Research overview: stress and housing of cats in animal shelters

Shelters are inherently stressful for cats, combining novelty, confinement, unfamiliar conspecifics, noise, unpredictable handling and loss of control. This overview surveys the science of shelter-cat stress: validated assessment tools such as the Cat-Stress-Score, the physiological and behavioural signs of feline stress, and how stress drives both poor welfare and increased disease, particularly upper respiratory infection. It examines housing factors that raise or lower stress, including cage size and design, single versus group housing, hiding provision, noise and the separation of resources, and the link between chronic stress and reduced adoptability. It also covers the trajectory of adaptation over the first days. The synthesis frames stress reduction as central to shelter cat welfare, health and rehoming outcomes.