The large number of surrendered and Feral cats is a big animal welfare problem all over the world. Populations of Feral cats arise through a large number of unwanted cats which can lead to surrender of these, through cats allowed to roam free outside which can lead to the owner losing these and through the reproduction that occurs amongst these surrendered or lost cats. One aim of this study is to give an account of this problem. It is however difficult to draw general conclusions about these populations of cats since studies all over the world has been carried out on different types of populations, during different conditions and different periods of time. The welfare of many of these cats is presumably low because they are exposed to risks as disease, starvation, climate, traffic, other animals and humans.

Today there are over 100 000 stray cats in Sweden and of these 10 000 are found in Gothenburg. There are several instances that try to reduce the number of stray cats. The problem for stray cats is primarily the suffering they may face in hunger, cold, predators, diseases, parasites, accidents, etc. The cats receive no veterinary care and may die from a simple infection that easily can be cured with antibiotics. Stray cats also can spread diseases to domestic cats, be a sanitary problem and compete with other small predators on prey. Authorities working with stray cats are the Country Administrative Board and the police authority.

Many homeless and private owned cats are relinquished to cat shelters. Shelters are often a very stressful place for cats and their welfare may be endangered. Today it is common that cats are housed in groups at cat shelters and there are some perceived problems in housing cats in groups. The social structure of the cat is very complex and although cats are basically solitary they can be kept in groups under the right conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate how cats in groups interact with each other at a cat shelter.

Feral animal populations are distributed over many parts of the world and are often seen as a problem. Since they are a threat against other species, destroy farmlands and can spread dis-eases, they are often referred to as pests. Artificial selection has contributed to loss of genetic diversity in our domesticated animals. Feral animal populations are affected by natural selec-tion, which allows them to adapt to the environment. Their ability to adapt is a reason to see them as pests but can also be seen as an asset.

Pica is a behavior that can be seen in several animal groups. In cats, it means that they are eating, chewing or licking on material that is non-food. In this study the data was collected through an online survey. In total 522 responses, of which 26% of the cats were exhibiting pica. It was found that 28% of the housecats and 26% of purebred cats exhibited pica.

Pica is a behavior that can be seen in several animal groups. In cats, it means that they are eating, chewing or licking on material that is non-food. In this study the data was collected through an online survey. In total 522 responses, of which 26% of the cats were exhibiting pica. It was found that 28% of the housecats and 26% of purebred cats exhibited pica.

Runtom i världen finns det utarbetade metoder för att begränsa den ökande populationen av förvildade katter. Studier gjorda över så kallade TNR-projekt (Trap, Neuter, Return) har visat goda resultat på den långvariga effekten av minskad förökning, men också på en förbättrad välfärd för individerna. I USA finns det kliniker som arbetar mycket eller enbart med dessa patienter. Dessa blir finansierade genom statliga bidrag, privatpersoners donationer, samt fri-villig arbetskraft. Lämpliga anestesipreparat har utvärderats till just dessa patienter, och rikt-linjer för hantering av icke hanterbara individer finns dokumenterade i flera studier. I Sverige uppskattas antalet hemlösa katter till cirka 100 000, men problematiken kring dessa individer sköts i stort sett av privatpersoner och katthem.

Blood samples from 44 clinically healthy cats were analysed for the presence of antibodies to Chlamydophila felis. As we wanted to investigate if the antibody titre of clinically healthy cats correlates to shedding of chlamydia, conjunctival and vaginal or preputial swabs respectively, were taken and analysed with rtPCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) for the presence of chlamydia DNA. Furthermore, to investigate possible epidemiological factors connected with asymptomatic cats infected with chlamydia and to see if there were any indications that chlamydiosis can cause reproductive problems, the owners of the cats were asked questions regarding this. Sixty-one per cent (27 of 44) of the cats were seropositive. Three of these (11 %) had the highest antibody titre (1:1600).

Hyperthyroidism and chronic kidney failure (CKD) are common diseases in older cats. It can be difficult to evaluate kidney function in cats suffering from both conditions simultaneously. In the daily clinic serum creatinine is the analysis of choice when evaluating kidney function and secondary glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This marker does not, however, detect kidney damage until about 75 % of the function is lost. There are several other techniques available when investigating GFR but none are readily available for the small clinic.

Conjunctival swabs from 12 cats in a Swedish animal shelter were analyzed by real-time PCR for FHV-1, Mycoplasma felis and chlamydiae. The purpose of this study was to see whether and to what extent these agents can be detected and if they were detected from cats housed in quarantine or in the adoption department. Samples were first taken upon arrival at the quarantine and then a second sample was taken two weeks after moving to the adoption department, or upon presentation of signs of disease. The cats spent the quarantine period in two separate quarantines: five in a new quarantine (quarantine A) and seven in a room in the old shelter (quarantine B). The difference between these quarantines was that in B the cats were often mixed together ant the hygiene routines were not as good as in quarantine A.

Background: Osteoarthritis is understood to be a common cause of pain and dysfunction in cats; however there are few validated pain assessment methods for chronic pain in cats. In order to design a proper pain questionnaire, it usability need to be tested in both sound and sick cats. Aim: The aim was to investigate the usability of the pain questionnaire ?Lifestyle changes in cats? by compiling the results from the pain questionnaire reflecting the lifestyle in 30 healthy cats and compare it to the results from a clinical examination, as well as proposing improvements and additions to the questionnaire based on a literature review. Material and method: 30 healthy cats participated in the pilot study; the pet owner filled out a pain questionnaire with 16 questions regarding their cat´s behavioral and eventual changes in behavior and physical function. Thereafter the cat walked over a pressure measurement mat and finally underwent an orthopedic-directed clinical examination. The literature was found on Web of Knowledge, PubMed, Sciencedirect, and Google Scholar and also with the help of my supervisors.

The aim of this study was to see if there is any group of cats that are at greater risk to get sick and/or be euthanized during their stay at a cat shelter with no-kill policy. The study was conducted at Åkeshov cat rescue center in Sweden and cats that entered the center between the 1th of June 2010 and the 31th of December 2011 was used in the study. This study focused on factors regarding gender, origin, level of socialization, incubation period and the proportion of euthanized cats. In this study, the kind of illness weren?t taken into account. This study showed that the gender of the cat didn´t affect the risk for illness.

Hyperthyroidism has become the most commonly diagnosed endocrine disorder in cats. The recommended treatment of choice in the literature is administration of radioactive iodine. This treatment has been available at a few veterinary clinics in Sweden since 1999. Forty-six cats treated with a standard dose (80 MBq) of radioactive iodine (131I) at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in the period 2000-2004 were followed for a median of 13 months (range 3-42 months) by means of a retrospective cohort study design. Tables predicting time of survival after treatment were made. At final follow-up thirty-nine cats (85%) were euthyroid, six cats (13%) remained hyperthyroid and one cat (2%) was hypothyroid.

The purpose of this science of Art History research paper is to find out the meaning of Cats in Art. I have limited my studies to the Nationalmuseums picture gallery and found forty paintings with cats. I have chosen sixteen of these to furthur analyze typographically and chronologically from a symbolic perspective. The forty paintings from the Nationalmuseum were created during four centuries, with the first being painted in the Sixteenth Century. I have studied the cats dimensional placement in the picture, if the cat is in an outdoor or indoor environment, with people and if the cat is active or passive.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a disease that can affect cats and is caused by a feline coronavirus (FCoV). FCoV is spread via the feacal-oral route and many cats are carriers of the virus. Despite that, very few of the carrier cats develop FIP. The explanation of this phenomenon is that the virus has to mutate to be able to cause FIP and in the majority of the carrier cats this mutation never occurs. FIP is very hard to diagnose because the symptoms are diffuse and a completely accurate diagnosis can almost exclusively be established during a postmortem necropsy.