Can petting a stressed-out cat calm her down and keep her healthy? Yes, says a recent study of shelter cats, reported on by the shelter medicine blog at Maddie’s Fund.
In a study published in the June 2014 issue of the journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine, researchers found cats who were not petted during their first 10 days in an animal shelter were 2.4 times more likely to develop URI than cats who were petted during this period.
The petted cats also had lower rates of shedding and other infections.
Additionally, cats who responded aggressively to attempts to pet and soothe them were petted by a tool, and by the end of day 6 were no longer showing aggression.
Definitely worth thinking about as we work to make the trip from shelter to home and home to the vet’s office and back as fear-free as possible!
Read more and get a link to the study here.
