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.

That ecological and evolutionary processes can take place on the same time scale is a recent insight. Today we also know that they are directly linked to each other. In the lake Tåkern, in year 2000, there was a structural change when phytoplankton declined and submerged vegetation, mainly stoneworts began to spread. This led to evolutionary changes in the aquatic sowbug, Asellus aquaticus which had previously been limited to the reed, most likely feeding on detritus. But then, sowbugs could exploit the new habitat in stoneworts and a new food resource in terms of periphyton.

Neospora caninum is an intracellular parasite that was first recognized in dogs in 1984. The parasite is now one of the most commonly diagnosed infectious causes of abortion in cattle word wide. N. caninum is transmitted to cattle in two ways. They may be infected from eating food contaminated with oocysts from a definitive host or they may be infected in utero from an infected mother. The infection is transmitted efficiently from cow to her offspring and this can occur for generations.

Structural rationalizations and regionalization of the agricultural sector in Sweden has lead to unevenness in thedistribution of plant nutrients. Nutrients are lost from crop producing farms as harvest products are sold, whilefarms with animal production often have manure in excess of their needs. In addition to this the retention ofwater and nutrients in naturally occurring wetlands has decreased due to a reduction of wetlands in number andsize in the agricultural landscape. This increases nutrient levels in agricultural run-off and causes eutrophicationas well as nutrient losses from arable soils. One potential solution to both problems would be to store nutrientrichsurface water from agricultural areas and use it for irrigation of agricultural crops.

Actinomycosis is a rare, deep-seated infection of the jaw of cattle that include the progressive enlargement of bone structures. It is caused by Actinomyces bovis, a gram-positive rod found as a normal commensal of the alimentary canal in otherwise healthy animals. This paper shortly describes Actinomyces bovis and its ability to cause "lumpy jaw" or actinomycosis in cattle. It will describe its pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and some clinical presentations. The incidence of symptomatic actinomycosis infection is quite low in Sweden today.

Ultrasound is a diagnostic aid often overlooked by the veterinary practicioner who works with farm-animals. However, it?s use increases, particulary for breeders where ultrasound has long been used to evaluate ovaries and to diagnose pregnancy or disturbances in reproduction. There is much knowledge in how to examine ovaries and uterus by transrectal ultrasound, but when it comes to doing ultrasound of other organs in the abdomen the knowledge is more limited. Cows are very large animals, so it is not possible to examine everything inside the abdomen with ultrasound, simply because the ultrasound beam has a limited penetration. There is also lots of gas inside the gastro-intestinal tract of a cow, mainly in the large intestine and the rumen, and that makes it impossible to examine the organs behind the gas since the ultrasound waves are reflected when reaching the soft tissue-gas interface.

This master thesis was conducted in order to investigate the effects of the browsing species Yeheb on animal tissues in Swedish landrace goats and to make a literature review in order to increase the knowledge of the importance of this plant for livestock production in Somalia. The evergreen Yeheb bush is a very important feeding source for grazing and browsing animals in Somalia during the dry period. Yeheb contains cordeauxiaquinone that stains the bones of the animals red/pink, which has been an increasing problem when exporting meat to foreign countries. In an experiment, two goats were fed dry and fresh leaves from the Yeheb bush for one and two months, respectively. The goats did not feed the intended amount of dry leaves, since the supply and palatability was not as high as estimated.

It is not easy to understand people?s fears since they are not always a logical reflection of the danger in certain situations. This study is an attempt to give a scientific view of the potential danger that certain animals in Sweden pose and compare this to Swedes? fear of these animals. A report shows that Swedes? have a certain amount of fear for being attacked by a wild animal in the forest and this fear has increased for certain animals over the last years.

As the number of inhabitants increases, the cities expand into the former rural landscape. The urbanization causes changes to the functioning of the peri-urban fringe. Land that previously was used for agricultural production is now used for alternative enterprises, as for example horse keeping and recreation. 75 % of all horses (approx. 200 000) are situated in the peri-urban fringe.

Steroid-responsive meningitis-arteritis (SRMA) is a common form of meningitis in dogs. The condition is immunopathological, but the etiology is not yet fully understood. The aim of this study was to compile facts about the disease from records of Swedish dogs. The owners were interviewed by telephone for follow up where it was possible. 15 dogs were included in the study. All of them were neurologically examined in the Small Animal Clinic at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Pharmaceuticals that are found in marine ecosystems are a threatening environmental concern, which is known to harm both animal and plant life. One of the reasons for this problem is that the waste water treatment techniques are not optimized to clear waste water from its pharmaceuticals contain. In this master thesis four Swedish treatment wetlands were studied, and their ability to reduce numerous pharmaceuticals in waste water. The four treatment wetlands that were studied were those in Oxelösund, Trosa, Nynäshamn and Eskilstuna. Two ecotoxicological tests and chemical analysis were used.

The aim of this study was to see if there is any group of cats that are at greater risk to get sick and/or be euthanized during their stay at a cat shelter with no-kill policy. The study was conducted at Åkeshov cat rescue center in Sweden and cats that entered the center between the 1th of June 2010 and the 31th of December 2011 was used in the study. This study focused on factors regarding gender, origin, level of socialization, incubation period and the proportion of euthanized cats. In this study, the kind of illness weren?t taken into account. This study showed that the gender of the cat didn´t affect the risk for illness.

The objective of this study was to make an inventory and a potential analysis of the organic beef production in the region of Gävleborg, Sweden. A survey was conducted, where a questionaire was sent to all farmers in the region who had environmental subsidies concerning organic cropping systems in 2001. In total, there were 701 farmers, of which 46 % participated in the study. Three slaughter houses were interviewed to get their pictures of the development of organic beef production. The study shows that there are potentials and interests in the region to increase the production of organic beef.

During late autumn/winter in the years of 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 a questionnaire study was made in Västra Götaland county in the south west of Sweden. Inspectors responsible of animal welfare answered the questionnaires during their routine visits to different horse stables in the county. The questionnaires contained questions about the number of horses at the farm, hoof condition, body condition, how often the horses were fed outside and the pasture condition. The purpose of this study was to investigate if a connection could be seen between environmental factors and health factors within the horses in this material. The connections that were analysed were between; hoof health and pasture condition, how many times the horses were fed outside and the body condition and between the number of horses in the pasture and pasture condition.

The field rehabilitation in veterinary medicine has expanded over the past ten years. Animalswith disorders in the musculoskeletal system are often treated. The methods used lacksufficient scientific documentation; however claim to affect the animal's function in a positiveway. In order to investigate the efficacy of different rehabilitation modalities, it is important touse validated evaluation tolls. Therefore, a literature study on pain, pain-scales and functionaltest was performed together a pilot study on a functional test.The aim of the present pilot-study was to investigate a functional test, "Bioarth functionalevaluation scale", used in veterinary medicine.