Welfare and quality of life assessments for shelter dogs: A scoping review

Lamon, Tennille K.; Slater, Margaret R.; Moberly, Heather K.; Budke, Christine M.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105490

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…To ensure good welfare during their stay in the shelter, dogs should experience more positive (e.g., pleasure) than negative (e.g., fear, frustration) emotions [2]. There are many potential stressors within the shelter environment that can compromise the dogs' welfare, such as unfamiliar sounds, smells, routines, and people [3]. Scientific evaluations of feasible welfare assessment methods for shelter dogs are therefore needed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can shelter dog observers score behavioural expressions consistently over time?

et al. 2022

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A substantial number of dogs live in animal shelters worldwide. Stressors within the shelter environment can compromise their welfare, and scientific evaluations of feasible welfare assessment methods are therefore needed. Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) is a “whole-animal” approach used to assess welfare by observing animals’ expressive behaviour. To investigate whether observers can score dogs’ behavioural expressions consistently over time, this study replicated and extended previous research, by evaluating intra- and inter-observer reliability of QBA based on video recordings of shelter dogs. In Part I, nine veterinary nurse students received theoretical and practical training, and then scored 12 2 min video recordings of shelter dogs using a fixed list of behavioural descriptors. Three of the students undertook further practice and calibration using direct observations of dog behaviour in a local shelter. In Part II, the videos from Part I were scored by these three observers a second time, 15 months later. QBA data were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA), and reliability was assessed using Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W). In Part I, the inter-observer reliability was high for both components (0.78 for PC1 and 0.85 for PC2). In Part II, the inter-observer reliability was very high and moderate for PC1 and PC2, respectively (0.90 for PC1 and 0.65 for PC2). The intra-observer reliability was high for both components (W ≥ 0.86). Our results indicate that the fixed list of behavioural descriptors for shelter dogs can be used reliably when assessing videos, and that observers can score dogs’ behavioural expressions consistently after a break of 15 months following the initial assessment. Nevertheless, the reduction in inter-observer-reliability of PC2 in Part II can indicate that some retraining and calibration may be required to avoid observer drift.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can shelter dog observers score behavioural expressions consistently over time?

et al. 2022

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“…A significant amount of research has focused on animal welfare problems, including the development of assessment methods for different environments ( 53 ). A scoping review published in 2021 found only a few studies focusing on the welfare and quality of life assessment of shelter dogs and all of them were published not earlier than 2010 ( 78 ). The first pain scale based on facial expression in cats was also published only in 2019 ( 79 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Words such as "impact" and "social" reflect the influence of pet ownership. Indeed, evidence from epidemiological and psychological studies suggests that pet ownership is associated with several positive health benefits for pet owners (75) and promotes social interaction (76,77).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cats’ and dogs’ welfare: text mining and topics modeling analysis of the scientific literature

Adamaκopoulou,

Benedetti,

Zappaterra

et al. 2023

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Animal welfare is a field with increasing significance and has been raising huge concerns of the public and the political stage. Cats and dogs possess an important role in human life, but their welfare is not always secured from a legal aspect. This review aimed to describe the evolution and geographical distribution of “cats and dogs” and “puppies and kittens” welfare literature over the last 40 years, distinguish the main research topics studied and highlight gaps in knowledge. A search using Scopus® was performed with different search strings and predetermined filters as time range, language, and subject area. A total of 2,725 scientific literature records were retrieved but only the ones that referred to cats and dogs’ welfare aspects were retained. The final 1,775 records were processed through descriptive statistics, and text mining and topic analysis procedures were performed on their titles and abstracts. The results showed that the number of studies has been increasing, especially in Europe and North America. “Shelter” was the most frequent word, followed by “behavior,” “owner” and “adopt.” The nine topics that emerged from the analysis were breeding, stress and housing conditions, welfare and pain assessment, public health, shelter management and euthanasia, behavioral problems, health issues and management, human-animal interaction, and owners’ and veterinarians’ perceptions. While stress and housing conditions, public health, and owners’ and veterinarians’ perceptions were the most studied topics, human-animal interaction was the least studied. This review confirmed the increasing research and interest in cats’ and dogs’ welfare and showed gaps in knowledge where further studies are needed.

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“…The literature is rich with papers demonstrating that frequent environmental enrichment, frequent intraspecific and/or interspecific interactions, and DAP (dog-appeasing pheromone) or music or adequate exercise decreased stress in shelter-housed dogs (reviewed in [37]). Although even today, no clear consensus exists on how best to measure stress, it is generally agreed that behavioural and physiological parameters should be evaluated [4,5,31,32,35,36].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We chose to measure FCMs as a physiological indicator of stress for two main reasons: 1. high level of cortisol has been considered as indicating poor welfare in dogs (reviewed in [37]); 2. measurement of FCMs is less invasive than collecting blood, saliva or urine [38]. This was especially important when studying the shelter dogs, who were not accustomed to being handled.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intraspecific Interactions Decrease Stress Affecting Welfare in Shelter Dogs: A Comparison of Four Different Housing Conditions

Corsetti

Natoli

Palme³

et al. 2023

Animals

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Shelters are stressful environments for domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Evaluating dogs’ welfare is crucial to improve their life condition and to promote a better management of shelters. We aimed at verifying which variables improved welfare in 10 shelter dogs ((hosted in the shelter “Centro cinofilo Caerite” in Bracciano (Rome)) by analysing their behavioural responses in different environmental conditions. Furthermore, faecal samples were taken to measure cortisol metabolites (CM), a non-invasive method to evaluate adrenocortical activity in dogs. Dogs were observed for a total of 400 h in 4 different cage conditions: (i) alone in a cage; ii) alone in an enriched cage; (iii) in cage with conspecifics; (iv) in cage with regular interaction with humans outside the cage. Alone in the cage situation showed highest frequencies of displacement activities (Friedman test: χ2 = 13.32; p = 0.004). In contrast, being in the cage with conspecifics seems to reduce displacement activity frequency, as well as the level of faecal cortisol metabolites (Friedman test: χ2 = 8.04; p = 0.045). Our results suggest that conspecifics’ presence is the best way to reduce stress in shelter dogs. This research could provide some useful guidelines for managing shelters and improving dogs’ life condition.

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Welfare and quality of life assessments for shelter dogs: A scoping review

Cited by 6 publications

References 59 publications

Can shelter dog observers score behavioural expressions consistently over time?

Can shelter dog observers score behavioural expressions consistently over time?

Cats’ and dogs’ welfare: text mining and topics modeling analysis of the scientific literature

Intraspecific Interactions Decrease Stress Affecting Welfare in Shelter Dogs: A Comparison of Four Different Housing Conditions

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