Fly-catching syndrome responsive to a gluten-free diet in a French Bulldog.

OBJECTIVE: Fly-catching syndrome (FCS) is a rare condition typically characterized by episodes during which affected dogs bite or lick the air and jump for no apparent reason. Among veterinary literature, obsessive-compulsive disorders, focal epileptic seizures, and underlying gastrointestinal diseases were considered the most likely triggering causes. Recently, gluten-sensitive dyskinesia has been described in dogs, but it has never been reported to be associated to FCS. ANIMAL: A 6-year-old male French Bulldog. CLINICAL PRESENTATION, PROGRESSION, AND PROCEDURES: The dog was presented for a 2-month history of episodes characterized by sudden onset of jumping while trying to catch something in the air without impaired consciousness or autonomic signs. The episodes could be interrupted by the owner and lasted several minutes. The dog suffered from chronic gastrointestinal signs. The neurological examination was within normal limits except for the episodes suggestive of FCS during the consultation. The serological test for anti-gliadin immunoglobulin G (AG IgG) and anti-transglutaminase-2 immunoglobulin A (ATG-2 IgA) antibodies resulted above the reference range (3.092 and 0.929, respectively; normal range < 0.6). TREATMENT AND OUTCOME: An exclusively gluten-free diet was started. Complete resolution of the episodes was reported during a 3-month follow-up. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of FCS associated to positive AG IgG and ATG-2 IgA antibodies responsive to a gluten-free diet. The typical manifestation of the episodes and response to diet support the hypothesis that FCS may be associated to gastrointestinal disorders. However, more studies are needed in order to confirm this hypothesis.

Dogs outperform cats both in their testability and relying on human pointing gestures: a comparative study.

The dog is a so far unique species to study interspecific communication and a promising evolutionary model for preverbal human communication. Recently cats were reported to show some similar skills to dogs. Here we directly compared both the testability and the success of companion dogs and cats in relying on human distal pointing gestures. Due to differences in their domestication, social and ecological background, and developmental processes, we expected better performance from dogs compared to cats. Using an object-choice task, cats made considerably fewer choices than dogs in the laboratory environment, and their tendency to make a choice declined during trials. They were slightly more testable at home, where their willingness to choose did not decrease over time. Dogs made more successful choices than cats, both at the group and individual level, irrespective of the type of the pointing gesture. Older cats were more successful. Despite the two species' rather similar role nowadays as human companions, our results support previous findings suggesting that, compared to the dog, the cat is a less ideal model to study some human communicative abilities in a laboratory environment.

Validation of the HHHHHMM Scale in the Italian Context: Assessing Pets' Quality of Life and Qualitatively Exploring Owners' Grief.

Witnessing a companion animal's death can be a stressful psychological experience for human guardians, affecting their ability to grieve. The veterinary and psychological sciences offer useful tools for supporting human guardians during their companion animal's terminal illness. Accordingly, the present study aimed to validate the HHHHMM Quality of Life Scale in the Italian context. The study followed a mixed-methods design and involved 314 participants. The Mourning Dog Questionnaire (MDQ), Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ), and open-ended questions were adopted to test the research hypotheses and qualitatively explore the grieving experience. The results showed that the model's fit was partially adequate, with all parameters being significant and over 0.40. Moreover, human guardians' anger levels were high when their companion animal's quality of life was poor, and greater levels of grief were associated with higher levels of attachment. Gender differences were observed only with the LAPS, and a negative correlation with age was found with the LAPS and PBQ. A thematic qualitative analysis revealed four themes: continuing bonds, coping strategies, shared moral values, and perceived support. Thus, the research reaffirmed the importance of adequate veterinary and psychological support for human guardians experiencing the loss of companion animals.

Spontaneous action matching in dog puppies, kittens and wolf pups.

We investigated the spontaneous tendency of dog puppies, kittens and wolf pups to match their behaviour to actions demonstrated by a human, in the absence of food reward. Based on dogs' inherent sociality and domestication history, we predicted that the tendency to match human actions is more pronounced in this species than in the other two. To test this, we exposed N = 42 dog puppies, N = 39 kittens and N = 8 wolf pups to ostensive human demonstrations of an object-related action. We found that dog puppies paid more attention to the demonstration than kittens and wolf pups. Dog puppies and wolf pups matched the demonstrated actions in more trials than kittens. Dog puppies also tended to reproduce the human demonstration that differed from the action they typically preformed in the absence of demonstration. These results support that dog puppies show a tendency to attend to humans and conform their behaviour to human demonstrations in the absence of extrinsic food rewards. This spontaneous tendency is also relevant for practical applications, by providing the basis to devise puppy-training methods that rely less on food rewards, and instead exploit puppies' natural predisposition for social learning.

The Emotional Impact of Patient Loss on Brazilian Veterinarians.

Veterinarians, unlike human physicians, could potentially care for the patient for several years, from conception to end-of-life care. Because of their close relationship with the animal, healthcare providers (for example, veterinarians and staff) are more likely to be affected by bad events and end-of-life care. The purpose of this study was to assess the emotional impact of patients' deaths on Brazilian veterinarians; 549 Brazilian veterinarians (78.3% females) completed a 20-item online questionnaire. Females were more emotionally affected than males by having to talk to the owner about their animal's death and more emotionally affected by the animal's death itself. Furthermore, the emotional impact of an animal's death was heavily influenced by the number of animals euthanized and varied greatly across veterinarians based on their age, with vets over 50 years old being less affected than vets between the ages of 31 and 40. The majority of responders (91.0%) were not trained to deal with grief during their degree. Those who had some training reported being less affected by bereavement. These findings indicate that patient death is a significant emotional concern for veterinarians. Specific education during the degree course, aimed at preparing future veterinarians to deal with death and death communication, is lacking but necessary.

Comparing Pears to Apples: Unlike Dogs, Cats Need Habituation before Lab Tests.

Research on the socio-cognitive skills of different species often benefit from comparative experiments, however, the ecology of the species and development of the individuals may differently determine how they react to the same test situation. In this study, our aims were twofold: to observe and compare the spontaneous behaviour of companion cats and dogs in the same novel environment, and to habituate them (if needed) to the novel environment in the presence of their owners and an unfamiliar experimenter. The behaviour of 62 family cats, 31 experienced (which had the opportunity to meet strangers and explore unfamiliar places) and 31 inexperienced cats, and 27 family dogs was compared in an unfamiliar room. The subjects' behaviour was coded during the first five minutes in the presence of two passive persons, their owners, and an unfamiliar experimenter. Then, based on a set of rules, first the owner, and then the experimenter tried to initiate interactions with the subjects and the subjects' willingness to interact was evaluated. To pass the habituation test, subjects were expected to play with the experimenter or accept food from them. All dogs passed the test on the first occasion, while almost 60% of the cats failed. The cats' experience did not play a significant role, in fact, younger cats passed more easily. We found marked differences between dogs and cats in all behavioural variables; compared to dogs, cats spent more time crouching and close to their box, while less time exploring or close to the owner. We did not find a difference in the cats' behaviour based on their experience. Our results support the hypothesis that unlike dogs, cats need extensive habituation in a novel environment. This could partially be explained by the difference in the ecology and/or domestication process of the species, although developmental effects cannot be excluded. Our findings have fundamental consequences not only for the considerations of the testability of cats and on the interpretation of their data collected in the laboratory, but in a more general sense on developing comparative experiments.

Exploring the advantages of using artificial agents to investigate animacy perception in cats and dogs.

Self-propelled motion cues elicit the perception of inanimate objects as animate. Studies usually rely on the looking behaviour of subjects towards stimuli displayed on a screen, but utilizing artificial unidentified moving objects (UMOs) provides a more natural, interactive context. Here, we investigated whether cats and dogs discriminate between UMOs showing animate vs inanimate motion, and how they react to the UMOs' interactive behaviour. Subjects first observed, in turn, the motion of an animate and an inanimate UMO, and then they could move freely for 2 min while both UMOs were present (two-way choice phase). In the following specific motion phase, the animate UMO showed one of three interactive behaviours: pushing a ball, a luring motion, or moving towards the subject (between-subject design). Then, subjects could move freely for 2 min again while the UMO was motionless. At the end, subjects were free to move in the room while the UMO was moving semi-randomly in the room. We found that dogs approached and touched the UMO(s) sooner and more frequently than cats, regardless of the context. In the two-way choice phase, dogs looked at the animate UMO more often, and both species touched the animate UMO more frequently. However, whether the UMO showed playing, luring or assertive behaviour did not influence subjects' behaviour. In summary, both species displayed distinctive behaviour towards the animate UMO, but in dogs, in addition to the physical contact this was also reflected by the looking behaviour. Overall, dogs were more keen to explore and interact with the UMO than cats, which might be due to the general increased stress of cats in novel environments. The findings indicate the importance of measuring multiple behaviours when assessing responses to animacy. The live demonstration using artificial agents provides a unique opportunity to study social perception in nonhuman species.

Pet owners' feedback on psychological support service in an Italian veterinary hospital.

The emotional stress experienced by pet caregivers, induced by negative diagnoses, clinical problems, and/or long-term therapies should be taken into serious consideration by the veterinarians to prevent these individuals from the risk of experiencing incapability of dealing with the great burden and the eventual reduction of compliance. Understanding the client's affective state may enhance the veterinarian's empathic response and effective communication. To understand better the unmet needs of clients, we collected data on service requests at the clinic and emotions that caregivers felt in the veterinarian setting. Understanding these difficulties may represent a first step to initiate the development of a psychological intervention targeting problems experienced by the caregivers. Assuming these difficulties according to the service requested for the pet, the owners might be interested in psychological support provided directly by the veterinary hospital. Our survey showed that a large percentage of owners expressed feelings related to caregiving in the veterinary setting, irrespective of the type of assistance needed, including apparently easy procedures. At the same time, they expressed a strong intention to receive a professional support. However, the crucial role of the psychological support is still difficult to accept even when it can be perceived as a right choice.

Chasing perception in domestic cats and dogs.

Chasing motion is often used to study the perception of inanimate objects as animate. When chasing interaction and independent motions between two agents are displayed simultaneously on a screen, we expect observers to quickly perceive and recognise the chasing pattern (because of its familiarity) and turn their attention to the independent motion (novelty effect). In case of isosceles triangles as moving figures, dogs and humans both display this behaviour, but dogs initially preferred to look at the chasing pattern whereas humans started to increase their gaze towards the independent motion earlier. Here, we compared whether family cats perceive moving inanimate objects as animate and whether their looking behaviour is similar to that of small family dogs. We displayed a chasing and independent motion side by side on a screen in two consecutive trials and assessed subjects' looking behaviour towards the motions. Similarly to previous studies, we found that dogs eventually looked longer at the independent motion, but cats preferred to look at the independent motion at the beginning of the video display and only later shifted their attention to the chasing motion. No difference was found in the frequency of gaze alternation of the two species. Thus, although cats discriminate between the chasing and independent motions, it is not clear whether this discrimination is controlled by animate motion cues. The difference may originate from their ecological situation and/or may be explained by specific perceptual mechanisms.

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) grieve over the loss of a conspecific.

Behavioural reactions towards a dead conspecific have been observed rarely in wild canids and there is no documented scientific evidence of grief in pet dogs. A quantitative analysis of grief-related responses in both dogs and owners was conducted, using the validated online Mourning Dog Questionnaire. The survey was completed by 426 Italian adults who had owned at least two dogs, one of whom died while the other was still alive. This research aims to explore whether, how and what a dog may experience over the loss of a companion dog. Multiple logistic regression indicates that both a friendly or parental relationship between two dogs but also the fact that dogs used to share food and the owner's grief and anger are principal predictors of negative behavioural changes. According to dog owners' answers, the surviving dog after the death of the companion dog changed both in terms of activities ("playing", "sleeping", and "eating") and emotions (fearfulness), which occurred as a function of the quality of the relationship between the two animals. By contrast, the time the two dogs had spent together had no effect on the behaviours of surviving dog. Owner perceptions about their dog's reactions and emotions were not related to the memory or suffering of the event that tended to diminish over time. These findings indicate that a dog may show grief-related behavioural and emotional patterns when a close conspecific dies, with aspects of the latter possibly related to the owner's emotional status.

Companion Cats Show No Effect of Trial-and-Error Learning Compared to Dogs in a Transparent-Obstacle Detour Task.

We tested companion cats and dogs in similar indoor conditions using identical procedures in the classic detour task around a V-shaped transparent wire-mesh fence. Besides the control group, we used two types of laser light-pointing demonstration (moving around the fence, or pointing straight at the reward). We found that dogs reached the food reward faster than cats; across consecutive trials, only the dogs showed improvement in their speed and dogs continued to use the same side for detouring after a preceding successful attempt, while cats chose the side for detouring irrespective of their previous successful trials. In addition, 'demonstrating' a detour with the laser did not influence the speed or direction of the detour of the subjects; and dogs looked back to their owner more frequently than the cats did. We discuss the possibility that for dogs, detouring along a transparent obstacle represents a more problematic task than for cats; therefore, dogs strongly rely on their previous experiences. This is the first time that cats were successfully tested in this detour paradigm in direct comparison with dogs. The results are relevant from the aspect of testing cognitive performance in companion cats, which are known to be notoriously reluctant to engage with novel experimental situations.

Post-mortem recovery, in vitro maturation and fertilization of fallow deer (Dama dama, Linnaeus 1758) oocytes collected during reproductive and no reproductive season.

Habitat degradation leads to small and fragmented populations, lower genetic variability and fertility overtime. Assisted reproductive techniques represent important tools to cope with the dramatic loss of biodiversity. Fallow deer (Dama dama), beyond its high commercial value and wide distribution, may represent the most suitable model to study endangered cervids. In this study, oocytes were recovered post-mortem from fallow deer during the breeding and no breeding seasons and were in vitro matured (IVM). The ability of cryopreserved thawed sperm samples recovered by electroejaculation from four adult males was tested by in vitro fertilization of IVM oocytes. The number of oocytes collected per ovary did significantly vary across seasons from 6.2 ± 0.92 during breeding season to 10.4 ± 1.26 during no breeding season (p = .006). Oocytes collected during the breeding season showed higher in vitro fertilization rate compared to the no breeding season (p = .045). However, no embryos reached the blastocyst stage. Semen samples obtained by electroejaculation were successfully cryopreserved, although the cryopreservation process negatively affected most kinetic parameters, mainly at 2 hr post-thawing. Moreover, the percentage of rapid spermatozoa significantly decreased between fresh samples and at 2 hr post-thawing, whereas the percentage of slow spermatozoa increased across the same period (p < .05). Our study provides the logistic steps for the application of assisted reproductive techniques in fallow deer and might be of great interest for genetic resource bank planning.

Pet Humanisation and Related Grief: Development and Validation of a Structured Questionnaire Instrument to Evaluate Grief in People Who Have Lost a Companion Dog.

People often develop strong emotional connections with their dogs and consider them to be members of the family. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel validated tool, the Mourning Dog Questionnaire, to recognise and evaluate the mourning process in people who have lost a dog. The research model was based on a grid of five different questionnaires: the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire, the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale, the Animal-Human Continuity Scale, the Positivity Scale, and the Testoni Death Representation Scale. The Italian version of the survey was posted on social networks. A sample of 369 Italian dog owners filled in the questionnaire (mean age ± SD 42.00 ± 10.70 years). Reliability indices were good for all instruments. The total scores of the five questionnaires correlated with each other. The results from the Mourning Dog Questionnaire support the negative view of life after the death of a pet and people's tendency to humanise their pet, since dog owners perceived animals no differently from humans in terms of emotions, needs and legal rights. Findings arising from the use of the Mourning Dog Questionnaire will help the implementation of rationality-based strategies to improve the wellbeing, resilience and quality of life of people in the world experiencing the loss of a pet.

Salivary Vasopressin as A Potential Non-Invasive Biomarker of Anxiety in Dogs Diagnosed with Separation-Related Problems.

Physiological biomarkers of canine anxiety have not been extensively investigated to date. To identify new biomarkers in dogs, we compared behaviorally normal dogs (Control group, N = 13) to dogs diagnosed with separation problems (Case group, N = 13) as they were introduced into a novel environment in the presence of two strangers and subjected to a short episode of separation and reunion with the owner. During the separation phase, dogs in the Case group explored significantly less than controls and were significantly more persistent in expressing passive stress-coping strategies aimed at seeking proximity to their owners. When the owners returned, dogs with separation distress spent significantly more time jumping up on the strangers than control dogs did. Salivary oxytocin and vasopressin concentrations did not differ between samples taken before and after the separation. However, vasopressin concentrations immediately after separation were significantly higher in the Case than in the Control group and remained higher, although not significantly so, 10 minutes later. These results indicated that dogs with separation distress became more anxious than typical dogs when separated from their owner in an unfamiliar environment and provided preliminary support for the use of salivary vasopressin as a possible biomarker for anxiety-related responses in dogs.

The Impacts of a Reading-to-Dog Programme on Attending and Reading of Nine Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Poor knowledge is available on the effectiveness of reading to dogs in educational settings, particularly in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In this study, we test the hypothesis that reading to a dog improves propensity towards books and motivation to read after the end of the programme, as well as reading and cognitive skills in children with ASD. The study is a prospective, randomized controlled trial, consisting of testing and re-testing after a 10 sessions reading programme with and without the presence of a dog. Nine Children with ASD (6-11 years old) were randomly assigned to a control (CG, reading without a dog, n. 4) or experimental group (EG, reading to a dog, n. 5). Children's attendance at reading sessions was recorded at each session. Parents' perceptions were evaluated at the end of the programme to detect changes in children's attitudes and motivation toward reading. Psychologist-administered validated reading (Cornoldi's MT2 reading test; test of reading comprehension, TORC; metaphonological competence test, MCF) and cognitive tests (Wechsler intelligence scale for children Wisc IV, Vineland) to all children, at baseline and at the end of the reading programme. Compared with CG children, children in the EG group participated more frequently in the reading sessions, and they were reported to be more motivated readers at home after the programme. However, there were no differences on reading and cognitive tests' scores either within each group of children or between groups. Further studies are warranted in order to understand whether and how incorporating dogs into a reading programme is beneficial to Children with ASD at the socio-emotional and cognitive level.

Foraging competition in larger groups overrides harassment avoidance benefits in female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).

Male harassment toward females during the breeding season may have a negative effect on their reproductive success by disturbing their foraging activity, thereby inducing somatic costs. Accordingly, it is predicted that females will choose mates based on their ability to provide protection or will aggregate into large groups to dilute per capita harassment level. Conversely, increasing group size may also lead to a decrease in foraging activity by increasing foraging competition, but this effect has rarely been considered in mating tactic studies. This study examined the importance of two non-exclusive hypotheses in explaining the variations of the female activity budget during the breeding season: the male harassment hypothesis, and the female foraging competition hypothesis. We used focal observations of female activity from known mating groups collected during the breeding season from a long-term (15 years) study on reindeer Rangifer tarandus. We found that females were more disturbed (i.e., spent less time feeding) in the presence of young dominant males, and marginally disturbed in the presence of satellite males, which supports the male harassment hypothesis. We also found that female disturbance level increased with group size, being independent of the adult sex ratio. Consequently, these results rejected the dilution effect, but strongly supported the foraging competition hypothesis. This study therefore highlights a potential conflict in female behaviour. Indeed, any gains from harassment protection were negated by an increase of 6-7 females, since adult males lead larger groups than young males.

High hydrostatic pressure treatment improves the quality of in vitro-produced ovine blastocysts.

Exposure to sub-lethal hydrostatic pressure (HP) treatment is emerging as an approach to improve the general resistance of gametes and embryos to in vitro conditions. The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of HP treatment on in vitro-produced ovine blastocysts. Experiment 1 was aimed to define optimal treatment parameters: two different HP treatments were applied to blastocysts and embryo survival was evaluated. In Experiment 2, HP parameters (40 MPa, 70 min, 38 °C) selected in Experiment 1 were used to treat blastocysts. Embryo quality was assessed and compared with untreated controls by counting total cell number, the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) cells and by evaluating nuclear picnosis. HP-treated blastocysts were processed for gene expression analysis (AQP3, ATP1A1, BAX, CDH1, HSP90ß, NANOG, OCT4 and TP53) 1, 5h after the end of HP exposure. Results showed that the hatching rate of embryos treated at 40 MPa was significantly higher than that of the 60 MPa-treated group (P<0.01) and similar to untreated embryos. Blastocysts exposed at 40 MPa showed higher ICM (P<0.05) and TE (P<0.01) cell number and a lower percentage of picnotic nuclei (P<0.05) compared with the control group. Significantly lower abundance for BAX (P<0.01) and OCT4 (P<0.05) transcripts were observed in HP embryos than in the control group. In conclusion, treatment with HP improved the quality of in vitro-produced ovine blastocysts by increasing their cell number and reducing the proportion of nuclear picnosis.