Tail-biting in pigs is an animal welfare issue and in Sweden during 2002 the producers lost tree million Swedish crowns because of tail biting. This economic loss depends on the pigs which are discarded at slaughter because of tail biting. Tail biting can be separated into two stages, "pre-injury" and "injury". The aim of this study is to investigate if tail biting depends on environment or genetic background.A lot of research on the environments effects on the behaviour of pigs but not so much on the genetic effects has been performed. The frequency of tail biting in pig farms influence among others of environment enrichment, ventilation, gender and breed of the pig.

The purpose of this thesis has been to explore in what ways Franz Kafka?s ?The Metamorphosis? can be read as a story of gender. By bringing together Judith Butler?s theory of materialization and Lennard J. Davis?s crip theory I have spoken of Dismodernity as the domain of abject bodies that have been repudiated by (post)modern societies as untintelligible and dysfunctional.

Rotavirus causes diarrhea in young mammals all over the world, including infant humans. The diarrhea leads to severe dehydration that can be fatal if left untreated. The dehydration can be treated with fluid therapy and the infection heals itself. Despite the relatively easy treatment half a million children under the age of five dies every year due to diarrhea caused by rotavirus. Rotavirus sorts into the family Reoviridae and is a double-stranded RNA virus with a segmented genome.

Sedan 2002 har alla veterinärer i Sverige anmälningsplikt vid misstanke om brott mot djurskyddslagen. Syftet med detta arbete var att undersöka vilken inställning veterinärer anställda av Jordbruksverket inom Distriktsveterinärerna hade till anmälningsplikten, och mer specifikt vilka faktorer som påverkar denna inställning. I uppsatsen tittar jag även på några av de etiska resonemang som underbygger veterinärernas ställningstagande, framför allt vad gäller hur man balanserar djurets och djurägarens intressen. Undersökningen använde sig av kvalitativ metod och är utförd genom djupintervjuer med tio distriktsveterinärer på olika orter i Sverige. Tillvägagångssättet betonar beskrivning och tolkning snarare än analys och mätning och valdes då denna studie saknar föregångare; det saknas material att formulera hypoteser utifrån. Resultatet visade på att anmälningsplikten ansågs vara bra och ett viktigt verktyg, men ett verktyg som bara fick användas efter noggrann eftertanke och bedömning av konsekvenserna.

Complete tumour regression is the optimal outcome of cancer therapies. There are however types of tumours that naturally regress. Most of these are benign, dermatological and have an early onset in life. This literature study aims to elucidate the mechanisms behind spontaneous tumour regression. In Libechov Melanoblastoma-Bearing minipigs, an animal-model specifically bred to develop malignant melanoma, the tumours usually involute within three months.

Mammary gland neoplasia is one of the most common diseases in the bitch and the most common neoplastic disease. More than 13 % of the female dog population in Sweden suffers from mammary tumors during their lifetime. The disease can affect bitches in all ages but most often middle aged and older dogs. Some breeds such as Poodle and English Setter are predisposed for the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate if it is possible to improve the post surgical healing process by using a pressure pad.

This work is about silage contaminated with slugs (Arion lusitanicus). The hypothesis was: Do slugs affect the nutritional value and hygiene quality of silage? During the winter season 2007/2008 silages were discarded in big amounts due to the contamination of slugs. Both the Swedish Farmer Association (LRF) and the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) received phone calls from farmers and animal owners about contaminated silage. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and SVA decided to initiate this project as a master thesis.

Multiple factors are involved in control of beef sensory quality so great variation can be induced. The perception of meat quality can be affected anywhere in the product chain. Both the environment and the set of genes of the animals have an effect on the final output. A problem facing the beef industry today is the significant variations in meat quality between individual animals, which is reflected in the uneven quality of the meat that reaches the consumer. If the quality of meat in stores varies significantly over time, the consumers? trust may decrease.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether urea could be an option as a nitrogen source for young cattle, the study was limited to risks related to feeding, growth and feed efficiency. Microbes in ruminants have the ability to convert nitrogen to protein, this has been highlighted by beef producers as they are in search of cheap protein feed resources. Urea can be a worthy source of nitrogen for growing young animals, because of its high nitrogen content and the low price. Studies have shown that the replacement of a portion of the total protein content by urea in diets with low content of crude protein, like corn silage, may improve animal growth and feed efficiency. Replacement of all the true protein with urea can result in reduced feed intake and microbial growth.

Cats and dogs are often unattended by their owners both indoors and outdoors, and therefore there is always a risk that they will get hurt. In the past, poisoning cases was considered unusual, but nowadays they are considered more common. As a veterinary nurse, it is important to know the common symptoms of poisoning, especially when working with emergency veterinary care. A very essential part of the profession as a veterinary nurse is to inform pet owners about the potentially dangerous substances and how poisonings can be prevented. The purpose of this report was to find out what is written scientifically about some common poisonings in dogs and cats and to present available statistics that covers the number of animals poisoned by various substances in Sweden. Hopefully this essay can also be used as a handbook for professionals in animal health care and to assist in educating pet owners. The report mainly covers groceries found in many homes, often easy accessible.

The climate affects animal populations through several processes. These processes includereproduction, phenology and the success of hunting. By influencing the phenology of species theclimate also affects the way species interact. If a climate-induced phenology change promotes abasal species to bud earlier in the spring for example, this will affect the links to other species inthe food web due to a time lag in the tropic levels above. This dependence, that a predator has tobeing synchronous to its prey, is called the match/mismatch hypothesis (MMH).

Rotavirus causes diarrhea in young mammals all over the world, including infant humans. The diarrhea leads to severe dehydration that can be fatal if left untreated. The dehydration can be treated with fluid therapy and the infection heals itself. Despite the relatively easy treatment half a million children under the age of five dies every year due to diarrhea caused by rotavirus. Rotavirus sorts into the family Reoviridae and is a double-stranded RNA virus with a segmented genome.

Milk yield levels in dairy cows are influenced by many factors such as nutrition, breed, health status, management and environment. This study was conducted among small scale farmers in Zambia, where the climate can be dry for up to six months per year and cause a lack of green pasture for livestock and on-farm produced feed. The purpose of this study was to identify management factors that can influence milk yield at small scale dairy farms in Zambia, and present advice that could improve productivity, without the need of expensive investments. The study included semi-structured questionnaires presented to the farmers (n=29) including questions about cattle management and milk production. Testing of somatic cell count (SCC) with DCC (DeLaval Cell Counter) from herd milk samples (n=56) and observation of housing and animal body condition on-farm was also made.

In this essay I have summarized important factors for an effective, but also successful, way to raise and house heifers. This study can be used for other dairy farms to use as guidelines in their process to raise heifers. To let outside heifer growers house, feed and have the heifers pregnant before return, can save a lot of work. But also moneywise, when the care and individual programs makes them strong and increases the growth.The result is a faster breeding and an earlier time for their first calving.In Sweden the heifers tend to be older if you compare with Denmark or United States where the custom heifer raising is well known and growing. One reason can be the Swedish laws regarding outside grassing for all cows during the summer months.

In 1996 a hunting test for British gun dogs was started in Sweden, based on a similar one al-ready in place in Norway. The aim of the new test was to describe the hunting ability of the dog and to use the results as a basis for selection. However, up to now, no genetic study of these data has been done. Therefore the aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for the traits measured in the hunting test and to investigate whether the traits can summarized into fewer overall measures. Data from trails of British gundogs between 1996 and 2005 in Sweden were used to estimate genetic parameters and environmental effects in hunting performance. British gundogs consist of five different breeds: Pointer, English setter (ES), Gordon setter (GS), Irish red setter (Irl S) and Irish red and white setter.