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Play in domestic cats has been largely studied using a contextual approach, i.e., with a focus on what the cat is playing with, such as an object, itself or another cat. Such classification may be superficially attractive scientifically but it limits the ability to investigate function. We propose consideration of a psychobiological approach, which increases attention on hypotheses about the motivational and emotional state of the actors, may be more valuable. This may be particularly important in the case of intercat exchanges that might involve play, for example when one cat may chase another which does not want to be chased, the general interaction should not be considered playful. Key to improving the scientific study of such interactions is the need to adopt a common terminology, thus we synthesise a common ethogram from the published literature. Secondly at the heart of a psychobiological approach is a consideration of both the affective state and motivational goal of each actor in an interaction, since they may not be congruent, and recognition of the hypothetical nature of any such functional classification. However, this bottom up approach provides valuable insights that can be tested. We argue that when one cat treats another as an object or prey, such activity relates to the former cat seeking to learn about its own skills in relation to manipulating its physical environment (prey are not considered part of the complex social relationships and thus social environment of an individual). However, when interaction between cats is reciprocal it may function to facilitate social learning and may be best described as mutual social play. It needs to be recognised that interactions are dynamic and thus our classification of a situation needs to be flexible. So mutual social play may turn into a form of non-reciprocal interaction. We conclude by outlining priorities for future research to help us improve our ability to answer the question “Are these cats playing?” in a wider range of contexts.

: A questionnaire is an integral component of methods determining the temperaments of dogs. From the range of questionnaires used for evaluation of a dog’s temperament, we selected C-BARQ. This particular type of questionnaire allowed us to determine the degree of agreement of evaluations of the same dog by individual members of one household. The evaluation included dogs in 29 households with a total of 71 members. The degree of agreement between ratings of individual members of the same household was determined by Intraclass correlations coefficient (ICC). The correlations observed ranged between 0.53 and 0.9, depending on the category. This result is further supported by the results of other studies that showed similar perceptions of the same dog between family members.

Open Access Agricultural Journals published by Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information

To assess stress in horses, a method of monitoring eye blinks (full and half) and eyelid twitches while collecting saliva and blood samples before and after annual intensive police training was carried out. This noninvasive monitoring method was used to determine whether blood collection, which is considered invasive, is more stressful for horses than saliva collection. We discovered no significant difference in stress related manifestations between saliva sampling and blood collection in our study. In both cases, sampling (blood and saliva) reduced the number of full and half eye blinks. Based on our hypothesis, we expected a statistically significant changes in the number of eye blinks and eyelid twitches as the number of potential stressors increased (in our case, we considered police training and sampling). Saliva cortisol levels, on the other hand, revealed that police training for horses was not stressful. The method of measuring eye blinks and eyelid twitches appears to be an appropriate alternative method for monitoring stress factors in horses.