Calf dehorning is a routine husbandry practice on dairy farms that is justified by safety reasons for stockpersons and by a reduced risk of injures among herdmates. In Europe, the practice is regulated by law but little is known about the methods applied or about farmers' attitude to the practice. This study aimed to broaden the existing information on dehorning in dairy holdings by processing results of 639 farm questionnaires gathered in a traditional dairy area of northeastern Italy. Farm questionnaires were stratified according to herd size, type of housing, and productive purpose of the predominant reared breed(s). Chi-squared tests were performed to verify the significant association between a given practice or opinion and the 3 classification factors, and odd ratios were calculated. The outcomes of the study showed that dehorning was carried out on 80% of the surveyed farms, and disbudding was the method reported by all the interviewed farmers. Hot-iron cauterization was the preferred method for disbudding (91%). On average, disbudding was performed at 32 d of age and it was more likely in farms with ≥60 cows than in smaller dairy holdings (OR=7.3). The practice was carried out mainly by farm personnel, but the intervention of a veterinarian was far more likely (OR=5.98) on farms with ≤30 cows than on larger dairies. Most farmers (70%) stated that they had not received any specific training on how to perform disbudding. Fifty-two percent of the respondents reported that disbudding causes prolonged postoperative pain (≥6 h) but pain management was rare. Only 10% of the farmers used local anesthesia before cauterization, and 5% of the farmers provided calves with postoperative analgesia. Consistent with these results, farmers indicated limited willingness to pay the cost of analgesia or to call a veterinarian to perform the procedure. This low motivation of the respondents toward the adoption of practices able to reduce pain related to disbudding might arise from their insufficient knowledge on long-term negative effects of early painful experiences on behavior and handling of dairy heifers. Farmers in favor of keeping horned cows were asked about the reasons for not carrying out dehorning. Aesthetic motivations (54% of respondents) and lack of time (24%) were the main reasons cited. Moreover, a large majority of these respondents (74%) reported no difficulty in handling horned cattle.
The present study investigates how characteristics of both the dog, Canis familiaris, and their owner\ud
influence the quality of life (QoL) of the pet dog. The investigation was carried out using a multiple\ud
approach: (1) three questionnaires which investigated characteristics of the dog and their owner and\ud
care given to the dog, (2) simple physical examination of the dog, (3) the Strange Situation Test to\ud
investigate the dog’s attachment to their owner and (4) the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS)\ud
test.\ud
A sample of 104 dog–owner dyads participated in the study. The level of care was found to be positively\ud
influenced by marital status (single) and negatively by the age of the dog, length of the dog–owner\ud
relationship and neutering. The best physical condition was found for pure breed dogs belonging to men and\ud
to people who prefer dogs among pets while physical condition decreases for aging dogs or those with a long\ud
relationship with their owner. Attachment to the owner was stronger for dogs with a long relationship and\ud
those belonging to people who had had previous experience with pets and those with many emotional bonds.\ud
Conversely, the attachment level was lower for pure breed dogs and those whose owners shared the property\ud
with other people. LAPS was influenced only by owner features: people more attached to their dogs are\ud
those who do not live with children and who do have many emotional bonds. Finally, the majority of dogs\ud
had a high level of QoL which was influenced positively by the number of emotional bonds of the owner and\ud
negatively by the dog’s age and length of the dog–owner relationship
In the last decade the employment of dogs in ‘Animal Assisted Interventions’ (AAI) has\ud
encountered growing popularity, in the absence of a systematic assessment of the potential\ud
threats to the welfare of the animals. The present study is aimed at the\ud
analysis of the conditions in which dogs residing in a single specialized centre are most\ud
frequently employed and the potential sources of distress. In this context, the large number\ud
of AAI performed and the uniformity in the management of the animals, allows avoiding\ud
the potential effects of different living conditions of the dogs
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