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Animals, Volume 8, Issue 6

2018 June - 20 articles

Cover Story: Reasons for widespread bans or restrictions on tail docking of canine puppies have been reassessed in light of more up-to-date scientific information. It was concluded that the contribution of the tail to canine communication has been seriously underestimated, and the capacity of young puppies to consciously experience any pain during docking has been markedly overestimated. The likely occurrence of chronic pain and heightened pain sensitivity after docking is reaffirmed as very high, and other harmful effects of unknown prevalence are also apparent. Prof David Mellor of Massey University’s Animal Welfare Science and Bioethics Centre says, “The lifelong impaired communication and occurrence of chronic pain and heightened pain sensitivity still strongly justify banning non-therapeutic tail docking of puppies. Most docking clearly represents the unnecessary removal of a necessary appendage.” View Paper here.
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Articles (20)

  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
5,484 Views
16 Pages

Mastitis on Rabbit Farms: Prevalence and Risk Factors

  • Joan M. Rosell and
  • L. Fernando De la Fuente

20 June 2018

In this cross-sectional study, prevalence of clinical mastitis (PCM) and farm-specific risk factors were determined on 531 doe rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal, from January 2001 through March 2017. The information was obtained by carrying out 2367...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
15 Citations
5,897 Views
10 Pages

Using GPS Technology to Understand Spatial and Temporal Activity of Kangaroos in a Peri-Urban Environment

  • Timothy Henderson,
  • Karl Vernes,
  • Gerhard Körtner and
  • Rajanathan Rajaratnam

17 June 2018

The increasing kangaroo occurrence in expanding peri-urban areas can be problematic when kangaroos become aggressive towards people and present a collision risk to motor vehicles. An improved understanding on kangaroo spatial and temporal activity pa...

  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
6,574 Views
8 Pages

13 June 2018

Horses’ ability to adapt to new environments and to acquire new information plays an important role in handling and training. Social learning in particular would be very adaptive for horses as it enables them to flexibly adjust to new environments. I...

  • Article
  • Open Access
33 Citations
8,080 Views
28 Pages

Changes Associated with Improved Outcomes for Cats Entering RSPCA Queensland Shelters from 2011 to 2016

  • Caroline Audrey Kerr,
  • Jacquie Rand,
  • John Murray Morton,
  • Ronelle Reid and
  • Mandy Paterson

12 June 2018

This retrospective study of cat admissions to RSPCA Queensland shelters describes changes associated with improved outcomes ending in live release in 2016 compared to 2011. There were 13,911 cat admissions in 2011 and 13,220 in 2016, with approximate...

  • Article
  • Open Access
22 Citations
9,666 Views
11 Pages

11 June 2018

Problem behaviours in dogs rehomed through animal shelters can jeopardise the long-term success of adoptions. In this study, data from 61 adolescent and adult dog adoptions that occurred through an animal shelter in Auckland, New Zealand, from 1 Nove...

  • Article
  • Open Access
12 Citations
6,510 Views
11 Pages

9 June 2018

Feline relocation is used increasingly in animal welfare to decrease shelter euthanasia rates and increase positive outcomes. Concerns about infectious disease introduction and transmission are often expressed; however, little research has been condu...

  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
7,376 Views
18 Pages

Key Tenets of Operational Success in International Animal Welfare Initiatives

  • Michelle Sinclair and
  • Clive Julian Christie Phillips

9 June 2018

Animal welfare is an increasingly global initiative, which makes the intricate business of operating across borders of particular relevance to the movement. There is, however, a distinct absence of literature dedicated to investigating operational st...

  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
5,874 Views
10 Pages

Urban Sloths: Public Knowledge, Opinions, and Interactions

  • Kissia Ferreira Pereira,
  • Robert John Young,
  • Vanner Boere and
  • Ita De Oliveira e Silva

8 June 2018

Free-range sloths living in an urban environment are rare. In this study, the opinions, attitudes, and interactions with a population of Bradypus variegatus were investigated through short, structured interviews of people in the pubic square where th...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
11,976 Views
24 Pages

7 June 2018

Substantial controversy is a consistent feature of UK animal health and welfare policy. BSE,~foot and mouth disease, bovine TB and badger culling, large indoor dairies, and wild animals in circuses are examples. Such policy issues are inherently norm...

  • Article
  • Open Access
3 Citations
4,748 Views
11 Pages

7 June 2018

As the increasing body of scientific information about the experiences of other species and their ability to suffer becomes available to those working within the field of animal welfare, the amount of potential issues to address also increases. Caref...

  • Feature Paper
  • Article
  • Open Access
34 Citations
7,052 Views
15 Pages

Encoding of Emotional Valence in Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) Calls

  • Anne-Laure Maigrot,
  • Edna Hillmann and
  • Elodie F. Briefer

5 June 2018

Measuring emotions in nonhuman mammals is challenging. As animals are not able to verbally report how they feel, we need to find reliable indicators to assess their emotional state. Emotions can be described using two key dimensions: valence (negativ...

  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
3,847 Views
12 Pages

5 June 2018

This research studied whether floor feeding group-housed sows their daily allocation over multiple feed drops per day provides more equitable feeding opportunities in later drops. Over four time replicates, 275 sows were mixed into groups of 10 for b...

  • Article
  • Open Access
5 Citations
3,918 Views
9 Pages

5 June 2018

The use of feed additives to improve feed conversion while increasing growth is the goal of any broiler nutrition program. Therefore, it is important to evaluate potential feed additives not only for increased performance, but also for any negative a...

  • Article
  • Open Access
34 Citations
6,836 Views
14 Pages

Free Dietary Choice and Free-Range Rearing Improve the Product Quality, Gait Score, and Microbial Richness of Chickens

  • Siyu Chen,
  • Hai Xiang,
  • Xu Zhu,
  • Hui Zhang,
  • Dan Wang,
  • Huagui Liu,
  • Jikun Wang,
  • Tao Yin,
  • Langqing Liu and
  • Xingbo Zhao
  • + 3 authors

1 June 2018

Poultry welfare has been extensively studied; however, there is a lack of rigorous scientific knowledge relating to the different aspects of welfare factors and how this may contribute to the production quantity and product quality as well as the wel...

  • Feature Paper
  • Opinion
  • Open Access
15 Citations
23,064 Views
18 Pages

31 May 2018

Laws, regulations and professional standards increasingly aim to ban or restrict non-therapeutic tail docking in canine puppies. These constraints have usually been justified by reference to loss of tail participation in communication between dogs, t...

  • Article
  • Open Access
10 Citations
4,329 Views
9 Pages

Early Feed Restriction Programs Metabolic Disorders in Fattening Merino Lambs

  • Javier Frutos,
  • Sonia Andrés,
  • Erminio Trevisi,
  • David R. Yáñez-Ruiz,
  • Secundino López,
  • Alba Santos and
  • F. Javier Giráldez

31 May 2018

Early postnatal nutrition may have a significant subsequent impact on metabolic disorders during the entire lifespan of lambs. The aim of the present study was to describe the changes in biochemical, immunological, hepatic, and ruminal parameters of...

  • Review
  • Open Access
160 Citations
26,016 Views
13 Pages

Towards Farm Animal Welfare and Sustainability

  • Henry Buller,
  • Harry Blokhuis,
  • Per Jensen and
  • Linda Keeling

25 May 2018

As farm animal welfare becomes an increasingly important component of contemporary global livestock production, animal welfare science and animal welfare policy-making need to find new ways of entering global debates over food security and sustainabi...

  • Article
  • Open Access
45 Citations
15,935 Views
17 Pages

My Dog Is Not My Cat: Owner Perception of the Personalities of Dogs and Cats Living in the Same Household

  • Laura Menchetti,
  • Silvia Calipari,
  • Gabriella Guelfi,
  • Alice Catanzaro and
  • Silvana Diverio

24 May 2018

This study aims to define the personality traits perceived by the owners of multiple pets and to evaluate how they are modulated by experiential-environmental factors. A questionnaire was administered to 1270 owners of multiple pets (dogs and cats) t...

  • Article
  • Open Access
10 Citations
8,448 Views
21 Pages

Acceptability of Dry Dog Food Visual Characteristics by Consumer Segments Based on Overall Liking: a Case Study in Poland

  • David Gomez Baquero,
  • Kadri Koppel,
  • Delores Chambers,
  • Karolina Hołda,
  • Robert Głogowski and
  • Edgar Chambers

23 May 2018

Sensory analysis of pet foods has been emerging as an important field of study for the pet food industry over the last few decades. Few studies have been conducted on understanding the pet owners’ perception of pet foods. The objective of this...

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Animals - ISSN 2076-2615