Introduction

Animal ethology has been defined as scientific evaluation of animal behavior in their environment and all internal and external processes that help them to respond to the environment changes. Today, ethology has been developed rather than traditional form and has many disciplines such as behavior physiology, social biology, etc.

Methods

In this study, behavior changes of 225 dogs (135 females and 95 males) and 80 cats (29 females and 51 males) referred to Paytakht Hospital were evaluated during 2 months by using a pre-designed questionnaire. In this questionnaire, the general information of animals (breed, gender, age, weight, dietary habits, parturition and illness history, living place and presence of other pets at home) and the owner (name, address, contact number and the number of family members) were collected. Also, information about recent stress (such as moving, adding or losing a family member, displacement, change of owner, other pet adding, changing food and changing sleeping place) were collected. Four types of behavior change, including loss of appetite, aggression, fear and anxiety, and changes in the normal behavioral pattern were collected during the time in special forms due to symptoms, onset of illness and severe changes during disease separately.

Result/Conclusion

One hundred thirty-one dogs with at least one of the 4 items showed one change in their behavior that the highest frequency was related to fear and anxiety. Among the 131 dogs, 55 dogs were recently under stress. Sixty-eight cats had behavioral change. Among the 68 cats, 60 cats were recently under stress. This study shows role of environmental condition in behavior changes.