Spitz-like tail carriage in two domestic cats.

Autor: Van Belle MJR; Ethology and Animal Welfare Research Group, Department of Veterinary and Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Heidestraat 19, Merelbeke 9820, Belgium. Electronic address: morgane.vanbelle@ugent.be., Gajdoš Kmecová N; University Veterinary Hospital - Small Animal Clinic, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Komenského 73 Košice 041 81, Slovakia., Moons CPH; Ethology and Animal Welfare Research Group, Department of Veterinary and Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Heidestraat 19, Merelbeke 9820, Belgium., Tuyttens FAM; Ethology and Animal Welfare Research Group, Department of Veterinary and Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Heidestraat 19, Merelbeke 9820, Belgium; Animal Sciences Unit, Flanders Research Institute of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), Scheldeweg 68, Melle 9090, Belgium., Mills DS; Animal Behaviour, Cognition & Welfare Group, Dept of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincs LN6 7DL, UK., De Keuster TCBM; Ethology and Animal Welfare Research Group, Department of Veterinary and Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Heidestraat 19, Merelbeke 9820, Belgium.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997) [Vet J] 2024 Dec; Vol. 308, pp. 106256. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 16.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2024.106256
Abstrakt: Domestic cats use visual cues to communicate with conspecifics and humans. This includes the position and movement of the tail. The tail up signal (i.e. tail held vertically with the tip curled) has been identified as a friendly greeting signal between cats and from cats to humans. We present here a report of two cats unable to display the classic tail up signal due to Spitz-like (curled) tail characteristics, a morphology not previously reported in the scientific literature. The cats, a British Shorthair (Mn, 2 y) and Domestic Longhair (Fn, 8.5 y), belonged to different households and were participants in a study of intraspecific social interactions. Video recordings show the cats displaying normal tail movements (waving, swishing, twitching) and position when the tail was hanging down. However, once the tail was raised to a vertical position, it immediately curled over the back. This Spitz-like tail posture was displayed both when greeting people and other cats. It had reportedly been present since adoption. There was no underlying medical history of injury or pain to indicate this was an acquired state. We suggest this Spitz-like tail is a spontaneously occurring anomaly, that does not seem to noticeably impair the cats' communicative abilities, as normal affiliative behaviours were observed during interactions with the cohoused cat. We discuss the significance of this finding in relation to the formation of social bonds and the signalling of affiliative intent.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None of the authors have any financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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