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Cited by 9Human-Animal Interaction StudiesAnimal Behavior and Welfare StudiesAnimal Law and Welfare

Surrenderers’ Relationships with Cats Admitted to Four Australian Animal Shelters

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Zito, Sarah, Paterson, Mandy, Morton, John, Vankan, Di, Bennett, Pauleen, Rand, Jacquie, Phillips, Clive·2018·Animals
DOI 10.3390/ani8020023PMC PMC5836031
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Abstract

The surrender of cats to animal shelters results in financial, social and moral burdens for the community. Correlations of caretaking and interactions with surrendered cats were calculated, to understand more about humans’ relationships with surrendered cats and the contribution of semi-owned cats to shelter intakes. A questionnaire was used to collect detailed information about 100 surrenderers’ relationships with cats they surrendered to four animal shelters in Australia, with each surrenderer classifying themselves as being either the owner or a non-owner of the surrendered cat (ownership perception). Method of acquisition of the cat, association time, closeness of the relationship with the cat and degree of responsibility for the cat’s care were all associated with ownership perception. Many non-owners (59%) fed and interacted with the cat they surrendered but rarely displayed other caretaking behaviours. However, most surrenderers of owned and unowned cats were attached to and felt responsible for the cat. Based on these results and other evidence, a causal model of ownership perception was proposed to provide a better understanding of factors influencing ownership perception. This model consisted of a set of variables proposed as directly or indirectly influencing ownership perception, with connecting arrows to indicate proposed causal relationships. Understanding ownership perception and the contribution of semi-owned cats to shelter intake is important as these can inform the development of more targeted and effective intervention strategies to reduce numbers of unwanted cats.

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  • Zito et al. (35) classified acquiring a cat as a gift, or being left with the surrender by another person, as passive methods of pet acquisition, while those acquired from animal shelters or breeders were considered actively acquired.

    “For example, Zito et al. (35) classified acquiring a cat as a gift, or being left with the surrender by another person, as passive methods of pet acquisition. Those acquired from animal shelters or breeders were considered to have been actively acquired.”

    From Companion animal adoption and relinquishment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Peri-pandemic pets at greatest risk of relinquishment (2022) · cites this paper as Zito et al. (35)

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Authors
Zito, S., Paterson, M., Morton, J., Vankan, D., Bennett, P., Rand, J., & Phillips, C.
Affiliations
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia (AU)
  • Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4076, Australia
  • La Trobe University (AU)
Corresponding author
Phillips, Clive
ORCID
Venue
Animals
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2018-02-07
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
23
ISSN
2076-2615 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/ani8020023
PMC
PMC5836031
OpenAlex
W2790550295
Cited by
9
References
5
Citations by year
2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3
FWCI
0.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Animals (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • La Trobe University (cc-by)
Funders
  • Maddie's Fund
  • Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
  • Social Sciences › Law › Animal Law and Welfare
Keywords
animal shelters, human-cat relationship, causal models, pet relinquishment, Australia

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