A university that has made 'cat's paradise' for scientific development

by Jan-Mallander

Researchers at the University of Illinois is, "more you want to reproduce the wild environment" results continue to stick to the fact that, toys and real wood, to study for the cat of contraceptive vaccine ball pit universities such as is equipped with a "cat paradise" We built it in the research facility.

Researchers Built a Cat Paradise for Science - Motherboard
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbkam/researchers-built-a-cat-paradise-for-science

Illinois study pioneers humane feline research facility | EurekAlert! Science News
https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/uoic-isp082118.php

Hybrid model intermediate between a laboratory and field study: A humane paradigm shift in feline research - Amy Fischer, Valerie AW Benka, Joyce R Briggs, Joanne Maki, Kevin N Morris, Kayla A Myers, Linda Rhodes, George Robert Weedon, Julie K Levy , 2018
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098612X18791872

This is a "paradise of cats" made for scientific research. There are big trees growing in the room but there are 35 cats living in a room where several couches, sharpening shawls and numerous toys are scattered.

Researchers at the University of Illinois produced the paradise of cats. The purpose of the researchers was to develop contraceptives for cats. The method of infertility treatment to cats to reduce the number of wild cats is effective, but the problem is that surgery is invasive and expensive. Previous studies showed that an injection-type contraceptive vaccine called " GonaCon " is "effective for adjusting the number of mammals", but it is tested in the laboratory to see if it is effective in the wild environment It has been considered difficult.

To solve this problem, "a paradise of a cat" was made. This facility allows cats living in the wild to take actions that are wild and to live in a state closer to nature than existing research facilities.

Amy Fischer who researched, "Many facilities have tried to create a good research environment for animals, but many are still surrounded by small fences that are not related to richness." There are 35 cats living in Mr. Fischer's lab, of which 30 are female. All the cats were brought from the local animal shelter.

Cats to be studied are often raised in the laboratory, so the method of "taking over from animal shelter" is also irregular. This is also a decision for the goal of scientific research to understand correctly that "the vaccine works against the cat living in the wild environment."

Twenty female cats who received the vaccine in the lab lived with five male cats, and in the months a total of 12 were pregnant. A total of 14 cats became pregnant in one year after vaccination. When experimenting in the state close to the wild, it turned out that GonaCon, which was considered to be effective, turned out to be not very effective in controlling the number of cats.