Introduction
Cats have a clear behavioural need to scratch their environment, both horizontally and vertically. They exhibit this behaviour for a number of purposes, such as maintaining their front claws, stretching, exercising or visual and chemical marking [Several strategies are used to reduce the frequency and mitigate the undesirable consequences of scratching, namely: providing suitable scratching devices, the use of semiochemicals to redirect the behaviour to an acceptable scratching device, regular trimming of the nails, applying plastic nail covers, chemical deterrents or fear inducing stimuli systems, keeping the cat strictly outdoors, and surgical declawing (onychectomy) [In the United States, the United Kingdom and others European countries, the number of cats kept as pets has been on the rise [Under stressful conditions, the frequency and severity of scratching behaviour in cats will increase since it functions as a marking response [The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the use of FELIWAY