Physiological Responses of Dogs to Different Housing Systems

Abstract

Background:The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis undergoes adaptations throughout housing system that might contribute to the avoidance of adverse effects of welfare status in dogs housed in a shelter. Nevertheless, the influence of housing systems and stabling time on glucose and PCV changes is little known. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the patterns of cortisol, glucose and PCV in dogs housed in a kennel and normal environments, evaluating the differences between housing systems, by taking into account the different stabling time and sex. Materials, Methods & Results:The study comprised 98 cross-breed dogs, aged 4 ± 1.5 years, lodged in a kennel (observational group I: N=61, 29 females and 27 males), in paired household dogs (control group II: N=25, 13 females and 12 males) and in unpaired household dogs (control group III: N=12, 6 females and 6 males). Females of both groups were spayed. The subjects were studied on the basis of different stabling times, ranged among <1 year, 2 years and 4 years, and different sex. Discussion: This observational study showed that kennelled males lodged for 2 (P < 0.01) and 4 (P < 0.001) years showed lower cortisol concentrations than males lodged <1 year; males lodged for <1 year (P < 0.001) showed higher cortisol concentrations than females; males lodged for 4 year showed lower cortisol concentrations (P < 0.01) than females. Kennelled females lodged for 4 year showed higher PCV values (P < 0.001) than females lodged for <1 year. Paired and unpaired household females and males lodged for 4 years showed lower cortisol concentrations (P < 0.01) than 2 years and <1 year. Paired and unpaired household females and males lodged for short-, medium-and long-term times showed higher glucose concentrations (P < 0.001) than kennelled dogs. This study showed significant changes of circulating cortisol, glucose and PCV values inter-and intra-groups, according to different housing systems, stabling time and sex. The magnitude of cortisol decreases after 2 and 4 years of stabling time in kennelled male dogs could suggest a stimulus-response relationship, probably due to adaptive responses. Interestingly enough in this observational study was that the exact consummatory event could be represented by the long stabling time itself, observed only in males. Moreover, the significant differences of cortisol concentrations between males and females in group I after a stabling time of <1 and 4 years confirm the wide variability of HPA activity independent of the different sex of dogs. The physiological higher glucose concentrations in household dogs than kennel dogs showed that the normal home environment offers probably more rich stimuli than kennel, independent of stabling times and sex. It is possible to suppose that the housing system of dogs also results in significant rise of organ reserve and adaptability, presumably due at early greatest in functional changes in the catecholaminergic system and related increased hepatic glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. Concerni...

Assessment of thermal response, cardiorespiratory parameters and post-operative analgesia in dogs undergoing ovariohysterectomy with different combinations of epidural analgesia and isoflurane

“…In previous studies, it has been reported that if the pain is effectively controlled, the clinical signs associated with this sign are minimal or null during the immediate post-operative period. For example, Fazio et al (2015) observed that both the behavioral and hematological changes associated with pain did not occur during the immediate post-operative period, which is indicative for these authors of antinociceptive efficacy during surgery, similar to that observed in some studies (Morgaz et al 2013;Berry 2015). For this reason, if no changes are observed during the immediate post-operative period, the analgesic requirements are reduced in this period, in addition to the fact that if the scores obtained by structured scales to assess behavior remain low, the frequency of subsequent evaluation can be extended in the interval.…”