Dancer, Alice MM;
Díez-León, María;
Bizley, Jennifer K;
Burn, Charlotte C;
(2022)
Pet Owner Perception of Ferret Boredom and Consequences for Housing, Husbandry, and Environmental Enrichment.
Animals
, 12
(23)
, Article 3262. 10.3390/ani12233262.
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Abstract
Boredom is a potential chronic but overlooked animal welfare problem. Caused by monotony, sub-optimal stimulation, and restrictive housing, boredom can therefore affect companion animals, particularly those traditionally caged, such as ferrets. We surveyed owners’ (n = 621) perceptions of ferrets’ capacity to experience boredom, behaviours they associate with it, and whether their perception of their ferrets’ capacity for boredom influenced training techniques, housing, and environmental enrichment (EE). Most (93.0%) owners believed that ferrets could experience boredom, but owners who doubted that ferrets experience boredom (7.0%) provided slightly but significantly fewer EE types to their ferrets. Heat map and classification tree analysis showed that owners identified scratching at enclosure walls (n = 420) and excessive sleeping (n = 312) as distinctive behavioural indicators of ferret boredom. Repetitive pacing (n = 381), yawning (n = 191), and resting with eyes open (n = 171) were also suggested to indicate ferret boredom, but these overlapped with other states. Finally, ferret owners suggested social housing, tactile interaction with humans, and exploration as most important for preventing boredom. These results suggest that pet ferrets are at risk of reduced welfare from owners who doubt they can experience boredom, highlighting an opportunity to improve welfare through information dissemination. We recommend further investigation into ferret boredom capacity, behavioural indicators, and mitigation strategies.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Pet Owner Perception of Ferret Boredom and Consequences for Housing, Husbandry, and Environmental Enrichment |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/ani12233262 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233262 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | animal welfare; affective state; boredom indicators; companion animals; positive reinforcement training |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > The Ear Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10161738 |
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