The response to stress is of great importance to evaluate the well-being and health of animals, with chronic stress being the one that has the greatest impact and negative repercussions. The measurement of cortisol in hair is one of the most used indicators of chronic stress in various species, highlighting that it is a non-invasive and easy-to-perform technique. Despite its advantages, to date the basic aspects of cortisol in cat hair linked to aspects such as coat colour, season of the year and individual characteristics such as personality and behaviour have not been studied.

The present work aims to determine if the levels of cortisol in the hair of this species vary with demographic, behavioural and psychosocial characteristics. For this, 40 crossbred cats was used, 20 black cats and 20 white cats in groups of equal numbers of neutered and unneutered cats, and whether or not they lived with other cats. Hair samples were collected in each annual season and the tests Feline Behavioural Assessment & Research Questionnaire (Fe-BARQ) (Behaviour and temperament), Felineality (Personality, but in cats) Assessment, Attachment style (Cat-guardian attachment), Lexington test (Guardian-cat attachment) and the Sociability Test (Sociability) carried out.

By generating a behavioural, demographic and psychosocial profile of the cat, we will seek to compare the results of these with the levels of cortisol found in the hair samples to learn more about the stress response in this species and how to work on tools that Promote your well-being based on this.