Each year 225 million pigs are transported within the European Union (EU) for slaughter, fattening and breeding. This results in poor animal welfare due to the fact that animals are exposed to several numbers of stress factors in the vehicle during loading, transit and unloading. Animal welfare can be defined as how well the animal attempts to cope with its environment and during transport there is often severe difficulty for the pigs to cope properly. There is a growing societal concern for animal welfare. This resulted in that the European Union enacted a law called the EU-regulation with certain directives of how to improve the welfare of the animals during transport.

Lameness localized to the hoof is a common problem in horses. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a diagnostic tool is becoming more common and is well suited for examination of the distal limb and the hoof capsule. Today there are two different methods of MRI where in one the horse is under general anesthesia and in the other the horse is standing and only sedated. In this study we have compared the visualization of the distal interphalangeal joint using these two methods in two different groups of horses with unknown clinical problems referred to two different equine hospitals. The width of the joint structures including thickness of joint cartilage and joint fluid and also the width of the dorsal pouch of the distal interphalangeal joint were measured.

A variety of food is produced and passes the whole chain by processing, transport and trade and finally it ends up with the consumer. But in many cases, the food is disposed before it is eaten. Some of the produced food does not even pass the whole entire chain before it turns to waste. The question about food waste in debates is a case of access to food for every human beeing. It is question of consumption of the resources, waste management and an issue of environmental impact.

Pigs in Swedish organic production systems have been shown to have more findings of arthritis at slaughter, compared to pigs in conventional pig production. With this in mind a study was performed, to primary, investigate variation in exterior, gait and weight gain between sire breeds and, secondly, to investigate variation between herds, season, gender, age and assessment occasion on these recordings. Swedish commercial hybrids, crosses between Norwegian Landrace and Swedish Yorkshire were inseminated with either Hampshire or Duroc as terminal sire. All the pigs had known pedigree as each semen dose contained sperms from one individual boar. All piglets were individually tagged closely after birth, and exterior and gait assessment were performed at two separate occasions, early and late during the fattening period.

Traumatic arthritis is a common cause of lameness in horses. One of different treatment alternatives of arthritis, is intra-articular injection with hyaluronan. As knowledge about pathophysiology of arthritis and function of hyaluronan is increasing, understanding grows about the mechanism of hyaluronan action in joints. Hyaluronan has, in addition to effects on viscosity, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. Extensive research and scientific studies have been made on exogenous hyaluronan.

Suspensory ligament injuries are a common cause of lameness among sport horses. These injuries are expensive due to slow healing, extensive convalescence and high risk of recurrence. The prognosis has been reported to be everything from good to guarded depending on the size of the lesion and the location within the suspensory ligament. The purpose of this study was to determine how different factors such as age, use, and location of the lesion are associated with the final outcome after a suspensory ligament injury. Material: Hospital records of 27 horses treated for suspensory ligament injuries at SLU equine hospital in Skara, Sweden, between January 2002 and July 2003 were examined retrospectively.

The aim of this study is to evaluate an alternative projection of the Medial Coronoid Process (MCP) of the canine elbow joint. The projection (Di35M-PrLO) was, to my knowledge, first mentioned in an article by Haudiquet et al in 2002. In that article the projection was tested in vitro, and a good sensitivity was showed for the Medial Coronoid Process. The projection might be helpful in cases of suspected Fragmented Coronoid Process (FCP) . This study is divided into three parts. The first part is an in-vivo test of the projection, including technique and subjective evaluation of the outlining of the MCP.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cow-level association between acute hoof lesions and the somatic milk cell count in dairy cattle. Cows from three loose-housed Swedish dairy herds were enrolled in the study if they had an acute hoof lesion treated by a veterinarian or professional hoof trimmer during the preceding year, according to farmer records. Studied lesions were sole ulcer, dermatitis, interdigital necrobacillosis and hoof abscess, in each case causing lameness. For each hoof-diseased cow, 0 to 3 healthy cows were included, matched with respect to herd, breed, parity and lactation stage. Cell counts were obtained from monthly test recordings from one month before to three months after the hoof-lesion diagnosis, and log-transformed.

The horse was domesticated about 6000 years ago. Since then humans have used the horse for different purposes, such as work force and in sports. Horses are social, group living animals that spend around 16-17 hours a day on grazing. Horses are often kept stabled in single boxes with a limited feeding time. The forage usually contains grain-based concentrates and roughage.

Several bulls in Sweden are culled because of lameness. Studies of beef bulls have shown that osteochondrosis is an important underlying cause of hind limb problems (Persson, 2003; Dutra, 1998). Osteochondrosis in horses, dogs, swine, poultry and man are well documentated in the literature, but there are few studies in cattle. The prevalence of osteochondrosis in dairy bulls in Sweden is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence and localisation of osteochondrosis in the hindlimbs of dairy bulls. This study consists of 48 one-year-old bulls divided into four groups related to which farm they came from.

Floor surface in pig facilities can have an impact on animal welfare and pig health, as it can cause the pig physical damage and thereby increased risk of infectious diseases and lameness. The development of pig housing systems has resulted in a decreased use of bedding. It seems hard to find the optimal floor in farrowing pens, as it must suit both the sow and piglets. The floor friction needs to be adequate to avoid slips and at the same time should the floor be non-abrasive. Abrasions and lesions caused by the floor are not only causing the animal suffering, but are also negative from an economical aspect.

The aetiology of osteochondrosis (OC) is known to be complex and multifactorial. The occurrence of bone fragments in joints and their connection to osteochondral disease are no exception. In the hock and stifle joint of the horse this type of lesion has generally been considered to be of osteochondral origin, while the process behind these fragments in the fetlock joint has been up for discussion. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and the localisation of OC in Swedish warmblooded horses. In order to do so all radiographs of stifle, hock and fetlock joints performed on Swedish warmblooded horses during the period of 1992-1999 at Regiondjursjukhuset in Helsingborg were examined and the material was divided into two groups.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element that is involved in several physiological functions in mammals. Mostly, Se is bound to proteins, many of them with enzymatic functions. A group of seleno-depending enzymes, glutathione peroxidases (GSH-Px?s), are important as antioxidants and protects against free radicals. The activity of GSH-Px is strongly regulated by Se storage in the liver.

In the dog breed Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (NSDTR) several dogs suffer from joint pain and possibly pain from the muscles. This diffuse disease is called Immune-mediated Non- Erosive Arthritis in Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. The disease is most likely of autoimmune nature where the etiology still is unknown. The musculoskeletal symptoms of stiffness and shifting lameness are intermittently seen. Some dogs also have dermatological changes and some dogs suffer from pain when opening their mouth. The study included 20 diseased and 20 healthy NSDTR. The purpose was to describe immune-mediated arthritis in NSDTR based on symptoms, results of analysis and effect of treatment. Among the diseased dogs 65% had serum positive for antinuclear antibodies by indirect immunofluorescense (IIF) ANA-test.

Animal welfare in Sweden has gone through major changes during the later years. In 2004, Swedish Animal Welfare Agency took over the central responsibility for the animal welfare from the Swedish Board of Agriculture, and in 2007 the board again became the central authority for animal welfare in Sweden.Even the practical supervision has changed, from the 1 of January 2009 the supervision is to be performed by the county administrative boards, instead of by the individual municipalities. Since 2006 every horse in the European Union has to have an identification card, in Sweden called a ?horse passport? which describes the color and markings of the horse as well as any veterinary treatments.The ELOF-project, a collaborative project between the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the county administrative boards, intends to make the animal welfare supervision effective, standardised, fair and risk-based. Because of the takeover of the supervision and of the ELOF-project the Örebro County Administrative Board has began to make an inventory of the number of horses and horsefarms in the county. Another Ethology and Animal Welfare-student and I did, in collaboration with the county administrative board created a checklist that in connection with the inventory will lead to a risk-based animal welfare supervision.