the movement of a swarm of insect cyborgs, or "biobots." "We focused on how to map areas where you have little or no precise information on where each biobot is, such as a collapsed building where you can't use GPS technology," says Dr. Edgar Lobaton, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper on the research. "One characteristic of biobots is that their ...

Toward a urine test for detecting blood clots

2013-10-16

Detecting dangerous blood clots, which can cause life-threatening conditions such as strokes and heart attacks, leading causes of death for men and women in the U.S., has been a coveted and elusive goal. But scientists are now reporting progress in the form of a simple urine test. Their study, in which they demonstrated that the test works using laboratory mice, appears in the journal ACS Nano. Sangeeta N. Bhatia and colleagues, including lead author and Ph.D. candidate Kevin Lin and postdoctoral fellow Gabriel Kwong, point out that blood clots — clumps of platelets ...

Light triggers death switch in cancer cells

2013-10-16

Researchers at Cardiff University have created a peptide (a small piece of protein), linked to a light-responsive dye, capable of switching 'on' death pathways in cancer cells. The peptide remains inactive until exposed to external light pulses which convert it into a cell death signal. Complex mechanisms in healthy cells normally protect us from developing cancer. However, when the finely balanced networks of interactions between proteins that control such mechanisms are disturbed, uncontrolled cell growth can occur. The Cardiff team has developed a peptide-switch ...

Engine technology on the road to meeting emissions standards

2013-10-16

An engine design appearing under the hoods of many new cars and light trucks today is close to meeting the latest pollution standards that will require vehicles to emit fewer harmful particles over their lifetimes, scientists are reporting. The new study on emissions from gasoline direct injection (GDI) technology appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Matti Maricq and colleagues explain that to meet new regulations, vehicle manufacturers need to make cars both more fuel-efficient and less polluting, which can be a difficult engineering challenge. ...

Research Spotlight: Combining dexmedetomidine with spinal anesthesia prolongs pain relief and decreases shivering during surgery

[Press-News.org] Misinterpretation of study
Cat owners can carry on stroking their 4-legged friends without worry

Misinterpretation of study

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: