Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.2
2.7
Journals
Animals
Special Issues
One Health and Public Health Implications of Sterilization-Based Management in...
share announcement

One Health and Public Health Implications of Sterilization-Based Management in Free-Roaming Dogs and Cats

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Companion Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 965

Special Issue Editors

Dr. María del Mar Travieso-Aja

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Paseo Blas Cabrera “Físico” s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Interests: stray animal; trap–neuter–return; free-roaming cat management
Prof. Dr. Octavio Pérez Luzardo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Paseo Blas Cabrera “Físico” s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Interests: toxicology; risk assessment; environmental health; One Health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue invites research and reviews on the sterilization-centered management of free-roaming dogs and cats (e.g., TNR/CNR) within a One Health and public-health framework. We welcome contributions that quantify population-level outcomes, animal welfare and sentinel health indicators, and public-health interfaces (zoonoses, AMR, environmental health).

Potential topics include the following:

  • Program coverage, continuity, and spatial design; evaluation frameworks linking effort to measurable outcomes (incidence, densities, welfare metrics);
  • Epidemiology at the human–animal–environment interface: zoonotic risks, AMR sentinels, and community health indicators;
  • Welfare assessment pre/post-intervention, perioperative safety, field anesthesia/analgesia, and pain/stress biomarkers;
  • Implementation science and governance: regulatory coherence, municipal practice, stakeholder engagement, and cost-effectiveness;
  • Methods and measurement: modelling, GIS, monitoring dashboards, molecular diagnostics, and data standards.

We especially encourage interdisciplinary research and policy-relevant studies from urban, peri-urban, rural, and insular settings. Purely lethal control studies without a One Health/public-health analytical component fall outside the scope of this Special Issue.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. María del Mar Travieso-Aja
Prof. Dr. Octavio Pérez Luzardo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • One Health
  • one welfare
  • dogs
  • cats
  • human–animal interactions
  • free-roaming animal-related population management

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

23 pages, 2002 KB  
Article
Low Zoonotic Pathogen Burden in Free-Roaming Cats Revealed by 18S rRNA Metabarcoding: A Baseline Study from an Insular Natura 2000 Site in Spain
by María del Mar Travieso-Aja, Luis Alberto Henríquez-Hernández, Elisa Hernández-Álvarez, Javier Quinteiro-Vázquez, Nieves E. González-Henríquez, Martina Cecchetti and Octavio P. Luzardo
Animals 2026, 16(3), 431; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16030431 - 29 Jan 2026
Viewed by 679
Abstract
Free-roaming cats may contribute to zoonotic risk via parasites and other eukaryotic taxa, yet surveillance in protected island settings is limited and conventional coprology can miss low-intensity or degraded signals. We conducted a cross-sectional 18S rRNA metabarcoding survey to establish a baseline profile [...] Read more.
Free-roaming cats may contribute to zoonotic risk via parasites and other eukaryotic taxa, yet surveillance in protected island settings is limited and conventional coprology can miss low-intensity or degraded signals. We conducted a cross-sectional 18S rRNA metabarcoding survey to establish a baseline profile of potentially pathogenic eukaryotes in community cats from La Graciosa (Natura 2000, Canary Islands, Spain) prior to large-scale antiparasitic interventions. We analysed 152 faecal samples, including fresh samples collected during a high-throughput TNR campaign (n = 37) and dry environmental deposits (n = 115). Host amplification was reduced using a feline 18S blocking primer; libraries were sequenced with Oxford Nanopore technology; and taxonomy was assigned using SILVA-based classifiers with downstream filtering for veterinary/zoonotic relevance. After quality control, 72 eukaryotic taxa were retained and DNA from at least 24 potentially pathogenic taxa was detected. Dipylidium caninum was most frequent (74.3%; 113/152), and opportunistic fungi/yeasts were common (e.g., Pichia kudriavzevii 42.4%, Diutina catenulata 31.5%). Zoonotic protozoa showed low-to-moderate detection frequency (Acanthamoeba castellanii 13.3%, Toxoplasma gondii 7.9%, Balamuthia mandrillaris 4.6%). Overall richness did not differ between fresh and dry samples (p > 0.05), but fresh samples contained higher richness of potentially pathogenic taxa (p < 0.01). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue One Health and Public Health Implications of Sterilization-Based Management in Free-Roaming Dogs and Cats)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop