Effect of different separation protocols between mares and foals on plasma cortisol and cell-mediated immune response

Malinowski, Karyn; Hallquist, Nora; Helyar, Lesley; Sherman, Adria Rothman; Scanes, Colin G.

doi:10.1016/s0737-0806(06)80098-5

Cited by 44 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Many companion animals, including dogs, are removed suddenly from their mothers, usually concurrently from their familiar social and physical environment. Behavioral (Houpt and Hintz, 1983;McCall et al, 1985), and physiological (McCall et al, 1987;Malinowski et al, 1990) signs of distress at this sudden weaning are observed in many species. Activation of the HPA axis has also been shown to continue for several weeks after weaning in both rodents and primates (Levine, 2000), and there is no reason to assume this is not the case for dogs.…”

Section: Management Of Weaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

Rooney

Clark

Casey

2016

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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The causes of fear and anxiety in working dogs are multifactorial and may include inherited characteristics that differ between individuals (e.g. Goddard and Beilharz, 1982; 1984a,b), influences of the environment (Lefebvre et al., 2007), and learned experiences during particular sensitive periods (Appleby et al., 2002) and throughout life. Fear-related behavior compromises performance, leads to significant numbers of dogs failing to complete training (e.g., Murphy, 1995;Batt et al., 2008), early withdrawals from working roles (Caron-Lormier et al., 2016), and can jeopardize dog and handler safety. Hence, amelioration of fear and anxiety is critical to maintain dogs in working roles and to ensure their well-being. Although current methods of selection and training are seemingly effective at producing many dogs which work in a remarkable array of environments, some dogs do not make the grade, and longevity of service is not always maximized. Programs should strive for optimal efficiency and they need to continually analyze the value of each component of their program, seek evidence for its value and explore potential evidence-based improvements. Here we discuss scientific evidence for methods and strategies which may be of value in reducing the risk of fear behaviors developing in the working dog population and suggest potentially valuable techniques and future research to explore the benefit of these approaches. The importance of environmental influences, learning opportunities, and effects of underlying temperament on the outward expression of fear and anxiety should not be underestimated. Identification of characteristics which predict resilience to stress are valuable, both to enable careful breeding for these traits and to develop predictive tests for puppies and procured animals. It is vitally important to rear animals in optimal environments and introduce them to a range of stimuli in a positive, controlled, and gradual way, as these can all help minimize the number of dogs which develop workinhibiting fears. Future research should explore innovative methods to best measure the relative resilience of dogs to stressful events. This could include developing optimal exposure protocols to minimize the development of fear and anxiety, and exploring the influence of social learning and the most effective elements of stimulus presentation.

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Section: Management Of Weaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

Rooney

Clark

Casey

2016

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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“…The P-endorphin withinassay and between-assay CVs were 6.9 and 10.4%, respectively. Plasma cortisol concentration was determined via a commercial radioimmunoassay kit' previously validated for horses (Malinowski et al 1990). The within-and between-assay CVs for cortisol were 2.9 and 2.32% respectively.…”

Section: Blood Sampling and Hormone Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma β‐endorphin, cortisol and immune responses to acute exercise are altered by age and exercise training in horses

Malinowski

Shock

Rochelle

et al. 2006

Equine Veterinary Journal

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“…Given these potential repercussions of abrupt weaning, various alternative methods have been subjected to detailed research (reviewed in Apter and Householder, 1996;Waran et al, 2008), including gradual weaning (Rogers et al, 2004), partial separation allowing fence-line contact between mothers and foals (McCall et al, 1985), weaning in pairs (Hoffman et al, 1995;Malinowski et al, 1990) or groups (Heleski et al, 2002), weaning in paddocks with the possibility of grazing (Heleski et al, 2002;, weaning with a presence of some unrelated adult horse(s) (Henry et al, 2012), and feeding different diets at the time of weaning (Coleman et al, 1999;McCall et al, 1985;. These more weaning techniques that mimic parts of natural weaning appear to be associated with lower levels of stress in both mother and foal, but the various studies undertaken are not easily comparable owing to different methodologies and differences in measures recorded.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evaluation of stress levels in foals has been based on various indicators, including the foals' behavior [including locomotion, vocalization, or abnormal behavior (Heleski et al, 2002;Henry et al, 2012;Houpt et al, 1984)]; activity (McCall et al, 1985); blood cortisol levels (Berger et al, 2013;Hoffman et al, 1995;Houpt et al, 1984;Malinowski et al, 1990;McCall et al, 1987); salivary levels of cortisol and other compounds (Erber et al, 2012;Henry et al, 2012;Moons et al, 2005); growth rates (Coleman et al, 1999;Erber et al, 2012;Rogers et al, 2004;Warren et al, 1998); and weanlings' trainability, tractability, and responses to a novel object . Stress affects normal biological functions (e.g., growth) through biological responses that are used to redress stressful situations (Moberg, 1987;Morgan and Tromborg, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Body weight reduction or growth rate disruption as a consequence of the stress has been documented in multiple species [laboratory mice (Bartolomucci et al, 2004;Laugero and Moberg, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, rats (Konkle et al, 2003;Marti et al, 1994), and domestic pigs (Hemsworth et al, 1981;Pluske et al, 1997)]. Increases in cortisol level and reduced weight gain have been used as indicators of exposure to stressful situations including weaning (Erber et al, 2012;Malinowski et al, 1990;Rogers et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of prompt versus stepwise relocation to a novel environment on foals' responses to weaning in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Dubcová

Bartošová

Komárková

2015

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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a b s t r a c tArtificial weaning is often highly stressful for both mother and offspring. We investigated the effect of 2 different weaning and relocation schedules on growth rate and saliva cortisol concentrations in a group of loose-housed domestic horses. We predicted higher acute stress (cortisol concentrations), but a lower long-term effect on weight gain, which would indicate lower chronic stress in foals, if the foals were moved to the new environment immediately after separation from the mothers ("prompt relocation" [PR]) compared with relocation that was adjourned for a week ("stepwise relocation" [SWR]). Within 2 seasons, 56 foals weaned at age of 165-250 days were regularly weighed up to 140 days after weaning. Growth rate significantly differed between SWR and PR foals. The PR weanlings revealed relatively stable increase in their weights, whereas SWR foals experienced a significant drop in growth during the first 3 weeks after weaning. The weight differences were still apparent 5 months after weaning (predicted weight, least squares means AE standard error: 374.40 AE 1.75 kg in PR vs. 362.71 AE 1.66 kg in SWR foals). Cortisol concentrations changed significantly between and within different weaning procedures and were highest in PR foals after weaning and relocation. Compared with pre-weaning values, cortisol levels increased in PR but not in SWR foals, either after weaning or deferred moving. We found large individual variability in foals' growth and in cortisol concentrations for both weaning procedures. There was also a year effect in SWR foals. Stepwise changes of the physical and social environment (deferred removal to the remote facility) within a short period after abrupt weaning resulted in lower acute stress but induced long-term negative effects on foals' growth rate compared with joint weaning and relocation. Our results support rather prompt moving of the weanlings to the new facility, rather than to a stepwise location on horse breeding farms.

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Effect of different separation protocols between mares and foals on plasma cortisol and cell-mediated immune response

Cited by 44 publications

References 6 publications

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

Plasma β‐endorphin, cortisol and immune responses to acute exercise are altered by age and exercise training in horses

Effects of prompt versus stepwise relocation to a novel environment on foals' responses to weaning in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

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