The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between biosecurity as scored on the Italian National Animal Welfare Reference Centre (Centro di Referenza Nazionale per il Benessere Animale – CReNBA) checklist and the prevalence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, Chlamydophila abortus and Neospora caninum on dairy farms located in Ragusa, Italy.

Animal pain management is an important aspect in veterinary medicine. Trauma, illness and surgery can all result in acute pain and good management of pain is required for animal welfare (i.e., Health, physical and mental wellbeing). Newer classes of drugs are emerging for the management of pain which has lesser side effects and more efficacy than older drugs which were used against pain. Combination of two or more drugs has been proved to be more effective for the management of pain than the single drug usage. Selection of the most suitable drug combination is based on the severity of pain, effectiveness of the drug and also health status of the animal. Management of animals that are under pain needs a combination of good nursing, nondrug therapies (for example, ice packs or heat, bandaging and physical therapy) and drug treatments. The article reviews about the classes of drugs which are used for the management of acute and chronic pain in animals, their most common side effects, and the treatment regimen for different class of drugs. It is aimed to guide the veterinary practitioner to select and dose the animals with effective analgesics for the management of pain.

We compared the anesthetic combination of detomidine, ketamine, and halothane in control horses not undergoing apparently painful procedures with that in horses during arthroscopic surgery. The effectiveness of this regimen in suppressing neurologic response to surgery was, thus, evaluated. In this study, significant differences were not observed in electroencephalographic total amplitude, spectral edge, or beta-to-delta frequency ratio between surgically treated and nonsurgically treated (control) horses. On the basis of its attenuation of encephalographic responses, we conclude that detomidine (20 microgram/kg of body weight, IV) and ketamine (2.2 mg/kg, IV) induction of anesthesia followed by maintenance with halothane is an effective regimen for control of pain in horses during arthroscopic surgery. The insignificant frequency changes observed without any other signs of inadequate anesthesia or pain may indicate a surgical stress response. We hypothesize that brain activity monitoring may give an earlier index to initiation of surgically induced stress than do hormonal responses, because endocrine alterations are not as rapidly perceived as is the electroencephalogram. Analysis of spectral edge frequency changes could be used to evaluate anesthetic regimens to find those that cause the least stress to the CNS during surgery in horses. Differences in species responses to an anesthetic agent or the regimen's effectiveness in prevention of pain during surgery may be identified by adoption of the study model. Evaluation of cardiopulmonary variables during anesthesia, with and without surgery, did not reveal any alterations that would be relevant to CNS responses. Blood pressure, heart rate, PAO2, PACO2 and pH were stabilized by use of intermittent positive-pressure ventilation in all horses, and dobutamine was administered as needed, to avoid bias of electroencephalogram data.

The intensification of cattle production has raised concern for animal welfare due to the stress that is associated with farming practices. The welfare of an animal is determined by the animal’s ability to cope with or adapt to its continuously changing environment and the biological cost that is associated with this adaptation and maintenance. Stressors arise from various psychological, physiological and physical aspects of farming practices due to management and human–cattle interactions. Measuring the activity of the hypothalamopituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis with plasma cortisol levels is a useful method for determining the effects of stress on animals as it is stimulated at the onset of a perceived stress. The activation of the HPA axis affects various target tissues or systems and can result in suppression of the immune system, increased susceptibility to disease and adverse effects on reproductive success in prenatal and neonatal calves. Although some levels of stress associated with farming practices are unavoidable, improvements in farming methods need to be implemented in order to maintain or increase the efficiency of cattle production in a way that does not compromise the welfare of the animal.

The effect of various confinement conditions on physical fitness in dogs was evaluated. Eighteen 9.5- to 10-month-old female purpose-bred Beagles were maintained individually for 3 months at a time in 1 of 6 confinement conditions: Condition A--an outdoor housing area with a conventional dog house and free access to a 6.1 X 9.1-m pen; condition B--outdoor kennel with a conventional dog house and free access to a 1.8 X 6.1-m run; condition C--indoor environmentally controlled 1.2 X 3.66-m run; condition D--0.9 X 1.2 X 0.84-m conventional laboratory cage in an indoor environmentally controlled room; condition E--0.9 X 1.2 X 0.84-m conventional laboratory cage in an indoor environmentally controlled room with treadmill exercise (7 km/h at a 10% grade) for 30 min/d, 5 d/wk; condition F--0.71 X 0.86 X 0.69-m conventional laboratory cage in an indoor environmentally controlled room. During the final week of each 3-month interval, muscle succinate dehydrogenase enzyme activities and submaximal exercise heart rates (during treadmill exercise) were determined to estimate physical fitness. Also, 5 days after being moved into a different housing condition, blood samples were collected for plasma cortisol determination. The type of confinement condition for dogs had little effect on muscle succinate dehydrogenase activity, but had a modest effect on submaximal exercise heart rates of dogs. At the fifth and tenth minutes of the treadmill exercise period, heart rates of dogs maintained in the smallest cages (condition F) were higher than those of dogs maintained in outside pens and runs (conditions A and B), indicating decreased fitness in the dogs maintained in the smallest cages. Differences in heart rates were not detected among dogs in other conditions. The confinement conditions used in this study had no detectable effect on plasma cortisol concentrations. We concluded that neither cage or pen size nor a regular mandatory exercise program substantially impacted on physical fitness of laboratory confined dogs, as long as the cages complied with federal standards and guidelines. Dogs maintained in substandard cages did have modest decreases in fitness.

We studied 6 singly caged adult female rhesus monkeys to determine whether increased cage size had any effect on behavior or heart rate. Two monkeys at a time were placed in cages 40% larger than their standard cage for 1 week on 2 occasions, using a counter-balanced design. Direct behavioral observations were performed 75 minutes/week on each monkey. Heart rate and general activity were monitored 35 hours/week by a telemetry system. Statistically significant differences were not found in aggressive, submissive, abnormal, or self-abusive behavior, nor in time spent in the front half of the cage, duration of grooming, looking at the observer, or stereotyped or nonstereotyped locomotion. Vocalizations increased the first time in the larger cage, but not the second, and decreased upon the second return to the standard cage. Differences with respect to cage size were not found in heart rate or activity level, although there were significant variations at different times of day. We conclude that modest increases in cage size are unlikely to enrich the environment of singly caged laboratory primates.