This essay is about dogs that visit is used, whitin care of elderly. The dogs found caretakers once a week and one hour at a time. The focus has been placed on the dogs that go to the municipality's special accommodation and the research was done in a medium-sized municipality in Sweden. The focus of the narrowing of the work was done to the work situation for care staff to assess the impact of the visits the dogs presence. It was distributed questionnaires answered by care staff in which it concluded their visit to the dog's presence felt and how it impacted the situation.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the treatment results and adverse drug effects for 14 dogs receiving a new paclitaxel preparat named Paccal vet. The evaluated dogs are chosen to enter a pharmacogenomical study. Therefore, this paper intends to give an introduction to pharmacogenomics. Finally this study also aims at finding the homologue genesequenses in dogs to seven genes that are important for metabolism of paclitaxel in humans. Materials and metods The dogs went through 2-4 cycles of paclitaxel treatment, they received a new water-soluble formula named Paccal vet, at dosages of 100-150mg/m2. Treatment results and adverse effects are listed for each dog in table 1.

Due to progresses constantly being made in veterinary medicine combined with increasing knowledge in pet owners, the dogs of today gets older than before. The population of geriatric dogs is there for constantly growing, which makes them an important group of patients on small animal clinics and hospitals. As dogs age, so do their interior organs. Geriatric dogs are prone to several diseases and in this text the author has decided to focus on three of the most common: Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (CDS), cancer and osteoarthritis (AO). All of these illnesses are incurable in dogs, but it is important to remember that they are still treatable.

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.

Castration of dogs holds many reasons and opinions, therefore methods, traditions and rea-sons vary. The approaches have during time changed from mostly surgical castrations to also including hormonal treatments. Castration is used to control the dog's reproductive abilities, for medical reasons and to possibly rectify problems of behavioral nature. How common a particular method of castration is in a country is highly dependent on the country's traditions. In Sweden it is most common with castration for medical reasons, such as possible elimina-tion of diseases, for example, benign colorectal tumors.

?Tollarsjuka? is a disease with a suspected immunopathological background seen in Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers. Pyrexia, lameness, stiffness and joint- or musclepain are typical clinical signs. The purpose of this study is to describe case histories from dogs with a possible evidence of ?tollarsjuka?. 18 private dogs were included in this report. Generalised stiffness, lameness and fatigue were the most frequent manifestations of the disease.

Chiari type I malformation is a condition in humans characterized by a small posterior cranial fossa, downward herniation of the cerebellar tonsils, foramen magnum overcrowding and disturbances of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics. Syringohydromyelia is often seen in patients with Chiari type I malformation. Syringohydromyelia is characterized by fluid-filled cavities in the spinal cord. This causes damage to the nervous tissue in the spinal cord. In recent years, a condition similar to Chiari type I malformation has been recognized in dogs. It has mostly been seen in Cavalier King Charles spaniels (CKCS). The condition seen in dogs is usually called occipital bone hypoplasia. The aim of the study was to examine whether there is a difference in the shape of the caudal fossa between CKCS, small bred dogs with a similar head shape and dogs with a normal head shape and if occipital bone hypoplasia is related to a head shape with a steep back of the head. Other aims of the study were to examine the crowding of nervous tissue in the foramen magnum in each breed group, the extent of syringohydromyelia and to what extent the malformation had caused neurological signs. Sculls from dogs on autopsy were divided in halves and the position of the cerebellum compared to the level of the foramen magnum was studied.

The invasive species raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is currently under establishment Sweden and it is vital to discover invading individuals to prevent colonization. The use of wildlife cameras to discover dispersing raccoon dogs have been implemented in the north-European raccoon dog management program. In this study, I test the ability of four commercially available scent lures to attract raccoon dogs to camera stations. The study was conducted in the Åland Islands where raccoon dogs are abundant and the results could improve the effectiveness of the camera stations used in the program. I used 12 sites with five camera stations in each and tested the four lures and one control with no lure in each site.

Immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA) is an immune-mediated destruction of erythrocytes and is one of the most common haematological diseases diagnosed in dogs. The haemolysis is a type II immunoreaction and is initiated by IgG or IgM antibodies or complements. This retrospective study includes 63 dogs suffering from primary IMHA. The study was based on information from records from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences in Uppsala and from the Animal Hospital in Strömsholm. The aim of the study was to evaluate the progress of the disease, treatment and the prognostic factors in different breeds, gender and age. Following criteria were used for the dogs to be allowed in the study: the dogs were diagnosed with anaemia, the anaemia was regenerative and autoagglutination and/or spherocytes were seen in the blood. About 50 % of the dogs in the study were diagnosed with IMHA within 2-6 years of age. Wire-haired dachshund was remarkably one of the most common breeds in this study together with Cocker and Springer spaniel.

This study shows how two different schools use dogs as a method of education. The purpose was to find out what kind of pedagogical thoughts my informants have about children' slearning in their connection with dogs, and in which way the interaction between the children and the dogs could affect the learning ability. I also wanted to find out what kind of possibilities and restrictions the dogs could give to the education according to my informants but also to find out how the projects were financed. To be able to answer these questions I put together a qualitative study, I had four interviews with people that were involved in the projects in one way or the other. To analyse the empirical material I looked up different theories about teaching, communication, interaction and motivation.My results showed that both schools have applied the method of ?teaching dogs? as a form of resource for students with special needs.

This literature study summarizes the signals dogs use in intraspecific communication. The purpose is to clarify the way dogs communicate so that situations where their intentions are misjudged can be avoided. The signals are divided into olfactory, visual, auditory and tactile and every section starts with a short anatomic and physiologic description of the sense organ that is used to register the current signal type. The interspecific communication between dog and human regarding its development and function is brought up. To end with suggestions are given of how veterinary technicians in clinics can make use of knowledge about the way dogs communicate.

There are only a few published studies on the normal variation in ovary size in bitches. All of the previous studies have been made on the beagle breed. This study was performed on indian street dogs with the objective to measure ovaries and structures in the ovaries after ovariehysterectomy to decide if smaller dogs have smaller ovaries and how small and big they can be in the normal dog. The structures (follicle and corpus luteum) where also measured to get a maximum size for normal structures in the bitch. This information can be valuable when examining the ovaries of the bitch with ulstrasound.

Epilepsy is a common neurological condition in dogs, being a common reason for death in the statistics from the insurance company Agria in Sweden. Among the different types of epilepsy, idiopathic epilepsy (IE) is the most common and is characterized by the fact that a veterinary examination does not reveal a cause for the seizures. This study has been conducted through studies of medical records and interviews with dog owners. From a total number of 103 dogs that were neurologically examined for seizures, 42 dogs met the inclusion criteria, being classified as having idiopathic epilepsy. When the study was performed, 28 dogs had died, while 14 were still alive.

Malignant melanoma represents 4-7% of all canine neoplasms and they are the most common malignant tumors of the oral cavity and digits. These tumors are often aggressive and metastasize quickly. To date there is no effective treatment and survival times are short. Most dogs are euthanized due to complications caused by metastases. Melanin pigment is a hallmark of melanomas and is usually present in large amounts in these tumors.

During the last years, meticillin resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) have caused an increasing number of infections in Swedish dogs. MRSP is resistant against a majority of the antimicrobials available for dogs in Sweden, making it difficult to treat the infection. Our knowledge of the bacterium is limited, making it hard to handle infected dogs in a proper way. The aim of this study was to investigate for how long time dogs, who have an infection caused by MRSP, become carriers of the bacterium. Other factors like treatment with antimicrobials, the correlation between clinical symptoms and carriage, common diagnoses and institutionalization where also looked upon.