Exposure to Valeriana officinalis scent facilitates medical procedures in stray and shelter cats

Exposure to Valeriana officinalis scent facilitates medical procedures in stray and shelter cats Normando S.1, Gislon V.1, Accorsi P.A.2, Carloni E.2 1Dipartimento di Scienze Sperimentali Veterinarie,Università degli Studi di Padova, Padua, Italy; 2Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche Veterinarie, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. E-mail: simona.normando@unipd.it Olfactory stimuli have been found to affect the behaviour of domestic cats (Ellis, S.L.H . and Wells, D.L . 2010. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 123(1): 56-62). The aim of this study was to assess whether exposure to the scent of Valeriana officinalis dried roots affected the response of stray and rescue shelter cats to handling and medical procedures. Twelve healthy adult cats (seven females, five males) were manipulated both in control condition (no valerian) and in the experimental condition (valerian scent), in random order, and scored for their response to being petted, being fit a tourniquet on one of their front paws and being subjected to an ear inspection. Scores ranged from –1 (very aggressive response, cat impossible or almost impossible to touch) to 4 (cat seeking non aggressive social interaction with tester, purring, kneading). During exposure to valerian scent the cats reacted significantly better (i.e., less aggressively and less fearfully) to the procedures than during the control condition (Wilcoxon Signed Rank test; p=0.002). It is concluded that Valeriana officinalis olfactory stimulation could be an useful aid in handling stray and shelter cats during medical procedures.