Acta Vet. Brno 2006, 75: 411-417
Cats in Czech Rural and Urban Households
The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of rural and urban environments on the coexistence of humans and their cats. From the obtained questionnaire data we selected the rural cats (R, n = 54) and compared them with urban cats (U, n = 144). The R group cats lived predominantly in family houses, U cats in urban apartments. The pressures of physical and social factors in the small niches of urban apartments (dwellings in Czech urban high-density living settings, though comfortable, are smaller than in numerous European countries; they prevailed in our U group) resulted in statistically significant differences in only 31 (51.7%) out of 60 traits under study. Among them, 15 (68.2%) out of 22 concerned the conduct of household members, and 16 (42.1%) out of 38 concerned the behaviour of their cats. Thus the conduct of people in U households showed relatively higher proportion of changes than the behaviour of their cats. U onwers more frequently purchased their cats (R = 24.1%, U = 48.6%, chi-square = 10.648, df = 4, p < 0.05), they kept the cat pedigrees (R = 37.0%, U = 75.4%, chisquare = 24.661, df = 1, p < 0.001), paid more attention to their cats ((R = 93.0%, U = 100.0%, chi-square = 8.950, df = 1, p < 0.005), talked to them daily (R = 87.0%, U = 98.6%, chi-square = 12.024, df = 1, p < 0.001), allowed them to use furniture (R = 77.8%, U = 100.0%, chi-square = 33.839, df = 1, p < 0.001), sleep in beds of family members (R = 61.1%, U = 95.1%, chi-square = 37.149, df = 1, p < 0.001), and celebrated their birthdays (R = 25.9%, U = 100.0%, chi-square = 7.014, df = 2, p < 0.05). Their cats were more destructive than R cats, hunted less and were less aggressive when stroked. However, they showed a slightly larger scope of aggressive behaviours and were more frequently described as nervous and restless. The nature of the significant differences found in this study indicates that the co-existence of cats with people in the urbanized world is becoming more intimate. More interactions occur between the two species. The relationships between people and their cats deserve further study not only in order to gain more insight but also for a practical application of this knowledge.
