(NU22) Evaluation of Chronic Stress Status in Diseased Cats with Hair Cortisol Concentration and Psychometrics

Abstract:

Background: Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and psychometrics serve as indicators of chronic stress status and quality of life (QoL) respectively. To date, the application of both simultaneously was scarcely studied in diseased cats.

Objectives: To evaluate HCC and questionnaires in healthy, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) cats. Meanwhile, to investigate their correlations in various aspects.

Animals: Client-owned cats with healthy status (n=20), CKD (n=56), and suspected FIP (n=20).

Methods: Cohort study. Hair was collected from cats’ abdominal region, and HCC was measured with a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Questionnaires were fulfilled by owners, and average-item-weighted-impact-score (AWIS) was calculated.

Results: Suspected-FIP (median [IQR]: 896.27 [444.05, 3921.19] pg/mg) and late-stage-CKD cats (271.00 [222.20, 441.36] pg/mg) had significantly higher HCC than healthy (149.94 [110.99, 198.16] pg/mg) and early-stage-CKD cats (158.35 [70.13, 186.12] pg/mg) (P < .05). Cats with suspected-FIP and late-stage-CKD had significantly lower AWIS in general (suspected-FIP: -2.06 [-3.41, -1.09]; healthy: 1.59 [1.18, 1.88]; early-stage-CKD: 0.41 [0.00, 1.12]), heath (suspected-FIP: 2.27 [-3.82, -0.64]; healthy: 1.18 [0.73, 1.27]; early-stage-CKD: 0.45 [-0.18, 0.91]), behavioral (suspected-FIP: -0.67 [-2.83, 1.17]; healthy: 7.00 [2.67, 7.00]), and medical (late-stage-CKD: -2.67 [-3.75, -2.42]; early-stage-CKD: -0.67 [-1.67, -0.33]) domains than healthy and early-stage-CKD cats (P < .05). HCC had significantly negative correlation with QoL in general (rho = -0.52), heath (rho = -0.50), and medical (rho = -0.53) domains (P < .05).

Conclusions and clinical importance: Cats’ chronic stress was proven significantly to affect QoL by the evaluation with objective HCC and subjective psychometrics.