Evaluation of the Effects of Hospital Visit Stress on Physiologic Parameters in the Cat

Abstract

Physiologic parameters such as blood pressure, rectal temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate are an important part of the medical assessment of a patient. However, these factors can potentially be affected by stress. The purpose of this study was to compare physiologic parameter data gathered from cats in the home environment with those gathered in a veterinary hospital. Thirty healthy cats were evaluated both at home and at Colorado State University's Veterinary Medical Center. Doppler systolic blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate were recorded, and the differences between the values obtained in the home and veterinary clinic environments were evaluated using the Wilcoxon sign rank test. A significant difference was found in blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate between the home and veterinary hospital environments. This information may help practitioners recognize that physiologic abnormalities can sometimes be due to transportation or environmental stress rather than medical illness.

Pyrexia in cats: Retrospective analysis of signalment, clinical investigations, diagnosis and influence of prior treatment in 106 referred cases

“…Furthermore, a few conditions diagnosed in 332 this study have not been previously associated with pyrexia (e.g, renal pseudocysts,uroliths, gastrointestinal foriegn bodies); while it is feasible pyrexia may occur in these 334 conditions due to inflammation and/or associated infection, hyperthermia cannot be fully 335 excluded. Rectal temperature in healthy cats can reach 39.3°C in the veterinary 336 consultation room due to stress 14 . The inclusion criteria of two or more documented 337 episodes of increased rectal temperature was used in an attempt to exclude cases with 338 stress hyperthermia.…”

Assessment of behavioural changes in domestic cats during short-term hospitalisation

“…a)- Friendly and confident The pain score may be considered true as these cats are assumed to be able to reflect their true demeanour. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Friendly and shy These cats may mask pain and thus the score obtained in the pain score may be lower than the true pain experienced.…”

Axillary temperature measurement: a less stressful alternative for hospitalised cats?

“…Indeed, stress has been reported to induce anorexia, vomiting, diarrhoea or urinary retention (Carlstead and others 1993, Stella and others 2011). Pathological changes can occur in response to stress including hyperglycaemia, immunosuppression, hypertension or cardiac murmurs (Greco 1991, Wagner and others 2010, Quimby and others 2011, Carney and others 2012, Schrope 2015). Stress can therefore delay recovery or lead to a deterioration in the health status of cats (Quimby and others 2011, Carney and others 2012).…”