Evaluation of a canine and feline behavioural welfare assessment tool for use in companion animal veterinary practice

Dawson, Lauren C.; Dewey, Cate; Stone, Elizabeth; Guerin, Michele T.; Niel, Lee

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2017.12.011

Cited by 15 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Changes in weight and appetite are important considerations in QoL assessment protocols, and particularly in those designed for EoL decision making [ 64 , 65 ]. There are a number of QoL assessment tools available for owners and veterinarians to use including those designed for use with dogs and cats [ 66 , 67 ] and those specific to cats [ 68 , 69 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What Would You Do?”: How Cat Owners Make End-of-Life Decisions and Implications for Veterinary-Client Interactions

Littlewood

Beausoleil

Stafford

et al. 2021

Animals

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Cats are the most common companion animals in New Zealand. Advances in veterinary care means that cats are living longer and there are many older cats. End-of-life decisions about cats are complicated by owner–cat relationships and other psychosocial factors. Our study explored the ways in which end-of-life decisions were being made by owners of older and chronically ill cats in New Zealand and the role of their veterinarian in the process. Qualitative data were gathered via retrospective semi-structured interviews with 14 cat owners using open-ended questions. Transcripts of these interviews were explored for themes using template analysis and nine themes were identified. Four were animal-centered themes: cat behavior change, pain was a bad sign, signs of ageing are not good, and the benefits of having other people see what owners often could not. Five were human-centered themes: veterinarians understanding owners’ relationships with their cat, normalizing death, the need for a good veterinarian to manage end of life, veterinary validation that owners were doing the right thing, and a strong desire to predict the time course and outcome for their cat. End-of-life decision making is complex, and the veterinarian’s role is often poorly defined. Our owners appreciated the expertise and validation that their veterinarian provided but continuity of care was important. Future research aimed at exploring the veterinarian’s perspective during end-of-life decision making for cats would be a valuable addition to the topic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What Would You Do?”: How Cat Owners Make End-of-Life Decisions and Implications for Veterinary-Client Interactions

Littlewood

Beausoleil

Stafford

et al. 2021

Animals

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“…Thus, while these risk factors are invaluable in helping inform opinion on how a dog may respond in a veterinary clinic, we emphasise the importance for veterinary staff to take active steps to prevent negative experience from developing in the first place. Edwards et al [48] provides a summary of current strategies thought to reduce or prevent distress in the veterinary clinic, while Dawson et al [49] have developed a canine and feline welfare assessment tool that can assist clinics in determining their overall score for pet-friendly practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, fear of veterinary care likely incorporates a learnt component as dogs can associate adverse veterinary experiences with the veterinary clinic, and are learning to anticipate the negative experience in subsequent visit [4, 56]. Dawson et al [49] suggests there is considerable variation between veterinary clinics and their practice or approach to animal welfare. Therefore it stands to reason that where the approach differs, so does the dog’s fear response.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating risk factors that predict a dog’s fear during veterinary consultations

et al. 2019

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Attending the veterinary clinic is an integral part of the physical welfare of every companion dog. However, some dogs experience their veterinary visits negatively, which poses a risk of injury to the veterinary staff, their guardian (owner) and themselves. It may also influence the regularity of non-urgent veterinary appointments. To date there have been conflicting reports relating to the proportion of dogs that show fear during their veterinary visits. In this study, we explored the risk factors associated with fear during veterinary examination and in novel situations (including first time at the veterinary clinic) from 26,555 responses in the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire database. According to their guardians, 41% of companion dogs displayed mild to moderate fearful behaviour when examined by a veterinarian, and 14% exhibited severe or extreme fear. A similar trend was observed with dogs responding fearfully when in unfamiliar situations, including the dog’s first time at the veterinary clinic. Chi-squared tests showed every bivariate relationship between fear and the environmental and demographic factors measured was significant (p < 0.05). The most important predictors of fear in a veterinary examination were, in order: the dog’s breed group (27.1%), their history of roles or activities (16.7%), where they were sourced (15.2%), their weight (12%), the age of other dogs in the household (9.5%) and dog owner experience (6.3%). However, combined these risk factors only explain a total of 7% of variance of fear observed during veterinary examination. This suggests that fear exhibited during veterinary visits is common in dogs, but that the environment or human-animal interactions are likely to contribute more to prevalence and severity of this problem than the demographic factors measured here. We conclude by highlighting opportunities for future research aimed at facilitating less stressful veterinary visits for dogs and their guardians.

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“…Current assessment tools are generally optimised for use in shelters, for specific veterinary conditions or shortterm situations. [16][17][18][19] In contrast, the PDSA Petwise MOT (P-MOT) tool was developed to capture a broad range of baseline data, corresponding to physical, mental and social wellbeing of animals visiting the clinic. 20 This is divided into five areas, corresponding to the Five Welfare Needs (environment, diet, behaviour, companionship and health).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may partly be because measuring overall welfare, wellbeing and quality of life in dogs is challenging. Current assessment tools are generally optimised for use in shelters, for specific veterinary conditions or short‐term situations 16–19 . In contrast, the PDSA Petwise MOT (P‐MOT) tool was developed to capture a broad range of baseline data, corresponding to physical, mental and social wellbeing of animals visiting the clinic 20 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of health and welfare in a small sample of dogs owned by people who are homeless

et al. 2021

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Background: Pet ownership is common among homeless people, with dogs the most frequently reported pets. However, homeless people receive considerable criticism for keeping pets due to public perception of poor care provision. Materials and methods: A convenience, cross-sectional sample of 19 homeless people, owning a total of 21 dogs were recruited, and their dogs' health and wellbeing assessed using the PDSA Petwise MOT (P-MOT). Results: The dogs compared favourably with conventionally owned pets in most areas, including exercise and companionship. Problems included being overweight/obese (although at lower prevalence than the general population). Some owners had difficulty in accessing veterinary care. Behavioural concerns were reported for 61.9% of the dogs, most commonly separationrelated distress. Discussion: Being unable to safely leave their pets may impair owners' access to services. Provision of accessible veterinary care, behavioural support and pet-friendly services could improve the health of homeless owners and their pets.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

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Evaluation of a canine and feline behavioural welfare assessment tool for use in companion animal veterinary practice

Cited by 15 publications

References 41 publications

“What Would You Do?”: How Cat Owners Make End-of-Life Decisions and Implications for Veterinary-Client Interactions

“What Would You Do?”: How Cat Owners Make End-of-Life Decisions and Implications for Veterinary-Client Interactions

Investigating risk factors that predict a dog’s fear during veterinary consultations

Assessment of health and welfare in a small sample of dogs owned by people who are homeless

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