Companion animal adoption and relinquishment during the COVID-19 pandemic: The experiences of animal rescue staff and volunteers.

There has been a paucity of research into the experiences of animal rescue staff and volunteers during COVID-19. The aim of this qualitative research was to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on companion animal rescue organisations and their staff and volunteers, and to develop a set of recommendations on how to reduce the risk to companion animal welfare during a crisis. Descriptive thematic analysis was used to explore the experiences of staff and volunteers from 28 animal rescue organisations, most of which were based in the UK. Other surveyed countries included Germany, the Republic of Ireland, France, Spain, the USA and Australia. We identify three key themes that reflect the challenges faced by pet rescue organisations during the pandemic: (1) impact on animals; (2) impact on identity; and (3) impact on organisational processes. Key recommendations include the promotion of co-operation and modifications within the sector, the need to understand, and change, detrimental pet-owner behaviours, and the need to clarify the identity of animal rescue organisations within the Government. Both positive and negative outcomes were experienced by animal rescue organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings should be considered for future crises and indeed the everyday operating procedures of companion animal rescue organisations.

The effect of repeated testing on judgement bias in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris).

Judgement bias paradigms are increasingly being used as a measure of affective state in dogs. Approach to an ambiguous stimulus is commonly used as a measure of affect, however, this may also be influenced by learning. This study directly measured the impact of learning on a commonly used judgement bias paradigm in the absence of an affective state manipulation. Dogs (N = 15) were tested on a judgement bias task across five sessions. The dogs' latency to approach a bowl placed in one of three ambiguous locations between non-baited (negative) and baited (positive) locations was measured. Results show that session number had a significant effect on the dogs' latencies to reach the ambiguous bowl locations, with post-hoc tests revealing that dogs were significantly slower to approach the locations as the number of sessions increased. Session number also had a significant effect on the number of times the dogs did not approach the bowl within 30 s of being released, with the number of no approaches generally increasing across sessions. When dog identity was included as a fixed effect, a significant effect on latency to approach was found, suggesting that some dogs were consistently faster than others across sessions. To assess whether the paradigm produced repeatable results, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients were used. A low degree of reliability was found between latencies to approach each bowl position across sessions. This study demonstrates that dogs learned that the ambiguous locations were not rewarded with repeated exposures, and that this impacted their responses. We conclude that this judgement bias paradigm may require further consideration if applied across multiple exposures and that repeated results should be interpreted with caution as they are likely impacted by learning.

Companion animal adoption and relinquishment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Households with children at greatest risk of relinquishing a cat or dog.

Understanding the factors associated with companion animal relinquishment is key in safeguarding animal welfare and human well-being. The aims of this study were to assess the effect of demographic variables on risk of relinquishment of cats and dogs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to report characteristics of those that relinquished a cat or dog, and the experience of said relinquishment process. A series of surveys were administered to pet owners (n = 3,945) across several countries including the UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain and France. In total, n = 1,324 reported having acquired their cat or dog via online means. There was no association between online source (search engines, breeder websites, rescue websites, online ad sites and social media) and relinquishment status (NCR1 [Never Considered Relinquishment] compared to CR_R [Considering Relinquishment or already Relinquished]. More participants from the USA considered or already had relinquished their cat or dog compared to the UK and Italy. Of those that have already given up their pet, 76.2% agreed that it was an emotionally difficult decision, while 100% agreed that it was, logically, the correct decision. Demographic characteristics in those that reported considering relinquishment or that had already relinquished (CR_R; n = 146) were compared to a comparison group that had never considered relinquishing their pet (NCR2; n = 193). Being a male-gendered pet-owner and a younger pet age increased the risk of relinquishment. Cats and dogs from households with children were 4.6 times more likely to consider or have already relinquished a cat or dog compared to those from households without children. Further research is needed to explore risk of relinquishment of cats and dogs when children are present in the home.

Companion animal adoption and relinquishment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Peri-pandemic pets at greatest risk of relinquishment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation globally where companion animals may be at increased risk of relinquishment and abandonment due to multiple interrelated factors. The aims of this study were to establish the prevalence of self-reported adoption and relinquishment of cats and dogs during the pandemic, and to identify characteristics associated with relinquishment. A survey was distributed to 4,000 participants across several countries including the UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain and France. N = 3,945 responses were available for analysis. Three groups of participants were identified; Those that never considered relinquishment (NCR), those that have considered relinquishment (CR) and those that have already relinquished a cat or dog (R). Two follow-up surveys were sent to CR and R participants. Considering data from the three surveys, 4.06% of participants considered giving up their pet, 0.74% relinquished their pet, and 0.2% considered and then later give up their pet. Compared to pets given as a gift, there was a 38.7% decreased likelihood of relinquishment in pets sourced from a shelter (P < 0.001), 31.2% decrease in those sourced from a breeder, and a 24.4% decrease in those acquired directly from someone that needed to find a new home for their cat or dog. Compared to owners who acquired their pet > 6 months before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, those acquired < 6 months before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic were three times more likely to be considered for, or be, given up (P < 0.001) and those acquired after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic were two times more likely to be considered for, or be, given up (P < 0.001). There was a trend for greater likelihood of CR or R of pets acquired online (P = 0.074). Of those that had already given up their pet, 14.3% relinquished to a shelter, 66.7% gave their pet to a new owner and 19% obtained temporary care from someone else. A total of 65.0% of CR participants were male, increasing to 72.2% of R participants. There was no effect of species (cat or dog) on risk of relinquishment. Financial constraints were the most mentioned reason for both giving up a pet and considering giving up a pet, followed by health concerns specific to COVID-19, and behavioral problems. The findings from this study should be used to inform interventions aimed at reducing companion animal relinquishment.

Dogs can discriminate between human baseline and psychological stress condition odours.

Previous research suggests that dogs can detect when humans are experiencing stress. This study tested whether baseline and stress odours were distinguishable to dogs, using a double-blind, two-phase, three-alternative forced-choice procedure. Combined breath and sweat samples were obtained from participants at baseline, and after a stress-inducing (mental arithmetic) task. Participants' stress was validated with self-report and physiological measures recorded via a Biopac MP150 system. Thirty-six participants' samples were presented to four dogs across 36 sessions (16, 11, 7 and 2 sessions, respectively). Each session consisted of 10 Phase One training trials and 20 Phase Two discrimination trials. In Phase One, the dog was presented with a participant's stress sample (taken immediately post-task) alongside two blanks (the sample materials without breath or sweat), and was required to identify the stress sample with an alert behaviour. In Phase Two, the dog was presented with the stress sample, the same participant's baseline sample (taken pre-task), and a blank. Which sample (blank, baseline, or stress) the dog performed their alert behaviour on was measured. If dogs can correctly alert on the stress sample in Phase Two (when the baseline sample was present), it suggests that baseline and stress odours are distinguishable. Performance ranged from 90.00% to 96.88% accuracy with a combined accuracy of 93.75% (N trials = 720). A binomial test (where probability of success on a single trial was 0.33, and alpha was 0.05) showed that the proportion of correct trials was greater than that expected by chance (p < 0.001). Results indicate that the physiological processes associated with an acute psychological stress response produce changes in the volatile organic compounds emanating from breath and/or sweat that are detectable to dogs. These results add to our understanding of human-dog relationships and could have applications to Emotional Support and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) service dogs.

The Perceived Impact of The First UK COVID-19 Lockdown on Companion Animal Welfare and Behaviour: A Mixed-Method Study of Associations with Owner Mental Health.

BACKGROUND: Companion animals may be a positive presence for their owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the welfare of a companion animal is strongly influenced by the behaviour of their owners, as well as their physical and social environment. We aimed to investigate the reported changes in companion animal welfare and behaviour and to examine the association between these changes and companion animal owners' mental health. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey of UK residents over 18 years of age was conducted between April and June 2020 (n = 5926). The questionnaire included validated, bespoke items measuring outcomes related to mental health, human-animal bonds and reported changes in animal welfare and behaviour. The final item of the survey invited open-ended free-text responses, allowing participants to describe experiences associated with human-animal relationships during the first UK lockdown phase. RESULTS: Animal owners made up 89.8% of the sample (n = 5323), of whom 67.3% reported changes in their animal's welfare and behaviour during the first lockdown phase (n = 3583). These reported changes were reduced to a positive (0-7) and negative (0-5) welfare scale, following principal component analysis (PCA) of 17 items. Participants reported more positive changes for cats, whereas more negative changes were reported for dogs. Thematic analysis identified three main themes relating to the positive and negative impact on companion animals of the COVID-19 pandemic. Generalised linear models indicated that companion animal owners with poorer mental health scores pre-lockdown reported fewer negative changes in animal welfare and behaviour. However, companion animal owners with poorer mental health scores since lockdown reported more changes, both positive and negative, in animal welfare and behaviour. CONCLUSION: Our findings extend previous insights into perceived welfare and behaviour changes on a very limited range of species to a wider range of companion animals. Owner mental health status has a clear, albeit small, effect on companion animal welfare and behaviour.

Dog Owners' Survey reveals Medical Alert Dogs can alert to multiple conditions and multiple people.

Medical Alert Dogs (MADs) are a promising support system for a variety of medical conditions. Emerging anecdotal reports suggest that dogs may alert to additional health conditions and different people other than those that they were trained for or initially began alerting. As the use of medical alert dogs increases, it is imperative that such claims are documented empirically. The overall aims of this study were to record the proportion of MAD owners who have a dog that alerts to multiple health conditions or to people other than the target person and to determine whether any sociodemographic variables were associated with dogs alerting to multiple conditions, multiple people, or both. MAD owners completed an online survey that contained a series of forced choice questions. Sixty-one participants reported a total of 33 different conditions to which dogs alerted. Eighty-four percent of participants reported that their dog alerted to multiple conditions and 54% reported that their dog alerted to multiple people. This is the first study to document that a large percentage of people report that their MAD alerts to multiple conditions and/or to multiple people. We present a discussion of how these alerting abilities could develop, but questions about the underlying mechanisms remain.

The Influence of Human-Animal Interactions on Mental and Physical Health during the First COVID-19 Lockdown Phase in the U.K.: A Qualitative Exploration.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents an opportunity to explore the role of animals as sources of emotional and physical support during a period when most of the population is experiencing social and environmental challenges. We investigated how companion animal owners perceived the influence of human-animal interaction on their physical and mental health during the first COVID-19 lockdown phase in the U.K., and what concerns they had regarding their animals at this time. We also explored the impact of participants' interaction with non-companion animals during this phase. A cross-sectional online survey of U.K. residents aged over 18 was conducted between April and June 2020. The final item of the survey invited open-ended free-text responses, allowing participants to describe any experiences and/or perceptions of their human-animal relationships during the COVID-19 lockdown phase. A qualitative thematic analysis of responses was undertaken. Four main themes related to the following aspects of human-animal interactions during the COVID-19 lockdown phase were identified: the positive impact of animal ownership during the COVID-19 lockdown (e.g., amelioration of wellbeing and mental health), concerns relating to animal ownership during the COVID-19 lockdown (e.g., concerns over animals carrying the COVID-19 virus), grief and loss of an animal during the COVID-19 lockdown and the impact of engaging with non-companion animals during the COVID-19 lockdown. The findings complement and extend previous insights into the impact of human-animal interaction with both companion and non-companion animals. They also highlight the challenges of caring for an animal during the lockdown phase and indicate the need to consider the development of further targeted support strategies, such as "day care" for the companion animals of key workers in this context.

Human-animal relationships and interactions during the Covid-19 lockdown phase in the UK: Investigating links with mental health and loneliness.

BACKGROUND: The Covid-19 pandemic raises questions about the role that relationships and interactions between humans and animals play in the context of widespread social distancing and isolation measures. We aimed to investigate links between mental health and loneliness, companion animal ownership, the human-animal bond, and human-animal interactions; and to explore animal owners' perceptions related to the role of their animals during lockdown. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey of UK residents over 18 years of age was conducted between April and June 2020. The questionnaire included validated and bespoke items measuring demographics; exposures and outcomes related to mental health, wellbeing and loneliness; the human-animal bond and human-animal interactions. RESULTS: Of 5,926 participants, 5,323 (89.8%) had at least one companion animal. Most perceived their animals to be a source of considerable support, but concerns were reported related to various practical aspects of providing care during lockdown. Strength of the human-animal bond did not differ significantly between species. Poorer mental health pre-lockdown was associated with a stronger reported human-animal bond (b = -.014, 95% CI [-.023 - -.005], p = .002). Animal ownership compared with non-ownership was associated with smaller decreases in mental health (b = .267, 95% CI [.079 - .455], p = .005) and smaller increases in loneliness (b = -.302, 95% CI [-.461 - -.144], p = .001) since lockdown. CONCLUSION: The human-animal bond is a construct that may be linked to mental health vulnerability in animal owners. Strength of the human-animal bond in terms of emotional closeness or intimacy dimensions appears to be independent of animal species. Animal ownership seemed to mitigate some of the detrimental psychological effects of Covid-19 lockdown. Further targeted investigation of the role of human-animal relationships and interactions for human health, including testing of the social buffering hypothesis and the development of instruments suited for use across animal species, is required.

An Idiographic Investigation of Diabetic Alert Dogs' Ability to Learn From a Small Sample of Breath Samples From People With Type 1 Diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: There is a growing market for diabetes-alert dogs but little has been published regarding their ability to reliably detect hypoglycemia. We aimed to determine whether 2 dogs could detect hypoglycemic breath samples from people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and then transfer detection to novel hypoglycemic breath samples. METHODS: Breath samples were collected from individuals with T1D during times of normo-, hypo- and hyperglycemia. Two dogs, previously trained (3 alternative forced choice) with breath samples from 3 different individuals with T1D, were presented with 3 breath samples from the same individual: 1 hypoglycemic, 1 normoglycemic and 1 hyperglycemic, and trained to identify the hypoglycemic sample using a "yes/no" procedure. The dogs' ability to transfer detection was then tested by presenting them with a novel sample set from the same individual. Then we tested whether 1 dog could transfer detection of the odour of hypoglycemia by presenting new samples from a different individual. RESULTS: One dog was able to transfer detection of the odour of hypoglycemia to samples from the same individual (specificity 89%, sensitivity 62%), but a second dog was not. Results were inconclusive regarding the ability of 1 dog to transfer detection of the odour of hypoglycemia across 2 individuals. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that some dogs can be trained to detect hypoglycemic breath of an individual with T1D, but detection may not transfer to novel samples from other individuals. Results should be interpreted with caution, as the dogs were trained with only a small number of breath samples before testing.

Assessing individual performance and maintaining breath sample integrity in biomedical detection dogs.

In empirical tests of biomedical detection dogs, exhaled breath samples are often used because breath contains volatile organic compounds that can signal metabolic states, infection, or disease. However, in studies that present dogs with breath samples, results show a notable degree of variability both between and within studies. Differing protocols for the collection and storage of exhaled breath samples may contribute to this observed variability. The goal of the current study was therefore to test whether there was a difference in the detectability of breath samples collected using silicone-coated versus uncoated cotton balls. This was tested in two experiments. In the first experiment, breath samples were prepared using both silicone-coated and uncoated cotton balls, which were then left exposed to the surrounding air. Four dogs' detection of the samples was tested using a cued, three alternative forced choice (3AFC) procedure at regular intervals up to two hours after the samples were prepared. The results of Experiment 1 showed that the dogs' performance was above chance and there was no significant difference in the dogs' detection of the breath samples across conditions. In the second experiment, a series of breath samples were prepared and stored for one, two, three, and four week periods. The same four dogs' ability to detect the breath samples was tested each week using the same cued 3AFC procedure. The results of Experiment 2 showed that when silicone-coated cotton balls were used, all four dogs could detect the breath samples at above chance levels after the samples were stored for three weeks, and two dogs could detect the samples that were stored for four weeks. When the dogs were tested on their ability to detect the breath samples prepared using uncoated cotton, two dogs' performance fell to below chance levels at one week of storage time, while the other two dogs could detect the breath samples at above chance levels after the samples were stored for four weeks. Taken together, the results of the two experiments illustrate that silicone-coated cotton balls do not improve detectability of breath samples within two hours, but can greatly improve the detectability of breath samples stored over longer periods of time. Since the use of silicone-coated cotton balls only improved the detectability of the breath samples for two of the four dogs, these results highlight the importance of examining individual differences in dogs' performance. Furthermore, we argue that, given the inherent differences in olfactory ability across dogs, widespread use of silicone-coated cotton balls for the collection of breath samples would increase the pool of testable dogs for biomedical detection studies and would decrease the degree of variability both within and between studies.

Predator exposure-induced immunosuppression: trade-off, immune redistribution or immune reconfiguration?

Although predator exposure increases the risk of wound infections, it typically induces immunosuppression. A number of non-mutually exclusive hypotheses have been put forward to explain this immunosuppression, including: trade-offs between the immune system and other systems required for anti-predator behaviour, redistribution of immune resources towards mechanisms needed to defend against wound infections, and reconfiguration of the immune system to optimize defence under the physiological state of fight-or-flight readiness. We tested the ability of each hypothesis to explain the effects of chronic predator stress on the immune system of the caterpillar Manduca sexta Predator exposure induced defensive behaviours, reduced mass gain, increased development time and increased the concentration of the stress neurohormone octopamine. It had no significant effect on haemocyte number, melanization rate, phenoloxidase activity, lysozyme-like activity or nodule production. Predator stress reduced haemolymph glutathione concentrations. It also increased constitutive expression of the antimicrobial peptide attacin-1 but reduced attacin-1 expression in response to an immune challenge. These results best fit the immune reconfiguration hypothesis, although the other hypotheses are also consistent with some results. Interpreting stress-related changes in immune function may require an examination at the level of the whole organism.

Revisiting the concept of behavior patterns in animal behavior with an example from food-caching sequences in wolves (Canis lupus), coyotes (Canis latrans), and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes).

We discuss the history, conceptualization, and relevance of behavior patterns in modern ethology by explaining the evolution of the concepts of fixed action patterns and modal action patterns. We present the movement toward a more flexible concept of natural action sequences with significant degrees of (production and expressive) freedom. An example is presented with the food caching behavior of three Canidae species: red fox (Vulpes vulpes), coyote (Canis latrans) and gray wolf (Canis lupus). Evolutionary, ecological, and neuroecological/neuroethological arguments are presented to explain the difference in levels of complexity and stereotypy between Canis and Vulpes. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Canine Behavior.