This study focuses on the use of animals in social work from the perspective of social workers. The purpose of this study is to examine social workers? experiences of animal assisted social work and how social workers view the integration of animals in various fields of social work. The research is based on a qualitative method and four semi-structured interviews were conducted with social workers. The theories incorporated in the study are Attachment Theory and Sense of Coherence (SOC).The following results are presented: Social workers are considered to have a more comprehensive understanding of clients compared to their associates who do not hold a degree in Social Work.

To reconstruct a building is a long-term investment for farmers and it is important that people with different qualifications are involved at an early stage for making the system adapted to the animals as well the animal keeper. Therefore, ethologists who can contribute with their expertise are needed to design the system and get it to function well for the animals.A Swedish farmer who planned to rebuild her stall for tied dairy cattle to a loose-housing system for recruitment heifers for milk production asked me as an ethologist to find a system which can be fit to her existing tie-stall barn for 30 dairy cows, considering the animal needs in terms of movement, social interactions and play behaviors, and to theoretically compare the system with other systems with respect to the behaviors mentioned.The theoretical comparison between different systems was made through a scientific literature review.In agreement with the animal keeper I set out to fit a system with feeding cubicles, a system with cubicles and a system with deep straw bedding to the barn. After measurements were taken and preliminary drawings were outlined it was found that only the feeding cubicle system was possible to fit to the barn.The space provided will limit the animals to perform some playing behaviors. To decrease aggressive interactions between animals even thought a limiting area it is possible to provide partitions between resources animals compete around to prevent that more than one animal can get success to the resource at a particular place at one time. To increase the animal movement in the system the water trays were moved to the outer wall instead of kept in contact with the stalls.Although this report provides guidelines for rebuilding, other competences regarding building construction and a pre-test of the suggested building solution according to Swedish legislation are needed before the rebuilding can start.The results are directed mainly to the owner of the barn, but the literature review can be used by other cattle farmers and might bring increased understanding of the possible effects of different building solution on the animals..

ABSTRACT Background: Aging and losing cognitive and physical functions is difficult. To also be affected by dementia means that you lose some part of your identity and the ability to take care of yourself. It is important to find alternative, non-pharmacological ways to increase health for the elderly and those who are affected by dementia. When dogs are used for therapeutic purposes in health care it is roughly divided into two different forms; AAA (Animal Assisted Activity) and AAT (Animal Assisted Therapy). AAI (Animal Assisted Intervention) is also used as a term, in which AAT is included.

The purpose of this candidate thesis is to obtain an overall picture of how many prohibitions against owning or taking care of animals that were announced in Sweden in the years 2006-2008 and on what basis these judicial decisions were taken. What is the situation for the person behind the judicial decisions? Is there a so-called risk category where preventive actions to solve the problem can be taken at an earlier stage?The first Swedish animal welfare legislation came into force in 1944. Previously there was a law of 1857 that only prohibited the maltreatment of farm animals. In 1988 the existing animal welfare law was revised into an in principle new law (1988:534).As early as in the Royal Majesty?s government bill (1944:43) to the 1944 animal welfare legislation, there was a proposal that issued prohibition for those having been convicted of aggravated cruelty to animals.

This essay constitutes an attempt to expose, with reference to contemporary animal research, the limits of Martin Heidegger?s concept of the being of animality in Die Grundbegriffe der Metaphysik (1929/30) and to propose some possible ways to think, within the philosophical style of this particular work, the being of those animals that most distinctly transcends Heidegger?s concept. The essay seeks to address the following question: Do the results of contemporary animal research expose ways of being within animality that withdrawal from Heidegger?s concept of the being of animality in general, and if so, how should we think these new ways of animal being? The motivation to ask this question, I argue, are immanent to Heidegger?s thinking in at least three ways: 1) Because of his standpoint that philosophy cannot, in any meaningful way, create an ontological concept of animality without an orientation towards the results of the positive sciences; 2) Because of the unfinished and tentative character of Heidegger?s analysis, a character that is such that it should be seen, according to Heidegger himself, as an essential point of departure for further thinking; 3) Because of Heidegger?s view that the being of the animal are such that it involves the withdrawal of this very being from any originary access, a withdrawal that necessitates an infinite return to the question concerning the being of the animal. The essay wants to be a continuation of lines that are present in Heidegger?s open-ended thought on this theme rather than to be an external critique that approach the text, which is most often the case, as a closed point of view which we are forced to affirm or reject.

This study examined constructions of horses and means staff working with horses parallel to therapy in institutional care ascribes to horses. A narrative method was used and the theoretical framework was social constructionism. A question was asked to the narratives: How can practice in institutional care be understood through these stories? The result showed different pictures of institutional care. Horses seem to provide a multi-faceted therapeutic tool.

To be able to give optimal care to patients in small animal hospitals, we have to have knowledge about how to prevent the spread of infection. An important part in this is hand hygiene routines. We have to clean hands whenever they are visibly dirty, and disinfect them regularly in between. Another important part is the cleaning and disinfection of the environment in the clinic, and also the cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of medical instruments. Other important parts are isolation of patients with known infections, to wear clothes with short sleeves and to wash them at least once daily, to wear gloves, having short nails and not wearing jewelry when working.

Animal welfare is of increasing concern in present society. In commercial pig farming, animal welfare problems are common. One of the causes for these problems is the barren environment in which pigs are housed, which can cause oral manipulation of pen mates. Providing straw might be one solution to this problem. Another solution could be reached through genetic selection.

The present BSc thesis is part of a newly established collaboration between the Swedish zoo Skansen and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and constitutes of an inventory of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage (AO). As a refuge for wild animals found orphaned, abandoned or injured throughout Kenya, the AO has grown over the years and reached an unsustainable point where external help is needed for solutions and improvements. The aim of the inventory is to specifically consider the husbandry and enclosures of spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), serval (Felis serval), Sykes? monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis) and vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops) and with the aid of facts about the species, estimate how well their biological needs are satisfied. Different educational elements are also reviewed since one of the main purposes of the AO is for education.

 In 2009, the responsibility for animal welfare was moved from the local authorities at the municipality(kommunerna) to the County Administrative Board(länsstyrelsen). This was a result of many differences between the different municipalities in how they handled animal welfare. Shoulder lesions of sows are a matter of opinion and therefore, a complicated question. Sows suffer from shoulder lesions for many reasons: e.g. the amount of straw available.

Cambodia, in Southeast Asia, has tropical monsoonal climate with distinct dry and rain seasons. Many people are poor and live in rural areas. Farmers mainly culture rice, and raise pigs, cattle and poultry as well. During two months, a minor field study was performed in Cambodia. The main purpose was to evaluate the impact of contributions done by projects that started in 2005 and were managed by the local organization CelAgrid.

Background: Animals have been shown to have a positive effect on people. The nursing science approach says that a person can experience well-being despite illness. The positive attributes of animals can be used in health care to help ill people experience well-being. An animal-assisted intervention can be a form of activity or therapy involving pets (AAA / AAT) or horses (EAT).Aim: The purpose of this study was to elucidate how animals in health care promote well-being for people with long-term illness.Methods: Literature review based on fourteen original scientific articles, with both qualitative and quantitative approach.Results: The compilation of the results led to four main categories with two subcategories respectively. These were: Physical aspects with subcategories Physical well-being and Bodily functions; Psychic aspects with subcategories Psychic well-being and Reduced psychiatric symptoms; Existential aspects with subcategories Quality of Life and Safety; Social Aspects with subcategories Social behavior and Relationships.Discussions: Review and discussion of the selected method.

This essay constitutes an attempt to expose, with reference to contemporary animal research, the limits of Martin Heidegger?s concept of the being of animality in Die Grundbegriffe der Metaphysik (1929/30) and to propose some possible ways to think, within the philosophical style of this particular work, the being of those animals that most distinctly transcends Heidegger?s concept. The essay seeks to address the following question: Do the results of contemporary animal research expose ways of being within animality that withdrawal from Heidegger?s concept of the being of animality in general, and if so, how should we think these new ways of animal being? The motivation to ask this question, I argue, are immanent to Heidegger?s thinking in at least three ways: 1) Because of his standpoint that philosophy cannot, in any meaningful way, create an ontological concept of animality without an orientation towards the results of the positive sciences; 2) Because of the unfinished and tentative character of Heidegger?s analysis, a character that is such that it should be seen, according to Heidegger himself, as an essential point of departure for further thinking; 3) Because of Heidegger?s view that the being of the animal are such that it involves the withdrawal of this very being from any originary access, a withdrawal that necessitates an infinite return to the question concerning the being of the animal. The essay wants to be a continuation of lines that are present in Heidegger?s open-ended thought on this theme rather than to be an external critique that approach the text, which is most often the case, as a closed point of view which we are forced to affirm or reject.

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.