Background The number of pet cats is increasing in most countries, often outnumbering pet dogs, yet cats receive less veterinary care than their canine counterparts.1 Clients state the difficulty of getting the cat into a carrier at home, driving to the clinic, and dealing with the fearful cat at the veterinary clinic as reasons for fewer visits.2 Educating and preparing the client and the veterinary team with regard to respectful feline handling is necessary in order to avoid stress and accomplish the goal of good health care. Without such preparation, feline stress may escalate into fear or fear-associated aggression. The resulting stress may alter results of the physical examination and laboratory tests, leading to incorrect diagnoses (eg, diabetes mellitus) and unnecessary treatments.

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The 2015 AAHA Canine and Feline Behavior Management Guidelines were developed to provide practitioners and staff with concise, evidence-based information to ensure that the basic behavioral needs of feline and canine patients are understood and met in every practice. Some facility in veterinary behavioral and veterinary behavioral medicine is essential in modern veterinary practice. More cats and dogs are affected by behavioral problems than any other condition. Behavioral problems result in patient suffering and relinquishment and adversely affect staff morale. These guidelines use a fully inclusive team approach to integrate basic behavioral management into everyday patient care using standardized behavioral assessments; create a low-fear and low-stress environment for patients, staff and owners; and create a cooperative relationship with owners and patients so that the best care can be delivered. The guidelines' practical, systematic approach allows veterinary staff to understand normal behavior and recognize and intervene in common behavioral problems early in development. The guidelines emphasize that behavioral management is a core competency of any modern practice.

The disparity in bark frequency and context between dogs (Canis familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) has led some researchers to conclude that barking in the domestic dog is nonfunctional. This conclusion attributes the differences primarily to genetic variation caused by domestication rather than to the influence of social environment on ontogeny. Other researchers, however, have concluded that vocal usage and response to vocalizations in mammals are strongly guided by social interactions. Closer evaluation of dog vocalizations with respect to social environment reveals developmental factors that lead to both frequent barking and barking in many contexts. Additionally, spectrographic analysis indicates that bark structure varies predictably with context, suggesting that barks can be divided into contextual subtypes and may be a more complex form of communication than given credit.

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Objectives. To describe perceptions of access to abortion among women of reproductive age and their associations with state abortion policy contexts. Methods. We used data from the 2018 Survey of Family Planning and Women’s Lives, a probability-based sample of 2115 adult women aged 18 to 44 years in US households. Results. We found that 27.6% of women (95% confidence interval [CI] = 23.3%, 32.7%) believed that access to medical abortion was difficult and 30.1% of women (95% CI = 25.6%, 35.1%) believed that access to surgical abortion was difficult. Adjusted for covariates, women were significantly more likely to perceive access to both surgical and medical abortions as difficult when they lived in states with 4 or more restrictive abortion policies compared with states with fewer restrictions (surgical adjusted odds ratio [AORsurgical] = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.15, 2.21; AORmedical = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.95). Specific restrictive abortion policies (e.g., public funding restrictions, mandatory counseling or waiting periods, and targeted regulation of abortion providers) were also associated with greater perceived difficulty accessing both surgical and medical abortions. Conclusions. State policies restricting abortion access are associated with perceptions of reduced access to both medical and surgical abortions among women of reproductive age.

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