Effects of Changing Veterinary Handling Techniques on Canine Behaviour and Physiology Part 1: Physiological Measurements.

Signs of distress in dogs are often normalized during routine veterinary care, creating an animal welfare concern. We sought to test whether targeted interventions during veterinary visits affect physiological indicators of stress in dogs. Some 28 dogs were examined within four visits across 8 weeks. All dogs received the same care during the first visit and were then randomized into control and intervention groups for visits 2-4. In the intervention group, 14 dogs underwent procedures designed to reduce stress and to enlist their collaboration during examination. The 14 dogs in the control group received routine care. At each visit, heart rate (HR), serum cortisol (CORT), neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and creatine kinase (CK) were measured. A composite stress index based on the summed standardized scores for these markers was constructed. No differences in HR, NLR, and CK parameters between groups were found, and both groups had a decrease in CORT by visit four. However, the intervention group showed a greater overall decrease in CORT between the first and fourth visit than the control group (p < 0.04). The composite stress index differed between the first and fourth visits for the intervention group, but not for the control group (Intervention p = 0.03; Control p= 0.288). There was a tendency for the composite stress index to worsen at visit four vs. visit one for the control group. The findings suggest that dogs that participated in adaptive, collaborative exams and procedures designed to minimize fear had a greater reduction in stress over time compared to those receiving standard care.

Pregabalin Alleviates Anxiety and Fear in Cats during Transportation and Veterinary Visits-A Clinical Field Study.

Cats frequently suffer from anxiety related to travel and veterinary visits. One sequela is avoidance of veterinary visits and lack of adequate veterinary care. The objective of this study was to test clinical efficacy and safety of a novel formulation of a pregabalin 50 mg/mL oral solution for alleviation of anxiety and fear in cats during transport and veterinary visits. A total of 209 client-owned cats were given either a flavored pregabalin oral solution at the dosage of 5 mg/kg (n = 108) or an identical placebo (n = 101) approximately 90 min before placing them into the carrier and transporting them in a car for at least 20 min to a veterinary clinic. The treatment effect using a 5-point numerical rating scale was evaluated during transportation by the owner and during clinical examination by the veterinarian, both blinded to the treatment. In addition, to verify the owner assessment, an external expert blinded to the treatment and owner assessment evaluated the transportation video recordings using the same rating scale as the owner. Pregabalin 5 mg/kg statistically significantly decreased both travel- (p < 0.01) and veterinary-visit- (p < 0.01) related anxiety compared to the placebo. The external expert's evaluation was in agreement with the owners' assessment confirming the treatment effect during transportation (p < 0.01). Treatment was well tolerated with only a few cats showing transient slight incoordination and tiredness. The flavored oral solution formulation with a small dosing volume of 0.1 mL/kg was found by the owners to be user-friendly and was well-accepted by the cats. This study demonstrated that a single oral dosage of the novel pregabalin oral solution alleviates anxiety and fear related to transportation and veterinary visits in cats, thus providing practical aid for both owners and veterinarians to enable cat-friendly handling and improving the welfare of cats in situations they often perceive as very stressful.

A review of pre-appointment medications to reduce fear and anxiety in dogs and cats at veterinary visits.

This review focuses on pre-appointment medications used to decrease fear and anxiety in dogs and cats related to veterinary visits. A review of the literature revealed data on 4 medications from 4 medication classes that have been used to ameliorate acute situational fear and anxiety in dogs and cats: gabapentin, trazodone, oral transmucosal dexmedetomidine, and alprazolam. The available information on use, mechanism of action, and pharmacokinetics is reviewed.

Examen des médicaments pré-rendez-vous pour réduire la peur et l'anxiété chez les chiens et les chats lors des visites vétérinaires. Cette revue se concentre sur les médicaments pré-rendez-vous utilisés pour diminuer la peur et l'anxiété chez les chiens et les chats liées aux visites vétérinaires. Une recension de la littérature a révélé des données sur quatre médicaments de quatre classes de médicaments qui ont été utilisés pour diminuer la peur et l'anxiété situationnelles aiguës chez les chiens et les chats : la gabapentine, la trazodone, la dexmédétomidine transmucosale orale et l'alprazolam. Les informations disponibles sur l'utilisation, le mécanisme d'action et la pharmacocinétique sont passées en revue.(Traduit par Dr Serge Messier).

Evidence-based paradigm shifts in veterinary behavioral medicine.

There is now a large body of research in veterinary behavioral medicine that is clinically relevant and could enrich patients' and practitioners' lives. Too often, however, this research is published in journals that may not be readily available to veterinarians in private practice. Four important topics in the area of veterinary behavioral medicine for which belief has not kept pace with the published data are the unmet need for behavioral medicine in veterinary practice, the veterinary experience as a contributor to fear and distress in dogs and cats, social signaling in dogs and the ongoing "dominance" debate, and punishment as an intervention to change behavior. The present article seeks to provide a critical overview of recent research that is shifting existing paradigms on these topics and should alter the way veterinarians observe and care for patients.

Genetics and behavior: a guide for practitioners.

Phenotyping behavior is difficult, partly because behavior is almost always influenced by environment. Using objective terms/criteria to evaluate behaviors is best; the more objective the assessment, the more likely underlying genetic patterns will be identified. Behavioral pathologies, and highly desirable behavioral characteristics/traits, are likely complex, meaning that multiple genes are probably involved, and therefore simple genetic tests are less possible. Breeds can be improved using traditional quantitative genetic methods; unfortunately, this also creates the possibility of inadvertently selecting for covarying undesirable behaviors. Patterns of behaviors within families and breed lines are still the best guidelines for genetic counseling in dogs.

That dog is smarter than you know: advances in understanding canine learning, memory, and cognition.

Tests of canine cognition are now receiving much deserved attention. Not only are dogs excellent models for human anxiety-related conditions and those involving brain aging, but how dogs learn and problem solve are interesting stand-alone topics. A number of factors can affect learning at the molecular level including stress or distress, factors that affect olfaction, effects of breed and nutritional factors including that may affect available brain energy. This review provides an overview of how these factors may affect baseline learning and brain aging.

Large-scale SNP genotyping with canine buccal swab DNA.

The dog is an attractive model for genetic studies of complex disease. With drafts of the canine genome complete, a large number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are potentially useful for gene-mapping studies and empirical estimations of canine diversity and linkage disequilibrium (LD) are now available. Unfortunately, most canine SNPs remain uncharacterized, and the amount and quality of DNA available from population-based samples are limited. We assessed how these real-world challenges influence automated SNP genotyping methods such as Illumina's GoldenGate assay. We examined 384 SNPs on canine chromosome 9 and successfully genotyped a minimum of 217 and a maximum of 275 SNPs using buccal swab samples for 181 dogs (86 beagles, 76 border collies, and 15 Australian shepherds). Call rates per SNP and sample averaged 97%, with reproducibility within and between analyses averaging 98%. The majority of these SNPs were polymorphic across all 3 breeds. We observed extensive LD, albeit less than reported for surveys using fewer dogs, consistent between breeds. Analyses of population substructure indicated that beagles are distinct from border collies and Australian shepherds. These results demonstrate the suitability of amplified canine buccal samples for high-throughput multiplex genotyping and confirm extensive LD in the dog.

Neurobehavioral functional deficits following closed head injury in the neonatal pig.

Neurobehavioral deficits in higher cortical systems have not been described previously in a large animal model of diffuse brain injury. Anesthetized 3-5 day old piglets were subjected to either mild (142 rad/s) or moderate (188 rad/s) rapid non-impact axial rotations of the head. Multiple domains of cortical function were evaluated 5 times during the 12 day post-injury period using tests of neurobehavioral function devised for piglets. There were no observed differences in neurobehavioral outcomes between mild injury pigs (N=8) and instrumented shams (N=4). Moderately injured piglets (N=7) had significantly lower interest in exploring their environment and had higher failure rates in visual-based problem solving compared to instrumented shams (N=5) on days 1 and 4 after injury. Neurobehavioral functional deficits correlated with neuropathologic damage in the neonatal pigs after inertial head injury. Injured axons detected by immunohistochemistry (beta-APP) were absent in mild injury and sham piglets, but were observed in moderately injured piglet brains. In summary, we have developed a quantitative battery of neurobehavioral functional assessments for large animals that correlate with neuropathologic axonal damage and may have wide applications in the fields of cardiac resuscitation, stroke, and hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.