Cats and dogs: Best friends or deadly enemies? What the owners of cats and dogs living in the same household think about their relationship with people and other pets

Although popular culture describes them as mortal enemies, more and more often, dogs and cats live under the same roof. Does this make them best friends? Can sharing the same social and physical environment make them similar? This study compares the approaches of dogs and cats living in the same household have towards humans and other pets as perceived by the owner. Questionnaires collected from 1270 people owning both dog(s) and cat(s) were analysed. Most dogs and cats living together are playful with familiar humans (76.2%) but dogs have a more sociable approach towards strangers and conspecifics than cats (P<0.001). Moreover, the percentage of dogs that have a playful relationship with the owner (84.0%) was higher than cats (49.2%; P<0.001). Dogs and cats living together eat in different places and show different mutual interactions: more dogs lick the cat (42.8%) and more cats ignore the dog (41.8%) than vice versa (P<0.001). However, most dogs and cats sleep at least occasionally (68.5%) and play together (62.4%; P<0.001). Although some body postures, such as the tail’s position, are interpreted differently by the two species, the greater proportions of dogs and cats show a relaxed response to several kinds of approaches of their roommate. Our questionnaire confirms the common beliefs about the sociability of the dog and the privacy of the cat, but this does not result in continuous internal struggles. Most cohabitations are peaceful. Moreover, it is true that they speak different languages, but they seem to understand each other well and interpret each other’s approaches in the right way. Thus, aspiring owners should not blindly believe popular assumptions, but both knowledge and respect for species-specific pet behaviours are essential to establish a balance in the household

Welfare Assessment in Shelter Dogs by Using Physiological and Immunological Parameters

This study aimed to evaluate the state of welfare of a group of dogs during the first month after entering the shelter by using dierent stress parameters. Blood and fecal samples were collected from a group of 71 dogs at the time of admission to the shelter. In 46 of these dogs, sampling was repeated after four weeks. Well-recognized welfare biomarkers, such as fecal cortisol and leukocytes, as well as some innovative parameters ( -endorphin and lysozyme) were determined. Uni- and multivariate statistical analyses were used to evaluate their interactions and changes over time. Neutrophils (p < 0.01), lysozyme (p < 0.05), and fecal cortisol (p < 0.05) decreased, while lymphocytes (p < 0.05) increased after four weeks compared to the first days of being in the shelter, suggesting an improvement in the dogs’ welfare over time. A principal component analysis extracted three bipolar components (PCs), explaining 75% of the variance and indicating negative associations between neutrophil and lymphocyte (PC1), lysozyme and -endorphin (PC2), cortisol and lysozyme (PC3). The associations between these variables within each PC also confirmed the intricate relationships between the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the immune system as well as the importance of a multiparametric approach in evaluating welfare

Refinement and revalidation of the Equine Ophthalmic Pain Scale: R-EOPS a new scale for ocular pain assessment in horses

This study addresses the refinement and revalidation of a composite pain scale that focuses on equine facial expressions and behavioural indicators as exhibitions of ophthalmic pain. This scale included only Behavioural and Facial and Ocular expression indicators and, compared to the first version of Equine Ophthalmic Pain Scale (EOPS), item descriptors and related ratings were changed. Thirteen horses with ocular diseases that required medical or surgical treatment were enroled (group P). In each animal, the refined EOPS (R-EOPS) was applied prior to any treatment (T0) and one week later (T7). The R-EOPS was applied twice, 7 days apart, to 16 healthy control horses (group C). Two 30-second videos were recorded each time to allow the retrospective analysis by eight observers. Inter-observer reliability of items was moderate or substantial (Krippendorff's alpha, Ka>0.40) while their intra-observer reliability was substantial or almost perfect for most items (Ka ≥0.61). Both inter- and intra-observer reliability of Total Score (TS) were however excellent (Intraclass Correlation Coefficients, ICC>0.75). The TS also showed good reproducibility (Kendall coefficient=0.786, ICC=0.684) and high consistency of its items (Cronbach's a=0.847). The comparison between groups as well as the sensitivity and specificity values supported the validity of the R-EOPS. In particular, for each extra point added to the TS, the risk of the horse having pain increased by more than two times (Odds Ratio=2.079, 95%CI=1.542-2.804; P<0.001). The Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis identified 6 as the threshold value of R-EOPS for discriminating horses with ocular pathology (sensitivity=83%, specificity=100%). This scale may be an effective tool for reliably assessing the pain level in horses with ophthalmic diseases and potentially guiding pain management although it still requires large-scale application and external validation

Multi-Operator Qualitative Behavioural Assessment for dogs entering the shelter

This study aimed to develop and validate a fast and straightforward welfare assessment system to help shelter staff in decision-making processes. For newly captured dogs entering the shelter, the animal control officer (at capture time) and the veterinary officer (at entrance examination) compiled a form attributing a qualitative score for the overall Stress level and for 5 Descriptors of dog behavioural traits. Furthermore, a tester filled out the same form by subjecting the dog to a test battery in his pen, besides performing behavioural observations. The veterinary officer and the tester repeated the evaluation protocol after four weeks of acclimatisation in the shelter. The analysis evaluated inter-observer and test–retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity of qualitative scores. Overall, we collected 258 forms regarding 189 dogs. Principal component (PC) extracted by Descriptors showed a good correlation with the Stress level score for veterinary and tester confirming the internal consistency of these scales while it was low for animal control officer form. Moreover, qualitative evaluations of the veterinarian and the tester showed congruent correlations with behavioural observations supporting their construct validity. Conversely, the scores expressed by the animal control officer were not consistent with quantitative observations. Then, the veterinary officer and tester forms could be validated and further simplified including only Stress level score while the control officer form requires a revision as it does not seem reliable. We did not find agreement between the Stress level scores expressed by animal control officer, veterinary and tester suggesting that the three contexts represent different stress stimuli to which the same dog reacts differently. The point of view of the three evaluators can increase the reliability of the assessment. Static but vigilant behaviours prevailed in newly sheltered dogs but activity, interactions and behavioural diversity increased in the second behavioural observation when the dogs were kept in multiple cages and four weeks of adaptation had passed. Stress level reduced and PCs tended towards the pole of sociability suggesting a reduction of stress after the period of adaptation to the socio-environmental conditions of the shelter. On the other hand, the considerable inter-individual variability in behaviours reflects differences in coping strategies and or in the manifestation of stress. Our simple tool can not replace a multidisciplinary approach to welfare assessment but could help shelter staff for individual management of dogs complying with their different adaptation skills

Asinara male donkey (Equus africanus asinus var. Albina) and stallion (Equus ferus caballus) reproductive characteristics: Correlations between testicular blood supply and sperm production

The Asinara donkey is a rare small albino variety of feral donkey listed as "critical" by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and by the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) in 2022. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the reproductive characteristics of healthy male Asinara donkeys through andrological evaluation and testicular echo-color-Doppler examination to assess correlations between testicular blood supply and sperm production and to compare it with horse reproductive characteristics. Eight healthy donkeys and stallions were subjected to semen collection and evaluation, ultrasound and Doppler evaluation of the testicles and serum testosterone determination. The testosterone concentrations in donkeys were 1.42 ± 0.69 ng/ml while in horses were 1.90 ± 0.63 ng/ml within the normal values reported in these species. Horses had greater mean and total testicular volume, semen gel-free volume, and total sperm number than donkeys (P < 0.001). Blood flow analysis of the testicular artery in both locations was a relatively simple procedure. The waveforms recorded in a convoluted location (-con) of the testicular artery were characteristic of the high-resistance vessel, while in the marginal location (-marg) were of low-resistance. It was also recorded a gradual decrease in peak systolic velocity (PSV), resistive index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), mean velocity (MV) and testicular arterial blood flow (TABF) values along the peripheral course of the testicular artery. Therefore, donkeys had greater PSV-con (P ≤ 0.01), PSV-marg (P < 0.01), MV-con (P < 0.001), MV-marg (P < 0.01), testicular arterial blood flow rate (TABFr-con) (P < 0.001) and TABFr-marg (P < 0.01) than horses. Conversely, pulsatility index (PI-con) was higher in horses (P < 0.05). The comparative analysis between the Doppler parameters and the reproductive/seminal characteristics showed a positive correlation of TTBF-con with Testosterone (ρ = 0.976, p < 0.01 and ρ = 0.905, p < 0.01 in donkeys and horses, respectively), with Total Testicular Volume (ρ = 0.952, p < 0.01 and ρ = 1.000, p < 0.01 in donkeys and horses, respectively), and with Total spermatozoa concentration (ρ = 0.905, p < 0.01 and ρ = 0.813, p < 0.05 in donkeys and horses, respectively). Additionally, only in the donkey there was a positive correlation with Semen gel free volume (ρ = 0.881, p < 0.01) and Spermatozoa concentration × ml (ρ = 0.786, p < 0.05). The testosterone concentration was positively correlated in both species with Total testicular volume (ρ = 0.976, p < 0.01 and ρ = 0.905, p < 0.01 in donkeys and horses, respectively) and Total sperm concentration (ρ = 0.881, p < 0.01 and ρ = 0.976, p < 0.01 in donkeys and horses, respectively). It was also correlated positively with Semen gel free volume (ρ = 0.857, p < 0.01) and spermatozoa concentration (ρ = 0.762, p < 0.05) in donkeys. Finally, the PI-con (ρ = − 0.786, p < 0.05) was negatively correlated with Semen gel free volume in the donkeys. The results of this study show that Total Testicular Blood Flow is the parameter, together with testosterone, most positively correlated with testicular volume and total sperm concentration in both species. Furthermore, differences in both reproductive and testicular hemodynamic characteristics between the Asinara donkey and stallion are highlighted, suggesting that caution should be taken in transferring knowledge from one species to another. New data on reproductive aspects, seminal characteristics, testicular blood flow perfusion in healthy Asinara donkeys were reported and these may represent reference value for further research or clinical applications

Desire thinking as a predictor of drinking status following treatment for alcohol use disorder: A prospective study

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Research has indicated that craving is one of the strongest predictors of treatment outcome and relapse in Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) but there is little consensus on the factors that may influence its activation and escalation. Research has also shown that desire thinking is an important cognitive process which may exacerbate craving in problem drinkers. The aim of present study was to explore, for the first time, the role of desire thinking in prospectively predicting relapse, craving and binge drinking in patients receiving treatment for AUD. One hundred and thirty-five patients admitted to two rehabilitation centres and two outpatient services for addiction and mental health problems were administered baseline, treatment completion and three months follow-up measures of anxiety and depression, AUD severity, binge drinking frequency, craving and desire thinking. Results indicated that the verbal perseveration component of desire thinking at treatment completion was the only significant predictor of relapse at follow-up over and above baseline AUD severity and binge drinking frequency. Furthermore, the imaginal prefiguration component of desire thinking and craving levels at treatment completion were found to predict craving levels at follow-up independently of AUD severity and binge drinking frequency at baseline. Finally, both the imaginal prefiguration and verbal perseveration components of desire thinking at treatment completion were found to be the only predictors of binge drinking frequency at follow-up independently of AUD severity and binge drinking frequency at baseline. Treatments for AUD should aim to reduce desire thinking in people to enhance clinical outcomes and reduce relapse risk

Anger and depressive ruminations as predictors of dysregulated behaviours in borderline personality disorder.

BACKGROUND: Anger and depressive ruminations have recently received empirical attention as processes related to borderline personality disorder (BPD). The Emotional Cascade Model (Selby, Anestis, & Joiner, 2008) suggests that negative affect (such as anger and sadness) may trigger rumination, which in turn may increase the duration and extent of negative affect, leading to dysregulated behaviours aimed at reducing such intense and unpleasant emotions. AIM: The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between emotional dysregulation, anger and depressive ruminations, and their role in predicting dysregulated behaviours (such as aggression and self-harm) in a clinical sample of patients with BPD. METHODS: Ninety-one patients with a diagnosis of BPD were recruited from three outpatient community mental health centres and asked to complete a comprehensive assessment for personality disorder symptoms, emotion dysregulation, anger and depressive ruminations, aggression, and self-harm. RESULTS: Anger and depressive ruminations were found to be significantly associated to, respectively, self-harm and aggression, beyond the variance accounted by emotional dysregulation. CONCLUSIONS: Rumination may act as a mediator between emotional dysregulation and dysregulated behaviours in BPD. Future research should examine whether clinical techniques aimed at reducing rumination may be helpful in reducing dysregulated behaviours in patients with BPD. "This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Martino, F., Caselli, G., Di Tommaso, J., Sassaroli, S., Spada, M.M ., Valenti, B., Berardi, D., Sasdelli, A and Menchetti, M (2017) Anger and depressive ruminations as predictors of dysregulated behaviours in borderline personality disorder. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy., which has been published in final form at 10.1002/cpp.2152 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

Determination of fatty acids profile in original brown cows dairy products and relationship with alpine pasture farming system

This study aimed to evaluate the relationships between fatty acids and the pattern that most contributes to discriminate between two farming systems, in which the main difference was the practice, or not, of alpine summer-grazing. Milk and cheese were sampled every month in two farms of Original Brown cows identical under geographical location and management during no grazing season point of view in the 2018 season. Fatty acids concentrations were determined by gas chromatography. The principal component analysis extracted three components (PCs). Mammary gland de novo synthetized fatty acids (C14:0, C14:1 n9, and C16:0) and saturated and monosaturated C18 fatty acids (C18:0, C18:1 n9c) were inversely associated in the PC1; PC2 included polyunsaturated C18 fatty acids (C18:2 n6c, C18:3 n3) and C15:0 while conjugated linoleic acid (CLA n9c, n11t) and fatty acids containing 20 or more carbon atoms (C21:0, C20:5 n3) were associated in the PC3. The processes of rumen fermentation and de novo synthesis in mammary gland that are, in turn, influenced by diet, could explain the relationships between fatty acids within each PC. The discriminant analyses showed that the PC2 included the fatty acids profile that best discriminated between the two farming systems, followed by PC3 and, lastly, PC1. This model, if validated, could be an important tool to the dairy industry

Two ways to be endemic. Alps and Apennines are different functional refugia during climatic cycles

Endemics co-occur because they evolved in situ and persist regionally or because they evolved ex situ and later dispersed to shared habitats, generating evolutionary or ecological endemicity centres, respectively. We investigate whether different endemicity centres can intertwine in the region ranging from Alps to Sicily, by studying their butterfly fauna. We gathered an extensive occurrence data set for butterflies of the study area (27,123 records, 269 species, in cells of 0.5 × 0.5 degrees of latitude-longitude). We applied molecular-based delimitation methods (GMYC model) to 26,557 cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences of Western Palearctic butterflies. We identified entities based on molecular delimitations and/or the checklist of European butterflies and objectively attributed occurrences to their most probable entity. We obtained a zoogeographic regionalisation based on the 69 endemics of the area. Using phylogenetic ANOVA we tested if endemics from different centres differ from each other and from nonendemics for key ecological traits and divergence time. Endemicity showed high incidence in the Alps and Southern Italy. The regionalisation separated the Alps from the Italian Peninsula and Sicily. The endemics of different centres showed a high turnover and differed in phylogenetic distances, phenology and distribution traits. Endemics are on average younger than nonendemics and the Peninsula-Sicily endemics also have lower variance in divergence than those from the Alps. The observed variation identifies Alpine endemics as paleoendemics, now occupying an ecological centre, and the Peninsula-Sicily ones as neoendemics, that diverged in the region since the Pleistocene. The results challenge the common view of the Alpine-Apennine area as a single “Italian refugium”

Prevalence of Anisakis Larvae in Different Fish Species in Southern Albania: Five-Year Monitoring (2016-2020)

Anisakidae are nematodes that commonly parasitize in the coelomic cavity and viscera of several fish species. They can be found in flesh, which is why they have an important economic and public health impact. The aim of the current work was to assess the presence and prevalence of Anisakis larvae in fish species caught in the coastal area of the Karaburun Peninsula in Vlora Bay (Albania). A total of 856 of wild teleosts and 219 specimens of farmed fish were collected over a 5-year period (from 2016 to 2020). The results showed that out of a total of 1075 analyzed samples, 361 (33.58%) were parasitized with L3 larvae. In particular, only Solea vulgaris returned negative results, while Sparus aurata, Dicentrarchus labrax, and Sardinella aurita showed the lowest prevalence (4.55%, 9.17%, and 10.53%, respectively) and mean abundance (0.84, 1.19, and 0.92, respectively). Conversely, Scomber japonicus and Scomber scombrus showed the highest prevalence (74.07% and 68.00%, respectively) and mean abundance (188.24 and 249.82, respectively). The data suggest that the coastal area of the Karaburun Peninsula (southern Albania) may be a high-risk area for zoonotic diseases, and the consumption of raw or undercooked fish caught in the Vlora district could result in the acquisition of human anisakiasis. For these reasons, it is necessary to improve the surveillance plan