Effect of dog-owner interaction on post-operative pain perception and stress of dogs and variability in their behavioural patterns.

Pain, a multifaceted condition associated with actual or potential tissue damage, transcends nociception and is characterised as a subjective, sensory, and emotional experience. Extensive literature describing the adverse effects of untreated post-surgical pain emphasises the necessity of a comprehensive pain management protocol, incorporating both pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies to ensure successful patient outcomes. The present study aimed to determine whether a positive dog-owner interaction influences post-operative pain perception and stress (POPPS), as well as behavioural inactive rate variability in bitches that underwent elective surgery.

The Relationship Between Aggression and Physical Disease in Dogs.

Aggression is a very common behavioral problem in dogs. Although aggression can be part of the normal behavior of dogs, medical conditions can either trigger aggression as in the case of intracranial tumors or aggravate an existing aggression problem as it happens with painful conditions. Therefore, it is essential to include an assessment of physical health in the diagnostic protocol of canine aggression.

Evaluation of Two Practical Tools to Assess Cognitive Impairment in Aged Dogs.

Cognitive dysfunction syndrome is the most common cause of cognitive decline in aged dogs. Early diagnosis is crucial because the sooner treatment is implemented, the greater the chance of slowing the progression of the disease. Assessment tools to assess cognitive decline may differ depending on the environment in which the dogs live.

A Review of Medical Conditions and Behavioral Problems in Dogs and Cats.

Not all animals behave identically when faced with the same situation. These individual differences in the expression of their behavior could be due to many factors, including medical conditions. These medical problems can change behavior directly or indirectly.

Common feline problem behaviours: Owner-directed aggression.

Practical Relevance: Aggression towards owners is a common behavioural problem in cats, particularly in cats that have been obtained from pet shops or other sources where there has been inadequate socialisation with people, and in those kept only indoors. Very often aggression is associated with a stress response and it may potentially lead to relinquishment and euthanasia of the cat. Therefore, preventing and treating owner-directed aggression has significant benefits for the welfare of the cat and the quality of the cat-owner bond.

Preliminary findings on the effect of the pig appeasing pheromone in a slow releasing block on the welfare of pigs at weaning.

The pig appeasing pheromone (PAP) applied in spray has shown to be effective in reducing the frequency of aggression and the stress response of young and adult pigs under experimental conditions. This preliminary experiment investigates the effect of the PAP in a slow releasing block on the behaviour and skin lesions of weaners after mixing on a commercial farm. Two identical rooms containing six replicates per treatment of a commercial weaner building were used.

Aggressive behavior and hair cortisol levels in captive Dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas) as animal-based welfare indicators.

Ensuring welfare in captive wild animal populations is important not only for ethical and legal reasons, but also to maintain healthy individuals and populations. An increased level of social behaviors such as aggression can reduce welfare by causing physical damage and chronic stress to animals. Recently, cortisol in hair has been advanced as a non-invasive indicator to quantify long-lasting stress in many species.

A case of spongiform polioencephalomyelopathy in a cat with a history of behavioural problems.

A 7-month-old, entire female, domestic shorthair cat was referred to our behavioural service owing to soiling in the house and a play-related problem. The owners' complaints were that the cat had never used the litter tray, and it did not know how to play. After reviewing the behavioural history, a problem of substrate preferences acquisition was suspected with regard to the elimination problem.

Stress in owned cats: behavioural changes and welfare implications.

Domestic cats are exposed to a variety of stressful stimuli, which may have a negative effect on the cats' welfare and trigger a number of behavioural changes. Some of the stressors most commonly encountered by cats include changes in environment, inter-cat conflict, a poor human-cat relationship and the cat's inability to perform highly motivated behaviour patterns. Stress is very likely to reduce feed intake, and stress-related anorexia may contribute to the development of potentially serious medical conditions.

Evaluation of inciting causes, alternative targets, and risk factors associated with redirected aggression in cats.

Objective: To identify inciting causes, alternative targets, and risk factors associated with redirected aggression in cats.

Design: Case-control study.

Animals: 19 cats with a history of redirected aggression and 64 cats with no such history.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, and double strand break genes as markers for response to radiotherapy in patients with Stage I to II head-and-neck cancer.

Purpose: Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes can influence response to radiotherapy. We analyzed single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in nine DNA repair genes in 108 patients with head-and-neck cancer (HNSCC) who had received radiotherapy only.

Methods And Materials: From May 1993 to December 2004, patients with Stage I and II histopathologically confirmed HNSCC underwent radiotherapy.