Comportamento de gatos domésticos (Felis catus - LINNAEUS, 1758): orquiectomia e desenvolvimento

Abstract

Domestic cats (Felis catus) are becoming increasingly popular. The process of domestication of cats has been unique. It is believed that cats underwent a “selfdomestication,” i.e., that humans did little or nothing to influence those changes. Male cats develop until they are 12-month-old, a period that corresponds to puberty. As cats’ behavior is sexually dimorphic, one may expect that, if patterns of behavior are controlled (especially by testosterone in males), castration will alter the behavior of domestic felines. Thus, this paper aimed at deepening the knowledge of the influence of orchiectomy on the social behavior and weight gain of domestic cats. We used 25 mongrel male cats aged 4 to 11 month-old. These cats were grouped into 5 groups of 5 animals. Two groups underwent orchiectomy (supergroup A) in the period before puberty and the others formed the control groups (B). Thes groups underwent 2 tests for behavioral assessment, namely: the box test, and the person test. In the first test the cats were exposed to rich food whose access was difficult, while in the second test their behavior in the presence familiar and non-familiar people was assessed. The tests were carried out in periods before and after castration. The development was followed up by weighting the cats monthly and by calculating the BMI. In the box test we observed differences in the time of contact with the box between individuals. After the analysis of the tests, no statistical differences were found. In the person test we observed that the animals showed a greater frequency of affiliative behavior with familiar people. Few agonistic behavior manifestations were observed. As to weight analysis, there were no statistical differences between noncastrated and castrated cats.