ABSTRACT Epilepsy describes a neurologically caused condition which involves seizures. Epilepsy can be classified according to different types of causes and the nature of seizures can vary. Medication for epilepsy in dogs is limited in comparison with human medicine. Idiopathic epilepsy is the most common neurological disease and one of the most common genetic diseases in dogs. Because epilepsy has a higher prevalence in certain breeds, there is reason to suspect that it is a hereditary disease. The inheritance of idiopathic epilepsy is for most breeds not determined, except for a few variants of the disease.

Farmers? main reason for crossbreeding dairy cows is that they have seen a decline in functional traits, especially in the Holstein breed. Throughout crossbreeding, the farmers can combine functional and production traits of different dairy breeds and utilize the heterosis effects which emerge when two or more breeds are crossed. Results from different studies with Holstein crossed with Jersey, Brown Swiss, Normande and Scandinavian Red have shown that the crosses had higher fertility, longer productive life, had fewer stillborn calves and had easier calvings than purebred Holstein. The Holstein crosses have shown very good results and sometimes even better than the purebred Holstein for fat production, which gave higher amount of energy corrected milk (ECM) and higher income for the farmers.

The Swedish Warmblood riding horse is a popular horse for sport in Sweden, and the breeding goal is to produce competitive horses in both show jumping and dressage. The breed has its origin in native Swedish cavalry horses but has been highly influenced by foreign stallions throughout the years. Breeding values are estimated based on the results from young horse field test, which are held for 3- or 4-year old horses, and competition data. The young horse field tests are highly correlated with later performances in competition. The total proportion of horses with own observations to include in the genetic evaluation are slightly under 50 %, and in most cases their pedigrees are known.

Mastitis, inflammation in the udder tissue, caused by S. aureus is a big problem in dairy cattle production. It causes suffering for the cow and curing or replacing the infected cow is costly for the farmer. It is known that beef cattle also suffer from mastitis caused by S. aureus.

Measurement of plasma concentrations of natriuretic peptides have been suggested to be of diagnostic and prognostic value in canine cardiac disease. In several previous canine studies, however, a considerable overlap between investigated groups has been identified. A reliable natriuretic peptide test for use in clinical practice requires establishment of reference values for natriuretic peptides in healthy dogs and cut-off values for subclinical disease as well as for clinical signs of congestive heart failure. Numerous physiological, pathological and pharmacological factors, aside heart function, may influence concentration of natriuretic peptides. A potential effect of dog breed on natriuretic peptide concentration has been suggested but has, to our knowledge, not previously been specifically studied.

Hip dysplasia is a common, inherited malformation of the coxofemoral joint that eventually leads to osteoarthrosis. Several breeds of dogs are affected and the prevalence varies between different breeds. As part of the effort to reduce the prevalence of hip dysplasia and select dogs suitable for breeding, radiological screening is performed by at least 12 months of age. Before the radiological examination the dog has to be chemically restrained, sedated or anesthetized. The sedation protocol used differs between veterinary clinics. The impact of sedation method of the screening result for hip dysplasia has been studied.

In healthy dogs, heart rate fluctuates during the day. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the autonomic nervous system´s regulation of the cardiovascular unit. Heart rate variability shows the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, also called sympathovagal balance. Heart rate variability can be measured by time domain - and frequency domain analysis. In a time domain analysis you study the beat-to-beat-interval (RR-interval) in an electrocardiogram (ECG), while a frequency domain analysis can be used to determine the size of the variability.

A cattle producer that buys calves that are younger than six months to the herd should have a starter stable to prevent infection spreading in the herd. According to the Swedish animal welfare regulation there has to be a starter stable if more than 50 calves that are younger than four months are bought in yearly to the herd. The aim of the study was to improve the knowledge about bovine buildings and management of starter stables to obtain optimal weight gain and health of the calves. The hypothesis 1) The younger the calves are when purchased, the higher the calf mortality and 2) Purchasing calves from a high number of herds involves a higher risk of calf health problems and calf mortality were tested in the study. The objective of the study was to give advices by way of presenting ideal solutions of how a starter stable should be constructed and managed. A field study was done during June to September 2008 to collect knowledge and experience from existing starter stables.

The aim of this study was to investigate the social behaviour and time budget of breedingbulls kept at VikingGenetics, Falkenberg in Sweden when the staff was off duty. It was ofinterest to see if there was any difference between bulls housed in group pens and bullshoused in individual pens. It was also of interest to investigate if there was any differencein the behaviour between the dairy breeds Swedish Red (SR) and Swedish Holstein (SH).Sixteen bulls were used in this study. Eight bulls kept in individual pens and eight bullskept in group pens were used. The individually housed bulls had a social gate with widerbars where the bulls could but their head and neck through to have social contact with thebulls in its neighbouring pens.

Oestrus in dairy cattle has changed over the last decades, the duration has decreased and the intensity of oestrus has declined. A possible explanation can be their high and increasing milk production. Heifers ability to show oestrus is probably not affected to the same extent. The aim of this study was to estimate and compare oestrus duration and strength in heifers of the Swedish Red and Holstein breeds. Standing oestrus has been the primary oestrus sign during many years.

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether or not Icelandic horses are less severely affected in clinical symptoms of cough or decreased performance than other breeds of horses. A breed variation in chronic respiratory disease severity was suspected based on clinical experience at the Institution for surgery & medicine, large animal, SLU Uppsala. A retrospective journal study of 17 Icelandic horses and 17 Swedish Standardbred horses with chronic problems with cough and/or decreased performance compared several measurements of disease severity. The clinical signs, physical examination and laboratory testing results compared were respiratory rate, abdominal breathing, lung auscultation, endoscopy results, broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) results and the blood gases pO2 and pCO2. All parameters were available for all 34 individuals except for the blood gases, which were analysed, in only four Icelandic horses and four Swedish Standardbred horses. The only parameters that appeared different between the two groups were respiratory rate and pO2. The four Icelandic horses, which had blood gases analysed, had more severe hypoxemia.

The purpose of this report was to obtain an overview of rabbit meat production in the world, in terms of breeding and feeding. It examines how different feed components contribute to the health of the rabbit as well as the quality of the carcass, and the breeding strategies that are most common in the major producing countries. The production of rabbit meat in Sweden is at present not very large, but it is gaining ground, and that is why this paper mainly deals with the rabbit production abroad. This report also examines the disease Rabbit Viral Haermorrhagic Disease (RVHD) in Sweden, where this disease can cause big problems. The rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is very special, both in its reproduction and digestion. There is no specific mating season and the digestive tract is designed to digest forage efficiently.

Hypoadrenocorticism (Addison´s disease) results from insufficient production of glucocorticoid and mineralcorticoid hormones from the adrenal glands. The disease is often difficult to diagnose in an early stage because of the multitude of associated vague clinical signs. The standard poodle is one breed presupposed to be at higher risk of developing the disease. The purpose of this study was to give a review of canine hypoadrenocorticism as described in literature, and to characterise Addison´s disease in a population of standard poodles in Sweden. Statistics on incidenceproportions by breed for hypoadrenocorticism from the database of the Swedish insurance company Agria are presented.

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.

The objective of this thesis was to get more knowledge before an alternation of generations. In theses I have chose to make two drawings, one for dairy cows and one for cattle rearing. The drawings are made for a future alternation of generations at my parental home in the province Dalarna. The results are made out of educational visits at different farms and literature investigations. Those dairy farms who I visited had different milking system at each farm and the cattle farm I visited had beef production. The farms are placed in the middle and south of Sweden. At 1998 the Swedish Board of Agriculture decided to change the stall breadth and stall length and the result of this is that many farmers had to rebuild their cattle- and dairy buildings or end farming..