Numerous dogs are stressed during a stay at a veterinary clinic. Stress has an impact physically as well as mentally, and may influence animal care. There are different ways to prevent and handle animal stress. Dog Appeasing Pheromones (DAP) is sometimes used to reduce stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential need for stressreducers, explore the use of DAP and evaluate pheromonatherapy for dogs as a potential stressreducer within veterinary health care.

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.

In today's society dogs have become more popular as pets. This increase may result in more dog owners with lack of knowledge on how to care for them. A major social issue is the societies viewpoint to fighting breeds and similar breeds with an aggressive behavior. We experience that there is an increasing problem with aggressive dogs and their owners in Sweden that needs to be taken seriously.The aim of our study is to find out if people in Sweden think there is a problem with aggressive dogs. The study has been carried out as a literature study and a survey.

Cats and dogs are often unattended by their owners both indoors and outdoors, and therefore there is always a risk that they will get hurt. In the past, poisoning cases was considered unusual, but nowadays they are considered more common. As a veterinary nurse, it is important to know the common symptoms of poisoning, especially when working with emergency veterinary care. A very essential part of the profession as a veterinary nurse is to inform pet owners about the potentially dangerous substances and how poisonings can be prevented. The purpose of this report was to find out what is written scientifically about some common poisonings in dogs and cats and to present available statistics that covers the number of animals poisoned by various substances in Sweden. Hopefully this essay can also be used as a handbook for professionals in animal health care and to assist in educating pet owners. The report mainly covers groceries found in many homes, often easy accessible.

The female dog has a unique reproductive endocrinology, with high levels of progesterone throughout the 70-day long luteal phase. In this project, markers of glucose metabolism were studied and compared from the aspects of breed group and time in oestral cycle. The parameters studied were: glucose, insulin, progesterone, fructosamine and the newly introduced analysis of HbA1c. Hba1c was also further evaluated and discussed as a diagnostic tool in canine medicine.No differences in terms of glucose markers were found between a group of purebreed dogs of various breeds compared to a group of dogs with high risk of dioestrus diabetes, namely the Norwegian and Swedish elkhounds.No differences were found between the two sample occasions, anoestrus and dioestrus, concluding that there is no need for relating test results to the time of the oestrous cycle in middle-aged intact female dogs.There were statistically significant higher values of all glucose markers in diabetic dogs than in non-diabetic dogs. When it came to HbA1c, however, there was a larger overlap between the two groups, compared to fructosamine.

The high incidence of cranial cruciate ligament injury in dogs results in both suffering and significant costs due to treatment and care of affected dogs. Today there are several different technics for surgical treatment in dogs with ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. At University Animal Hospital (UDS), SLU, in Uppsala two fundamentally different methods; TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) and external fixation with suture material are practiced. The aim of this study was to estimate if the different surgery technics result in any difference regarding the function of the dog in a long term perspective. Since motion and function are very affected by arthritis, was the purpose also to determine if there are any differences in developing arthritis between dogs surgical treated with external fixation respectively with TPLO. Development of arthritis is common after surgery or traumatic injuries in a joint, such as cruciate ligament rupture. Unfortunately was the number of dogs in the study to small to achieve two comparable groups.

The female dog has a unique reproductive endocrinology, with high levels of progesterone throughout the 70-day long luteal phase. In this project, markers of glucose metabolism were studied and compared from the aspects of breed group and time in oestral cycle. The parameters studied were: glucose, insulin, progesterone, fructosamine and the newly introduced analysis of HbA1c. Hba1c was also further evaluated and discussed as a diagnostic tool in canine medicine.No differences in terms of glucose markers were found between a group of purebreed dogs of various breeds compared to a group of dogs with high risk of dioestrus diabetes, namely the Norwegian and Swedish elkhounds.No differences were found between the two sample occasions, anoestrus and dioestrus, concluding that there is no need for relating test results to the time of the oestrous cycle in middle-aged intact female dogs.There were statistically significant higher values of all glucose markers in diabetic dogs than in non-diabetic dogs. When it came to HbA1c, however, there was a larger overlap between the two groups, compared to fructosamine.

Williams, E. 2003 Radiologic sign of lung oedema in the dog and cat. To determine if the descriptions of lung oedema in the literature accurately describe the presence and frequency of radiologic signs, thoracic radiographs of 55 dogs with mitral regurgitation due to endocardiosis (ME), 46 dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), 9 dogs with hunting oedema, and 20 cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) were analysed. The location, type (diffuse or patchy, without or with air bronchograms) and presence of pleural oedema, bronchial wall thickening, widened pulmonary veins, and heart enlargement with subjectively and by the VHS measurement, were determined, and analysed by chi squared test with respect to disease. The dogs nearly always had diffuse oedema, whereas 35% of the cats had a patchy pattern, which agreed with the literature. The common occurrence of cranioventral and caudioventral oedema in heart failure was not described.

The objective of the essay was to identify the nursing care required by a dog suffering from heat stroke and how to educate and advice the owners how to start treating their dog and prevent the condition from occurring in the first place. The essay is based on a literature study. Several databases were searched for scientific research to try find answers to the issues. Keywords concerning the subject were used and mixed in different combinations to sort out the suitable studies. The results of the study indicate that the dog should be cooled by the owner directly after detection. The most crucial issue is to reduce the body temperature as quickly as possible or the morbidity will worsen.

The female dog has a unique reproductive endocrinology, with high levels of progesterone throughout the 70-day long luteal phase. In this project, markers of glucose metabolism were studied and compared from the aspects of breed group and time in oestral cycle. The parameters studied were: glucose, insulin, progesterone, fructosamine and the newly introduced analysis of HbA1c. Hba1c was also further evaluated and discussed as a diagnostic tool in canine medicine.No differences in terms of glucose markers were found between a group of purebreed dogs of various breeds compared to a group of dogs with high risk of dioestrus diabetes, namely the Norwegian and Swedish elkhounds.No differences were found between the two sample occasions, anoestrus and dioestrus, concluding that there is no need for relating test results to the time of the oestrous cycle in middle-aged intact female dogs.There were statistically significant higher values of all glucose markers in diabetic dogs than in non-diabetic dogs. When it came to HbA1c, however, there was a larger overlap between the two groups, compared to fructosamine.

Myxomatous mitral valve disease is a common disease in older dogs of small- to medium-size breeds. The mitral valve, and less commonly the tricuspid valve may be affected which causes them to leak blood from the ventricle to the atrium of the heart during systole. With increasing severity of mitral valve leakage the forward stroke volume ejected into the aorta decreases, which may lead to an increase in blood pressure in the pulmonary vein resulting in pulmonary edema. A decrease in cardiac output may lead to a decrease in blood pressure, but the body may respond in order to normalize the blood pressure. Franzén showed in 2007 that the systolic blood pressure was increased in dogs with severe mitral insufficiency.

This is a study of some risk factors for Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in dogs. As a pilot study it is meant to give information to be used in a planned later, larger and better controlled study. The present study hypothesized that suboptimal feeding (high percentage of homemade and table foods), lack of activity and overweight contribute to the risk of DM. Twenty consecutive dogs diagnosed with DM at the Veterinary University Clinic in Uppsala between 2000 ? 2003 were chosen as the experimental group.

SAMMANFATTNINGDenna litteraturstudie har gjorts med syfte att utöka kunskapen om atopisk dermatit hos hund med fokus på mastcellens roll i immunopatogenesen. Atopisk dermatit är en relativt vanlig sjukdom som kan drabba alla hundar oavsett ras; den är oftast livslång och kräver visst arbete för att diagnosticera och behandla med gott resultat. Förutom att det är ett problem hos hundar, finns även ett nära samband med atopiska sjukdomar hos människa, och hundar fungerar som en bra modell för forskning på humansidan.Trots omfattande forskning, vet man fortfarande inte varför sjukdomen uppkommer. Många teorier finns kring den immunologiska bakgrunden, men stora delar är fortfarande okända. Att mastcellen spelar en nyckelroll är dock allmänt vedertaget.

Methadone is frequently used as an analgesic drug for dogs although there are very few studies describing the pharmacokinetics of methadone in this species. In man methadone has a long half-life and there are considerable differences in pharmacokinetics between individuals. The dose interval is lengthened when the drug is used fore longer periods of time due to prolonged half-life. Therefore the drug dose must be adjusted individually. The purpose of this study was to study the fundamental pharmacokinetics of methadone in dogs, and to find an optimal drug dosage.

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease spread worldwide. The most common sources of infection for all animals and humans are bites from dogs or bats. The aim of this degree project was to diagnose and determine the source of infection for 11 rabies samples from São Paulo State and Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Diagnosis was made through direct immunofluorescence assay, mouse inoculation and RT-PCR. The sources of infection were determined by sequencing 234 nucleotides of the 5? end of the N-gene and align these with homologous sequences retrieved from GenBank.