Characteristics of cats submitted to behavioral examination: A retrospective study

Introduction and Aims: Aim of this paper is to evaluate the characteristics of a sample of cats with behaviour problems in order to identify the presence of statistically correlation between diagnosis and different factors considered. Materials and methods: The study focused on 207 cats visited at the Behavioral Clinic of University of Milan between 1999-2017. Several variables were selected from the questionnaires collected during the visit. Results and Discussion: 51.2% of the subjects were diagnosed with inappropriate elimination, 15.9%, with intraspecific aggression, 14.9% with interspecific aggression, 8.5% with compulsive disorders and 9.5% with other problems. We found a statistical association of the behavior problems with different factors (p < 0.05): aggressive cats with people were mainly males, foster and adopted before 60 days of age and theirs owners considered the possibility of giving up their pets. Aggressive cats with other cats owners ask for help more promptly.