For centuries inbreeding has been used to refine traits in dogs, making desired traits more hereditary and thereby, different breeds have been invented. Breed standards have been written for each of these breeds, describing in detail the different characteristics of each breed. When humans start to choose which animal to breed from, so called artificial selection, taste is put before function and the laws of nature, the natural selection, cease to apply. During this development, pedigree dogs have gone towards more and more extreme exterior characteristics and the dogs may have inherited various, more or less, severe problems for example compromised vision, impaired ability to move and difficulties to breathe. However they can still survive and reproduce because humans provide them with the conditions to do so.

There is currently an ongoing discussion in Sweden about the need for weather shelter for farm animals being kept outdoors during the winter season. Currently, the national animal welfare legislation requires weather shelter providing the animals? with access to a dry and clean place to rest, but under certain conditions exemptions can be granted. The Swedish Board of Agriculture has put forward a hypothesis that there is a difference between judicial decisions in animal welfare cases dealing with weather shelters, as to whether the animal has shown to be suffering or not. The aim of the study was to highlight any weaknesses or difficulties when assessing animal welfare issues associated to the absence of or design of weather shelters.

Den här uppsatsen är baserad på en enkätundersökning samt intervjuer med gymnasielever angående deras tankar kring djurförsök. Jag har intervjuat studenter från två olika naturbruksgymnasier. Båda har inriktningen djurvård men det är endast en av dem som ger en specialiseringskurs inom forskningsdjur.Min frågeställning är att undersöka om elever som läser kursen i försöksdjurskunskap har en annan inställning än de elever som endast läser djursjukvård. Som resultaten visar så är de eleverna som läser specialiseringskursen mer positiva till både djurförsök och att jobba med försöksdjur. De har också en mer korrekt bild och större vetskap om hur verkligheten ser ut för försöksdjuren.

In the Swedish abattoirs there are assistants that judge the slaughtered animals in regard to diseases and injuries. All diseases and injuries assign different codes. This master?s thesis is about code 42 which means injuries of different kinds like for example bruises etc. These injuries have risen during the transport from the farm to the abattoir lairage or during the stay at the lairage before slaughter.

Peat litter has been used in animal houses for a long time. Because of its good ability to absorb liquid and nutrients from the manure it can create a dry surface for animals and a valuable manure product. Through changes in agricultural practises the use of peat litter has diminished and is to a great extent replaced by straw, sawdust and cutter shavings although Sweden is rich in peat-findings. The aim of this work was to summarize the presented knowledge about the used of peat litter, techniques, advantages and disadvantages and to compare with other commonly used litter materials. Articles on peat litter have been searched for in magazines, databases and books at SLU library. Visits to peat industries, interviews with peat producers and with peat researchers contributed to the material. Peat is not a uniformly material.

The aim of this paper was to study incoming complaints to The County Administrative Board in Västra Götaland during 2011 and examine if it was possible to see a connection between warranted and unwarranted complaints and informer, animal species and type of inadequate. In Västra Götaland, a complaint is classified as warranted if the inspection leads to a reprimand, whether it regards what was reported or not. Data were collected during three weeks through The County Administrative Board´s record system Platina and a total of 456 complaints were studied. The parameter ?complainant? was categorized into four groups according to The County Administrative Boards own division; public with the subgroups anonymous and non-anonymous, animal health staff and others.

Animal welfare during transport has for a long time been a problem around the world. Many animals are transported in stressful environments for slaughter. Even during Roman and Antiquity times wild animals were transported from Africa to the amusement parks in Rome. The aim of our work was to compare how well Sweden and Denmark are performing their inspections of transports of cattle and pigs for slaughter. Today, overloaded transports and poor treatment is not uncommon in Europe and every year 22 million animals are transported between countries.

Aortic insufficiency is a very common valve problem in horses and most often affects older individuals, but nevertheless existent within younger ones. The root cause for aortic insufficiency can be varied, for example; endocarditis, ventricular septum defect or congenital valve disease but the most common are progressive valve degeneration or elite competition. Depending on the root cause, different changes can be observed on the aorta valves, but they do all have the same effect, the valves do not seal properly and blood leaks backwards. Many horses can, even with this deficiency, perform highly without any visible impacts and there is therefore no need to treat those subjects. Most often the symptoms arise at a later stage in life and they are, more often than none, put down for other reasons. In the occurrence of the clinical symptoms showing, treatment guideline is to inhibit these symptoms since the valve degeneration is presently irreversible.

Foot rot is a severe claw disease which occurs among sheep and goats in most parts of the world, with outbreaks in hot and humid weather. It is a contagious bacterial infection caused by Dichelobacter nodosus in association with Fusobacterium necrophorum. Foot rot has a negative impact on both animal welfare and economy.This thesis presents how Australia, Nepal, Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain, Sweden and Uruguay handle foot rot. In the selection of countries the focus was on countries that have control- or eradication programs against foot rot. There are differences in the climate, animal husbandry practices, animal welfare and economic resources in the countries that are presented.

This thesis presents the results from a osteological analysis and a GIS-study aimed to examinedifferences in the located animal bones in different areas of the excavation site of Ajvde.The osteological material came from five excavated square meters on the site and was comparedwith osteological results from other researchers from different areas to create overview and try tosee differences between the areas.The GIS-study took data from all animal bone material excavated on the site, a total of about 2300kilos, and presented them in maps of spatial distribution for each layer (pictures 4, 5, 6 & appendixpicture 1) to see if there were any clusters of activity and changes between the layers. The dating ofthe culture layer and the burial field (pictures 7 & 8) were presented in maps to see if they could becorrelated with what was seen with the animal bones. Pictures of different shorelines were alsopresented (picture 9) to compare with the results that were seen in the changes of animal bones fromdifferent layers.The results of the GIS-study have shown that the activity on the site have moved over time alongthe hight differences of the land. The earlier layers show activity only on the higher elevation butlater moves down, and in the upper layers activity have been all over the excavated area. Clusters ofanimal bones were seen in the so called ?black areas? of the sites (shown in picture 2) but also otherareas contained a lot of animal bones.The results of the osteological analysis have shown that there are differences in what species arefound in different areas.

This work is about euthanasia and how to use it on horses, dogs and cats. A description for each animal is done, about when it is time, why, which methods can be used and who is allowed to use them, how and where it shall be done. The methods we have concentrated on are: - Chemical destruction and the most common drugs for euthanatize horses, dogs and cats. - Physical disruption of the brain activity by a captive bolt, only for horses. The captive bolt only makes the horse unconscious and must always be followed by cutting off the vena jugularis. Then the horse dies because of loss of blood. No matter which method used for euthanizing, the animal must be declared to be dead by the operator before other measures. The testing criteria for death: muscle relaxation and cyanosis, cessation of reflex activity and pupillary dilatation, cessation of respiratory activity and cessation of all cardiac activity.

Africa is expected to go through a rapid urbanization over the next four decades and the demand for food is increasing in the rapidly growing urban and peri-urban (UPU) areas. Keeping livestock in urban areas is in particular associated with health hazards. This is due to close interaction between humans and animals, and it has been shown that zoonotic diseases are increasing in urban areas. The benefits of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) are related to improved food security, in particular among low-income groups. Apart from the negative public health impact of zoonotic diseases, animal disease could have a devastating impact on the economy and food security of many households in these areas. In the present study, three important endemic diseases, including brucellosis, salmonellosis and Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), were analyzed in regard to seroprevalence and risk factors.

This study was a degree in Master of Science in agriculture with specialization in animal science for the Department of animal nutrition and management at SLU. The subject was created by AS-Faktor, a small company for science and development within the company Lantmännen AB. It was a test of the effect of SPC (Special Processed Cereals) on induction of the endogenous protein AF (an antisecretory factor) in plasma and intestinal lumen in broilers. Previous results have shown positive effects on different intestinal diseases in pigs, horses, dogs as well as in humans. Beside the induction we also studied the effects on results in a conventional slaughter chicken production, including the ability of SPC to compete with or be affected by the coccidiostat, Salinomax.When diarrhoea occurs, it's because there is an imbalance between the secretion and the absorption and it can be caused by for example toxins.

There is no clear connection between cutaneous adverse reactions and atopic dermatitis in dogs, however, reports show a prevalence of cutaneous adverse reactions in 2-30% of atopic dogs. The purpose of this study was to record how many atopic dogs that also were diagnosed with cutaneous adverse reactions. Journals of atopic dogs in two Swedish animal hospitals, diagnosed between 1995 and June 2003, were examined. In the two animal hospitals, 188 journals were selected to match the criteria of atopic dermatitis according to this study. Of these dogs, 86 were put on a strict food elimination dietary trial.

This Masters thesis concerns difficulties experienced by Gender Studies researchers in an information seeking context. The aim is to identify, and study the cause of, these potential difficulties by asking the following questions: How do researchers in Gender Studies seek information? What difficulties may arise when information seeking is carried out in Gender Studies? What may be the cause of these difficulties? What does Gender Studies consist of? In order to find feasible answers to these questions, particular attention is paid to the context in which the researchers exist and work. The database KVINNSAM serves as an example of how libraries have tried to overcome barriers in information seeking in Gender Studies. The method used is a qualitative one based on interviews and literature studies.