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MI-CAT-C

Montreal Instrument for Cat Arthritis Testing, Caretaker version (MI-CAT(C))

Owner-completed 38-item caretaker instrument for feline osteoarthritis, structured around posture, mobility, activity & mood, owner interaction, and self-care.

Overview

Developer
Klinck, Gruen, del Castillo, Guillot, Thomson, Heit, Lascelles, Troncy — Université de Montréal
Year published
2018
Species
Feline
Domain
Chronic pain (osteoarthritis)

Structure and administration

38 items in five subscales (posture, mobility, activity & mood, owner interaction, self-care). 5-point Likert (0-4), total range 0-152.

Owner-completed, 12-15 minutes — typically split across two sittings.

Psychometric properties

Test-retest ICC
0.81

Cut-off and interpretation

Cut-off threshold
38

Source: Klinck et al. 2018 emphasises subscale change tracking over a single categorical cut-off. Sightline applies a four-band severity classification keyed off the total range: minimal 0-37, mild 38-75, moderate 76-113, severe 114-152, alongside the per-subscale breakdown.

Citation and validation

Klinck MP, Gruen ME, del Castillo JRE, Guillot M, Thomson AE, Heit M, Lascelles BDX, Troncy E. Development and preliminary validity and reliability of the Montreal Instrument for Cat Arthritis Testing, for use by Caretakers (MI-CAT(C)). Appl Anim Behav Sci 2018;200:96-105.

DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.11.013

Revisions

  • v1.0 (Klinck et al. 2018) — Delphi-derived 38-item structure across five domains. Intra-rater ICC 0.81, inter-rater ICC 0.64 in the original validation.

Target population

Adult cats with diagnosed or suspected osteoarthritis. The published instrument was validated specifically in caretakers (owners) of cats over 6 years of age; not validated for acute pain, kittens, or non-musculoskeletal chronic pain.

Available languages

English (UK)

Licence

Distributed by Université de Montréal under the Klinck research-group terms. Free for research and clinical use with citation; final wording is fixed against the canonical instrument before public launch.

Scoring algorithm version

sightline-mi-cat-c-v1.0.0

Strengths

  • Caretaker-administered, so it captures behaviours owners see daily that are invisible in a 15-minute consult.
  • Five published subscales let clinicians track which behavioural domain is most affected, not just whether the cat is in pain.
  • Strong intra-rater reliability (ICC 0.81) makes longitudinal tracking by the same caretaker robust.
  • Free for research and clinical use with citation, no per-deployment licence fee.

Limitations

  • Longest instrument in Phase 1 (38 items, 12-15 minutes typical). Sightline supports multi-session completion: progress auto-saves and a draft persists for 7 days.
  • Inter-rater ICC is 0.64, lower than intra-rater; the same caretaker should complete check-ins where possible to keep trajectory comparisons valid.
  • Validated in cats over 6 years; sensitivity in younger cats is not established.
  • Phase 1 ships English (UK) wording aligned to the published item structure; founder review is on file before public launch.

Why Sightline uses it

MI-CAT(C) is the most comprehensive owner-completed feline osteoarthritis instrument with a published subscale structure. The 38-item depth is too long for fortnightly tracking, so Sightline pairs it with the shorter FMPI-SF for routine check-ins and uses MI-CAT(C) less often (every 4 weeks by default) to surface behavioural-domain drift that the shorter instrument cannot see. The five subscales also map naturally onto the kind of conversations vets have with owners about quality of life: not 'is the cat in pain?' but 'how is pain showing up across posture, mobility, mood, and interaction?'