![]() ![]() Portrait of young woman holding cute siberian cat with green eyes. The virus makes its way to the muscle cells, which are extremely long-lived. ![]() Three cats were a control group, while six received injections of the gene of the hormone in question, hitched to a mild virus. We’re working with shelters and trying to figure out the best way to manage cats to get them to be less stressed and more healthy and more adoptable.”įor the contraception study, the scientists worked with nine female cats, which all had names inspired by former US first ladies: Michelle, Betty, Abigail, Nancy, Dolly, Barbara, Rosalyn, Jacque and Mary. “We also do a fair amount of research into cat welfare. “Most of them are animals that we’re using for either this study or related studies with the Michelson Found Animals Foundation,” Swanson said. The Cincinnati Zoo, Swanson says, is home to the widest array of wild cats in North America, including lions, tigers and tiny sand cats. Behind the scenes, more familiar felines call the zoo home: a research colony of around 45 domestic cats. “That’s what led us to start collaborating with Bill (Swanson).” So it was just a matter of applying this to a new species,” Pépin said. “We had a tool that we knew worked in rodents, and potentially could work in these species. Pépin and his colleagues learned about the the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Michelson Found Animals Foundation, which supports the development of nonsurgical contraceptives for cats and dogs. “We thought, well, this is a very interesting tool, but what can we use it for?” “Much to our surprise, it essentially shut down most ovarian activity in rodents and made them completely infertile,” said Pépin, who was also a co-senior and corresponding author on the new study. To learn more about the hormone’s function, the research team injected female mice with the gene that produces it, essentially giving the mice an extra dose of the naturally occurring hormone. He and his colleagues were studying a hormone present in ovarian follicles, the layer of cells around a mammalian egg cell that nurtures its growth. David Pépin, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and a molecular biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The journey to the potential new feline contraceptive method began with a discovery in the laboratory of Dr. “The best way to avoid euthanasia is not to have all these animals that don’t have homes.” Bill Swanson, director of animal research at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and a co-senior and corresponding author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. The impetus for the proof-of-concept study “was really to address the cat and dog overpopulation issue and the euthanasia of a lot of these animals in shelters,” said Dr. These tips can help you minimize their carbon pawprints Our pets are part of the climate problem.
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