welfare

requirement to suffer

• Alive • Sentient • Capacity to suffer

pain

• Examining for on-going pain: − back arching, grunting, groaning, teeth grinding, limb guarding, tail flicking, head pressing • Examining during a normal activity: − limping, difficulty standing, awkwardness in climbing the stairs, straining whilst voiding stool • Examining for hyperalgesia (primary/secondary): − response to pressure • Examining for allodynia: − response to touch or manipulation

forms of suffering

Pain • Social isolation • Fear and anxiety • Depression (physical/mental) • Frustration • Starvation and hunger • Dehydration and thirst • Excessive cold or heat • Sickness and Disease • Breathlessness • Nausea • Fatigue • Anhedonia • Discomfort

infectious disease

tokine-mediated features of sickness (e.g. interleukin-1, interleukin6, tumour necrosis factor etc.) • Cytokines coordinate the immune response • Can cause: − Fever − Reduced gut motility/inappetance − Joint pain − Sleep − Behavioural modification (social isolation?)

forms of suffering in sickness and disease state

• Breathlessness • Nausea • Fever • Fatigue • Depression • Anhedonia • Discomfort • Pain - headache - inflammatory pain - ischaemic pain • Debilitation • Irritability & restlessness • Osmotic stress

anhedonia

Total loss of feeling of pleasure in acts that normally give pleasure Loss of interest in - food rewards - play - social interactions - sexual interactions

ad and dis of castrating lamb

Advantages Disadvantages Avoids weight loss after puberty in slower growing lambs Handling stress Avoids unwanted pregnancies Pain Prevents stunting of ewe lambs Wethers grow slower Less risk of taints and oily meat Check in growth Unnecessary in fast growing lambs Risk of infection Fatter carcasses

brachyephalic

• Risk of eye prolapse • Entropion risk • Impaired eyelid closure, leading to drying of the centre of the eye • Impaired tear drainage leading to tear overflow • Skinfold infections in the facial folds • Small nasal openings • Elongated soft palate, causing reduced exercise tolerance, noisy breathing and gagging • Inefficient panting; more prone to heat stress • More prone to anaesthetic risk, especially if there is tracheal stenosis • Dental overcrowding and prognathism • Abnormal cranial skull size causing compression of brain and increased pressure (chiari-like malformation and syringomyelia)

BOAS

• Serious progressive respiratory condition o Elongated/thickened soft palate o Stenotic nares o Stenosed nasal vestibule o Abnormal cochae o Can lead to laryngeal collapse • 58% (18/31) of the owners reported that their dog DID NOT have breathing problems, despite having described high frequencies of clinical signs earlier in the questionnaire (Packer et al 2012)

effect of misdirected selection pressre

Breathing difficulties (brachycephalic) • Need for caesarean section (dystocia) • Spondylosis (curved spine) • Slipped disc (long body) • Hip dysplasia (stance)

traits

• Deafness in Dalmatians • Epilepsy in Belgian sheepdogs • Slipped knee cap in Miniature poodles • Deafness and coat colour

successes

• Thrombasthenia in Otter hounds • Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in Irish setters Approaches • Outcrossing • Do not breed from parents or littermates of affected dogs • Do not breed from individuals that have received surgical correction

corrective surgery

• Triple pelvic osteotomy and hip dysplasia • Tibial tuberosity transposition and patellar luxation • Repositioning the third eyelid and cherry eye • Eyelid realignment and entropion • Tooth extraction and malocclusion • Hemi-laminectomy and slipped disc

chemo

• Cancer management is less aggressive in companion animals compared to humans • As a result it is generally less effective • The practitioner may titrate the chemotherapy dose according to the client’s feedback on Quality of Life • The ethical dilemma is whether it is worth embarking on chemotherapy at the outset – this decision may depend on tumour type and prognosis • Informed consent and adoption of the right strategy