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Using the incidence and impact of health conditions in guide dogs to investigate healthy ageing in working dogs
| Contributor(s):: Caron-Lormier, G., England, G. C. W., Green, M. J., Asher, L.
This study aimed to use retirement data from working guide dogs to investigate healthy ageing in dogs and the demographic factors that influence ageing. Using a dataset of 7686 dogs spanning 20 years, dogs withdrawn for health reasons before they reached retirement were identified. Cases of...
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A new metric for quantifying the relative impact of risk factors on loss of working life illustrated in a population of working dogs
| Contributor(s):: Caron-Lormier, G., Harvey, N. D., England, G. C. W., Asher, L.
In a resource-limited world, organisations attempting to reduce the impact of health or behaviour issues need to choose carefully how to allocate resources for the highest overall impact. However, such choices may not always be obvious. Which has the biggest impact? A large change to a small...
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A welfare assessment scoring system for working equids—A method for identifying at risk populations and for monitoring progress of welfare enhancement strategies (trialed in Egypt)
| Contributor(s):: Ali, Ahmed B. A., El Sayed, Mohammed A., Matoock, Mohamed Y., Fouad, Manal A., Heleski, Camie R.
There are an estimated 112 million horses, donkeys and mules (i.e., working equids) in developing regions of the world. Though their roles are often fundamental to the well-being of the families they work for, their welfare is often severely compromised due to the limited resources and/or...
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Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injury during Racing on New Zealand Racetracks 2005–2011
| Contributor(s):: Charlotte Bolwell, Chris Rogers, Erica Gee, Wayne Mcllwraith
There is currently limited information on the types, or risk, of injuries occurring for horses racing in flat races in New Zealand. Race reports and records from six racing seasons were used to determine the reasons why horses failed to finish a race. In total, 544 horses failed to complete a...
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Practices and Perceptions of Animal Contact and Associated Health Outcomes in Pregnant Women and New Mothers
| Contributor(s):: Hsin-Yi Weng, Kimberly Ankrom
Companion animals play an important role in our society. However, pregnant women and new mothers might have specific concerns about animal-associated health outcomes because of their altered immune function and posture as well as their newborn babies. The study was conducted to collect baseline...
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Welfare effects of a disease eradication programme for dairy goats
| Contributor(s):: Muri, K., Leine, N., Valle, P. S.
The Norwegian dairy goat industry has largely succeeded in controlling caprine arthritis encephalitis (CAE), caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) and paratuberculosis through a voluntary disease eradication programme called Healthier Goats (HG). The aim of this study was to apply an on-farm welfare...
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Does group size have an impact on welfare indicators in fattening pigs?
| Contributor(s):: Meyer-Hamme, S. E. K., Lambertz, C., Gauly, M.
Production systems for fattening pigs have been characterized over the last 2 decades by rising farm sizes coupled with increasing group sizes. These developments resulted in a serious public discussion regarding animal welfare and health in these intensive production systems. Even though large...
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Welfare effects of a disease eradication programme for dairy goats
| Contributor(s):: Muri, K., Leine, N., Valle, P. S.
The Norwegian dairy goat industry has largely succeeded in controlling caprine arthritis encephalitis (CAE), caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) and paratuberculosis through a voluntary disease eradication programme called Healthier Goats (HG). The aim of this study was to apply an on-farm welfare...
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Behavioral and self-report measures influencing children's reported attachment to their dog
| Contributor(s):: Hall, N. J., Liu, JingWen, Kertes, D., Wynne, C. D. L.
Despite the prevalence of dogs as family pets and increased scientific interest in canine behavior, few studies have investigated characteristics of the child or dog that influence the child-dog relationship. In the present study, we explored how behavioral and some self-report measures...
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Prevalence of stereotypies and its possible causes among captive Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus) in Tamil Nadu, India
| Contributor(s):: Vanitha, Varadharajan, Thiyagesan, Krishnamoorthy, Baskaran, Nagarajan
Animals in captivity are often confined in small barren enclosures, preventing adequate exercise, and socialization with conspecifics. Captivity is also known for depriving young individuals' association with maternal relatives by weaning away from their mothers' earlier than what their peers...
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Availability and use of designated hospital pens in Danish dairy herds
| Contributor(s):: Houe, H., Thomsen, P. T., Amdi, C., Herskin, M. S., Forkman, B., Jensen, M. B.
The objective of this study was to describe the availability and use of designated hospital pens in Danish dairy herds and to analyse the association between availability and use of hospital pens and the herd-level incidence of reported disease treatments. Hospital pens were divided into either...
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Noise sensitivity in 17 dog breeds: prevalence, breed risk and correlation with fear in other situations
| Contributor(s):: Storengen, L. M., Lingaas, F.
A web-based survey was conducted to estimate prevalence of noise sensitivity in 17 dog breeds in Norway ( n=5257). Major focus was on noise from fireworks, loud noises (bang/gunshots), thunderstorms and heavy traffic. The study also investigated risk factors as well as correlation with some other...
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Agonistic behaviour, skin lesions and activity pattern of entire male, female and castrated male finishing pigs
| Contributor(s):: Bunger, B., Schrader, L., Schrade, H., Zacharias, B.
Fattening of intact boars is the least invasive alternative to the detrimental welfare effects of surgical castration of piglets. However, beside problems such as boar taint the divergent agonistic and sexual behaviour of boars may impair the pigs' welfare during fattening. To evaluate the effect...
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Effects of catching and transportation versus pre-slaughter handling at the abattoir on the prevalence of wing fractures in broilers
| Contributor(s):: Kittelsen, K. E., Granquist, E. G., Vasdal, G., Tolo, E., Moe, R. O.
Fractures occurring in conscious broiler chickens are painful and severely compromise animal welfare. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pre-slaughter handling procedures on the frequency of wing fractures. Wings were examined for fractures in 11,609 broilers, from 12...
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A cross-sectional epidemiological study of prevalence and severity of bit-induced oral trauma in polo ponies and race horses
| Contributor(s):: Mata, F., Johnson, C., Bishop, C.
Bit and bridle accessories improperly fitted in ridden horses can cause oral trauma such as bone spurs, commissure ulceration, and tongue lacerations. This study was used to identify, grade, and compare the types of oral traumas commonly found within polo ponies and race horses. Injuries were...
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Factors influencing stereotypic behaviours of animals rescued from Asian animal markets: a slow loris case study
| Contributor(s):: Moore, R. S., Cabana, F., Nekaris, K. A. I.
Illegal wildlife trade has devastating effects on wild populations in Southeast Asia, made evident from the rising numbers of threatened species found in rescue centres. The prevalence of slow lorises ( Nycticebus spp.) in trade allows for the first time, a study of the response of wild-caught...
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Modification of aviary design reduces incidence of falls, collisions and keel bone damage in laying hens
| Contributor(s):: Stratmann, A., Frohlich, E. K. F., Gebhardt-Henrich, S. G., Harlander-Matauschek, A., Wurbel, H., Toscano, M. J.
Non-cage housing systems for laying hens such as aviaries provide greater freedom to perform species-specific behavior and thus are thought to improve welfare of the birds; however, aviaries are associated with a high prevalence of keel bone damage (fractures and deviations), which is a major...
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Object permanence in the dwarf goat ( Capra aegagrus hircus): perseveration errors and the tracking of complex movements of hidden objects
| Contributor(s):: Nawroth, C., Borell, E. von, Langbein, J.
Object permanence is the notion that objects continue to exist even when they are out of an observer's sight. In mammals, the highest stage of object permanence (Stage 6) has been observed only in primates, whereas other species have shown difficulty in following once-hidden objects, particularly...
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Consistency of shelter dogs' behavior toward a fake versus real stimulus dog during a behavior evaluation
| Contributor(s):: Shabelansky, A., Dowling-Guyer, S., Quist, H., D'Arpino, S. S., McCobb, E.
Behavior evaluations are widely used by animal shelters and other organizations that rehome dogs. The dog-to-dog subtest is a common feature of most canine behavior evaluations. The use of model devices such as a stuffed dog during this subtest could be convenient for shelters and increase...
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The day-to-day management of UK leisure horses and the prevalence of owner-reported stable-related and handling behaviour problems
| Contributor(s):: Hockenhull, J., Creighton, E.
While concerns regarding the day-to-day management of domestic horses have been raised in relation to behaviour problems and welfare, most published studies have focused on the management of performance horses and less is known about the routine management of leisure horses and the prevalence of...
