Aberrant sparganosis in cat caused by Spirometra mansoni (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidae): a case report.

BACKGROUND: Sparganosis is a rare zoonotic disease caused by plerocercoid larvae of the genera Spirometra or Sparganum (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidae). The larvae of Spirometra generally do not undergo asexual reproduction, whereas those of Sparganum can induce proliferative lesions in infected tissues. This paper presents an unusual case of proliferative sparganosis due to infection with Spirometra mansoni in a cat, normally considered a definitive host of the species. CASE PRESENTATION: A 9-year-old male domestic cat was presented with a mass on the right side of the face that underwent progressive enlargement for 1 month. The morphological and histopathological examinations revealed multiple asexual proliferative cestode larvae in the lesions, suggestive of proliferative sparganosis. Next-generation sequencing analysis of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded specimens of surgically excised tissue indicated that the worm was Spirometra mansoni. CONCLUSION: Although S. mansoni a common tapeworm species found in the small intestine of domestic cats and dogs in Japan, proliferative sparganosis is extremely rare. This is the first confirmed case of proliferative sparganosis due to infection with S. mansoni in cat.

Seroprevalence of pathogenic Leptospira serogroups in asymptomatic domestic dogs and cats: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Leptospirosis is a neglected zoonotic disease transmitted by contact with the urine of animals infected with pathogenic species of the bacteria Leptospira or by contact with environments contaminated with the bacteria. Domestic dogs and cats may act as reservoirs or as sentinels of environmental contamination with leptospires, posing a public health concern. There is a great diversity of leptospires, and one common way to classify them is into serogroups that provide some information on the host species they are associated with. The aims of this study were: (1) to quantitatively summarize the overall prevalence and serogroup-specific prevalence of antibodies against pathogenic leptospires in asymptomatic dogs and cats and (2) to identify environmental and host characteristics that may affect the prevalence. Three electronic databases and the reference lists of eligible articles were screened, for epidemiological studies conducted between the years 2012-2022. We estimated overall and serogroup-specific prevalence using three-level meta-analysis models and assessed potential sources of heterogeneity by moderator analysis and meta-regression. Eighty-four studies met the inclusion criteria (dog studies 66.7%, cat studies 26.2%, and both species 7.1%). There were significant differences between dogs and cats in the overall prevalence model (P < 0.001), but not in the serogroup-specific model (P>0.05). In dogs, the prevalence of Leptospira interrogans serogroup Canicola was significantly higher than the other pathogenic serogroups (P < 0.001), while in cats there were no significant differences among serogroups (P = 0.373). Moderator analysis showed that the prevalence of L. kirschneri serogroup Grippotyphosa was significantly higher in stray/sheltered dogs than in domiciled dogs (P = 0.028). These results suggest that pathogenic serogroups associated with small mammals are circulating among asymptomatic pets and should be taken into account in the transmission cycle of leptospires, as well as in the standard MAT panel for diagnosis in dogs and cats. It also highlights the importance of including both dogs and cats as potential reservoirs when conducting eco-epidemiological studies in different geographical and ecological areas.

Development of "personality" in the domestic cat: A longitudinal study.

Although individual differences in the behavior of animals, sometimes referred to as personality, have recently received considerable attention, the development of such differences remains understudied. We previously found consistent individual differences in behavior in four tests simulating everyday contexts in 74 preweaning age kittens from 16 litters of the domestic cat. To study the development of consistent among-individual differences in four behavioral traits in cats, we followed a subset of these same individuals and repeated the same tests at 6 and 12 months of age. Some individual differences in behavior became increasingly repeatable with age due to a combination of decreased individual-level variance (canalization) and increased among-individual variance; these changes in variance and repeatability continued into adulthood (12 months). We did not observe behavioral syndromes at any age, in contrast to our previous reports in a different population of adult cats. The mechanisms that underlie increased repeatability with age and the possibility of personality structure differing between populations in this species remain to be studied.

Non-invasive, real-time stress measurement: Vocalization compared with thermal imaging in kittens of the domestic cat in response to social separation.

Finding tools to assess the stress response which can be easily applied, are non-invasive, reliable and measured in real time is still a relevant topic in many areas of biology. Vocal characteristics and temperature of certain body areas have been suggested to reflect HPA axis and ANS activation. We hypothesized that changes in vocalizations and peripheral body temperature will show the magnitude of the stress response, and that the change in these will covary. Our aim was to measure the change in vocal characteristics and eye and nasal temperature of kittens (n = 43 from nine litters of seven mixed-breed mothers) during a potentially stressful event and to test how these correlated. We found change in several vocal and thermal parameters during a short social separation. Our findings indicate that arousal due to ANS activation in kittens of the domestic cat resulted in an increasing number of vocalisations of longer duration and higher intensity, and in lower and a wider range in fundamental frequency. Calls also became less tonal with more jitter. Change in temperature was generally negative in the lacrimal caruncle as well as in the rhinarium, but with great variance across individuals. Change in eye temperature positively correlated with the intensity of the calls and the change in nose temperature positively correlated with the change in call length. The results suggest the continued difficulty in interpreting both physiological and behavioural data to assess an individual´s stress response.

Emergence of personality in weaning-age kittens of the domestic cat?

Individual differences in behavior (animal personality) have recently received much attention although less so in young mammals. We tested 74 preweaning-age kittens from 16 litters of domestic cats in five everyday contexts repeated three times each across a 3-week period: a handling test where an experimenter held the kitten, a test where a piece of raw beef was given to the kitten and gradually withdrawn, a test where the kitten was presented with a live mouse in a jar, a test where the kitten was briefly confined in a pet carrier, and an encounter with an unfamiliar human who first remained passive and then attempted to stroke the kitten. We found consistent individual differences in behavior in all tests except with the mouse, although less marked than in equivalent tests with adult cats. Differences in behavior were unrelated to sex, body mass, litter size, or maternal identity. We found only weak correlations in results among the tests (behavioral syndromes), again unlike findings in adult cats. We conclude that weanling kittens show consistent individual differences in behavior but in a different manner to adults. If and how the pattern of such differences changes across development remains to be studied.

The Social Lives of Free-Ranging Cats.

Despite the diversity of social situations in which cats live, the degree to which free-ranging cats (FRCs) are social is still debated. The aim of this review is to explore the literature on the social behavior of FRCs. A search of two major databases revealed that observations of intraspecies and interspecies social interactions have been conducted. The intraspecific social dynamics of FRCs differ based on group of cats surveyed. Some groups display strong social bonds and preferential affiliations, while other groups are more loosely associated and display little to no social interaction. Factors impacting FRC conspecific interactions include cat body size, cat social rank, cat individuality, cat age, relationship to conspecific (kin/familiar), cat sex, level of human caretaking, presence of food, the health of the individual, or sexual status of conspecifics. Interspecies interactions also occur with humans and wildlife. The human's sex and the weather conditions on the day of interaction have been shown to impact FRC social behavior. Interactions with wildlife were strongly linked to the timing of cat feeding events. These findings support the idea that FRCs are "social generalists" who display flexibility in their social behavior. The social lives of FRCs exist, are complex, and deserve further study.

Are you my mummy? Long-term olfactory memory of mother's body odour by offspring in the domestic cat.

Longevity of odour memories, particularly those acquired during early development, has been documented in a wide range of taxa. Here, we report that kittens of the domestic cat retained a memory into adult life of their mother´s body odour experienced before weaning. Kittens from 15 litters were tested when permanently separated from their mother at weaning on postnatal week 8, and tested again when 4 and 6 months and over 1 year of age. When presented with a simultaneous three-way choice between body odour of their own mother, of an unknown female of similar reproductive condition and a blank stimulus, weaning-age kittens sniffed the cotton swab with the odour of an unknown female longer. This preference, however, changed when as adults the subjects sniffed the cotton swab with their own mother's odour longer. We conclude that kittens form a long-lasting memory of the body odour of their mother, and by implication, that mothers retain an individual odour signature sufficiently stable across age and changes in their reproductive state to be distinguishable by their adult offspring. What this means in functional or cognitive terms is not yet clear. Does such "recognition" have a specific biological function and a specific cognitive representation? Or is it rather part of a more general phenomenon well known in (human) olfaction of odours that are familiar generally being judged more pleasant, and that might then influence olfactory-guided behaviour in a variety of contexts?

Reliability and Validity of Seven Feline Behavior and Personality Traits.

Domestic cats are popular pets, and they have personalities, with stable behavior differences between individuals. Lately, feline behavior and personality have been studied with different approaches, for example, with owner-completed questionnaires. The majority of these studies, however, lack a sufficient validation and reliability assessment of the questionnaires used. We designed an online feline behavior and personality questionnaire to collect cat behavior data from their owners. Then, we ran a factor analysis to study the structure of personality and behavior in a dataset of over 4300 cats. For validation, we studied the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity of this questionnaire and extracted factors. In addition, we briefly examined breed differences in the seven discovered factors: fearfulness, activity/playfulness, aggression toward humans, sociability toward humans, sociability toward cats, excessive grooming and litterbox issues. Most of the rank ordering of breeds within each trait paralleled what has been found in previous studies. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire and factors were good, strengthening owner-completed questionnaires as a method to collect behavioral data from pet animals. Breed differences suggest a genetic background for personality. However, these differences should be studied further with multidimensional models, including environmental and biological variables.

Identification of a novel pegivirus in pet cats (Felis silvestris catus) in Japan.

We report a novel pegivirus in pet cats (Felis silvestris catus) in Japan. This virus was only 44.0-49.6 % identical to the reported viruses in the 11 current Pegivirus species and an unclassified pegivirus in dolphins within the entire protein-coding nucleotide sequence and was detected in 1.6 % of pet cats.

Temperament in Domestic Cats: A Review of Proximate Mechanisms, Methods of Assessment, Its Effects on Human-Cat Relationships, and One Welfare.

Temperament can be defined as interindividual differences in behavior that are stable over time and in different contexts. The terms 'personality', 'coping styles', and 'behavioral syndromes' have also been used to describe these interindividual differences. In this review, the main aspects of cat temperament research are summarized and discussed, based on 43 original research papers published between 1986 and 2020. We aimed to present current advances in cat temperament research and identify potential gaps in knowledge, as well as opportunities for future research. Proximate mechanisms, such as genetic bases of temperament, ontogenesis and developmental factors, physiological mechanisms, and relationships with morphology, were reviewed. Methods traditionally used to assess the temperament of cats might be classified based on the duration of procedures (short- vs. long-term measures) and the nature of data recordings (coding vs. rating methods). The structure of cat temperament is frequently described using a set of behavioral dimensions, primarily based on interindividual variations in cats' responses toward humans and conspecifics (e.g., friendliness, sociability, boldness, and aggressiveness). Finally, cats' temperaments have implications for human-animal interactions and the one welfare concept. Temperament assessment can also contribute to practical aspects, for example, the adoption of shelter cats.

SARS-CoV-2 Natural Transmission from Human to Cat, Belgium, March 2020.

In March 2020, a severe respiratory syndrome developed in a cat, 1 week after its owner received positive test results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Viral RNA was detected in the cat's nasopharyngeal swab samples and vomitus or feces; immunoglobulin against the virus was found in convalescent-phase serum. Human-to-cat transmission is suspected.

Evidence for Individual Differences in Behaviour and for Behavioural Syndromes in Adult Shelter Cats.

Consistent inter-individual differences in behaviour have been previously reported in adult shelter cats. In this study, we aimed to assess whether repeatable individual differences in behaviours exhibited by shelter cats in different situations were interrelated, forming behavioural syndromes. We tested 31 adult cats in five different behavioural tests, repeated three times each: a struggle test where an experimenter restrained the cat, a separation/confinement test where the cat spent 2 min in a pet carrier, a mouse test where the cat was presented with a live mouse in a jar, and two tests where the cat reacted to an unfamiliar human who remained either passive or actively approached the cat. Individual differences in behaviour were consistent (repeatable) across repeated trials for each of the tests. We also found associations between some of the behaviours shown in the different tests, several of which appeared to be due to differences in human-oriented behaviours. This study is the first to assess the presence of behavioural syndromes using repeated behavioural tests in different situations common in the daily life of a cat, and which may prove useful in improving the match between prospective owner and cat in shelter adoption programmes.

Infection by Platynosomum illiciens (= P. fastosum) in domestic cats of Araguaína, Tocantins, northern Brazil / Infecção por Platynosomum illiciens (= P. fastosum) em gatos domésticos de Araguaína, Tocantins, Norte do Brasil

Abstract Platynosomiasis is a hepatopathy caused by Platynosomum illiciens(= P. fastosum) (Trematoda: Dicrocoelidae), which occurs mainly in domestic and wild cats in tropical and subtropical areas. The objective of this study was to verify the occurrence of P. illiciens infection in domestic cats in the city of Araguaína, Tocantins, Brazil, using necropsy and coproparasitological tests. Additionally, we aimed to evaluate the use of two different techniques to diagnose P. illiciens infection in domestic cats and verify whether this parasitism was associated with individual feline characteristics. For this, 54 cats of different ages were analyzed. The percentage of infection was 33.3% (CI = 21.1-47.5%), parasite load was 9-509, mean intensity was 151.7, and mean abundance was 50.5 trematodes per animal. The risk of infection was higher for females than for males (OR = 5.00; P = 0.017). The spontaneous sedimentation coproparasitological test demonstrated the greatest sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing P. illiciens. This study is the first to report the occurrence of P. illiciens in cats in the state of Tocantins, northern Brazil.

Resumo A platinosomose é uma hepatopatia causada por Platynosomum illiciens(= P. fastosum) (Trematoda: Dicrocoelidae), que ocorre principalmente em felinos domésticos e selvagens de áreas tropicais e subtropicais. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a ocorrência de P. illiciens em gatos domésticos do município de Araguaína, Tocantins, Brasil, por meio de necrópsia e exames coproparasitológicos, bem como avaliar o uso de diferentes técnicas no diagnóstico de P. illiciens em gatos domésticos e verificar a associação da parasitose com características individuais dos felinos. O estudo foi realizado em 54 gatos com diferentes idades, machos e fêmeas. O percentual de infecção foi de 33,3% (IC= 21,1% - 47,5%), a carga parasitária observada foi de 09-509, a intensidade média de 151,7 e a abundância média de 50,5 trematódeos por animal. As fêmeas apresentaram maior chance de infecção do que os machos (OR=5,00; P=0,017). O teste coproparasitológico que demonstrou maior sensibilidade e especificidade foi o de sedimentação espontânea. O presente estudo faz o primeiro relato da ocorrência de P. illiciens em gatos no estado do Tocantins, região Norte do Brasil.

Pattern of latrine use by domestic cats on dairy farms and the implications for Toxoplasma gondii transmission.

Toxoplasma gondii is the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, a highly prevalent zoonosis that affects humans and warm-blooded animals. Faeces of infected cats can contain millions of T. gondii oocysts, which remain infectious in the environment for months. Sites repeatedly used by cats for defecation ('latrines') are recognised as hotspots of T. gondii soil contamination, but this contamination varies from one latrine to another. To understand this spatial heterogeneity, camera traps were deployed in 39 cat latrines on three dairy farms with high-density cat populations and programmed to record visits during sixteen 10-day sessions, rotating between three farms over a period of a year. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used to test the effects of cat sexual maturity, latrine location and season on the number of cat faeces deposited and on the number of cats defecating per latrine, as determined from the analysis of 41,282 video recordings. Sexually immature cats defecated 6.60-fold (95% CI = [2.87-15.25]) more often in latrines located close to a feeding site than in other latrines. This pattern was also observed for mature males (odds ratio [OR] = 9.42, 95% CI = [3.29-26.91]), especially during winter, but not for mature females (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = [0.80-3.94]). The number of defecating cats was also 2.67-fold (95% CI = [1.66-4.30], P < 0.001) higher in latrines located close to a feeding point than in those located far from it, regardless of cat category and season. Visits by intermediate T. gondii hosts (micromammals, birds and others) were also recorded. Out of the 39 latrines, 30 (76.92%) were visited by at least one intermediate host during the study period, and some latrines were highly frequented (up to 8.74 visits/day on average). These results provide evidence that the location of food resources in dairy farms influences the latrine use pattern by cats. Highly frequented latrines can be of high risk of T. gondii infection for definitive and intermediate hosts.

Stable individual differences in vocalisation and motor activity during acute stress in the domestic cat.

The behavioural assessment of individual animals in stressful situations should consider measures which are consistent across repeated testing, and therefore truly representative of an individual's behaviour. Here we report a study conducted on 40 neutered adult cats (Felis silvestris catus) of both sexes, originating from two animal shelters in Mexico and Hungary. We recorded the responses of the cats to repeated brief confinement trials that mimicked a common situation (confinement in a pet carrier). This test was repeated three times, leaving one week between trials, to assess short-term repeatability. Stable inter-individual differences in two behavioural measures, the number of separation calls and the duration of motor activity, were found, although the inter-individual differences in vocalisation were more pronounced than they were for motor activity. Additionally, the overall number of vocalisations emitted remained stable despite repeated testing, whereas motor activity tended to decrease week to week. There was a negative effect of age on vocalisation rate, and no effect of sex on either behaviour. No correlation between the two behavioural measures was found. We suggest that, in adult cats, vocalisation may be more reliable than motor activity as a behavioural measure of stress.

Olfactory discrimination between litter mates by mothers and alien adult cats: lump or split?

Mother cats can discriminate between their own and alien kittens using kittens' body odour. Here we ask whether they can also distinguish between body odours of kittens from the same litter. We conducted three experiments using the habituation-dishabituation technique with the odour of 1- and 7-week-old kittens of both sexes. In Experiment 1, we found no evidence that mothers discriminated among their own kittens of either age when presented three times with the odour of one individual (habituation trials) and then with the odour of a different individual (dishabituation or discrimination trial), even when the donor kittens were of different sex. In Experiment 2, alien adults of both sexes distinguished between 7 but not between 1-week-old litter mates. In Experiment 3, mothers distinguished between unknown litter mates in a similar and age-dependent manner to the animals of Experiment 2. We conclude that litter mates possess individual odour signatures that can be discriminated by adult cats, that these cues take some time to develop, but are not discriminated by their own mother, at least not during the pre-weaning period. Mothers possibly perceive and respond to a learned "nest"/litter odour shared by all litter mates or categorize the individual odours of their kittens as belonging to an "own kitten" category. That mothers did not discriminate between the odours of their own kittens but did so between individual kittens of alien litters suggests that different levels of processing olfactory information exist in mothers' ability to cognitively partition and differentially respond to such odours.

Tracking the Continuous Evolutionary Processes of an Endogenous Retrovirus of the Domestic Cat: ERV-DC.

An endogenous retrovirus (ERV) is a remnant of an ancient retroviral infection in the host genome. Although most ERVs have lost their viral productivity, a few ERVs retain their replication capacity. In addition, partially inactivated ERVs can present a potential risk to the host via their encoded virulence factors or the generation of novel viruses by viral recombination. ERVs can also eventually acquire a biological function, and this ability has been a driving force of host evolution. Therefore, the presence of an ERV can be harmful or beneficial to the host. Various reports about paleovirology have revealed each event in ERV evolution, but the continuous processes of ERV evolution over millions of years are mainly unknown. A unique ERV family, ERV-DC, is present in the domestic cat (Felis silvestriscatus) genome. ERV-DC proviruses are phylogenetically classified into three genotypes, and the specific characteristics of each genotype have been clarified: their capacity to produce infectious viruses; their recombination with other retroviruses, such as feline leukemia virus or RD-114; and their biological functions as host antiviral factors. In this review, we describe ERV-DC-related phenomena and discuss the continuous changes in the evolution of this ERV in the domestic cat.

A Comparison of Cats (Felis silvestris catus) Housed in Groups and Single Cages at a Shelter: A Retrospective Matched Cohort Study.

The merits of various housing options for domestic cats in shelters have been debated. However, comparisons are difficult to interpret because cats are typically not able to be randomly assigned to different housing conditions. In the current study, we attempted to address some of these issues by creating a retrospective matched cohort of cats in two housing types. Cats in group housing (GH) were matched with cats in single housing (SH) that were the same age, sex, breed, coat color, and size. Altogether we were able to find a match for 110 GH cats. We compared these two groups on several measures related to their experience at the shelter such as moves and the development of behavioral problems. We also compared these groups on outcomes including length of stay, live release, and returns after adoption. We found that while the frequency of moves was similar in both groups, SH cats were more likely to be moved to offsite facilities than GH cats. SH cats also spent a smaller proportion of time on the adoption floor. Length of stay and, live release and returns after adoption did not significantly differ across groups, however GH cats were two times as likely to be returned after adoption. Future research should look at the behavioral impacts of shelter decision-making regarding moving and management of cats in different housing systems.

Testing aggressive behaviour in a feeding context: Importance of ethologically relevant stimuli.

The choice of stimuli used in tests of animal behaviour can have a critical effect on the outcome. Here we report two experiments showing how different foods influenced aggressive behaviour in competition tests at weaning among littermates of the domestic cat. Whereas in Experiment 1 canned food elicited almost no overt competition, a piece of raw beef rib elicited clearly aggressive behaviour among littermates. In Experiment 2 the food stimuli were chosen to differ from raw beef rib in various combinations of taste/smell, texture and monopolizability. Kittens showed different levels of aggression in response to the five stimuli tested, which suggests that the strong effect of beef rib in eliciting aggressive behaviour was due to a complex combination of features. We suggest that using stimuli approximating the evolved, functional significance to the species concerned is more likely to result in robust, biologically relevant behaviours than more artificial stimuli.

Fatal toxoplasmosis in an immunosuppressed domestic cat from Brazil caused by Toxoplasma gondii clonal type I / Toxoplasmose fatal em um gato doméstico imunossuprimido do Brasil causada por Toxoplama gondii clonal tipo I

Abstract The objective of the study was to report on a fatal case of feline toxoplasmosis with coinfection with the feline leukemia virus (FeLV). A domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) presented intense dyspnea and died three days later. In the necropsy, the lungs were firm, without collapse and with many white areas; moderate lymphadenomegaly and splenomegaly were also observed. The histopathological examination showed severe necrotic interstitial bronchopneumonia and mild necrotic hepatitis, associated with intralesional cysts and tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii that were positive by anti-T. gondii immunohistochemical (IHC) evaluation. The bone marrow showed chronic myeloid leukemia and the neoplastic cells were positive by anti-FeLV IHC evaluation. DNA extracted from lungs was positive for T. gondii by PCR targeting REP-529. T. gondii was characterized by PCR-RFLP and by the microsatellites technique. ToxoDB-PCR-RFLP #10, i.e. the archetypal type I, was identified. Microsatellite analysis showed that the strain was a variant of type I with two atypical alleles. This was the first time that a T. gondii clonal type I genotype was correlated with a case of acute toxoplasmosis in a host in Brazil.

Resumo O objetivo deste estudo foi relatar um caso de toxoplasmose felina fatal com coinfecção com o vírus da leucemia felina (FeLV). Um gato doméstico (Felis silvestris catus) apresentou intensa dispneia e morreu três dias depois. Na necropsia, observaram-se pulmões firmes, não colabados e com múltiplas áreas brancas, além de linfoadenomegalia e esplenomegalia moderadas. No exame histopatológico, evidenciaram-se broncopneumonia intersticial necrótica acentuada e hepatite necrótica discreta associada a cistos e taquizoítas de T. gondii intralesionais positivos na imuno-histoquímica (IHC) anti-T. gondii. Evidenciou-se ainda, na medula óssea, leucemia mieloide crônica com IHC anti-FeLV positiva nas células neoplásicas. O DNA extraído dos pulmões foi positivo para T. gondii por meio da PCR-REP-529. T. gondii foi caracterizado por PCR-RFLP e pela técnica de microssatélites. Foi identificado o genótipo ToxoDB-PCR-RFLP #10, i.e., o arquétipo tipo I. A análise por microssatélites mostrou que a cepa era uma variante do tipo I, com dois alelos atípicos. Esta é a primeira vez que T. gondii clonal tipo I foi relacionado com um caso agudo de toxoplasmosis em um hospedeiro no Brasil.