Post-anaesthetic myopathy (PAM) is a serious occasional complication of general anaesthesia in horses. It causes not only pain and suffering to the horse, but also suffering (trauma) to the owner with increased veterinary costs. In the worst case PAM can be fatal. The anaesthetic nurse must know which parameters have to be taken into consideration in the prevention of PAM, to be able to prevent it, and use that knowledge for the animals safety. The aim of this literature review was to investigate and make a presentation of the factors and measurements associated with PAM, with focus on how to monitor these measurements to prevent it from happening, and the advice a Veterinary nurse can give to the horse owner regarding this condition. According to literature there a few factors that greatly increase the risk of PAM, these include- hypotension, periods less than 60 mmHg significantly increases the risk.

The artic fox is under threat of extermination in Europe. The population decreased strongly at the beginning of the twentieth century because of intensive hunting. The artic fox was placed under protection by law 1928 in Sweden but despite this the population has had difficultly to recover. This can depend on several reasons, but the main threats are shortage of food and competition from the red fox. Along with Norway and Finland, Sweden has carried out a project called SEFALO (Saving the Endangered Fennoscandian Alopex lagopus), whose objectives were to prevent continued decreased populationnumbers and through, for example supplementary feeding, help the population to recover.

The large number of surrendered and feral cats is a big animal welfare problem all over the world. Populations of feral cats arise through a large number of unwanted cats which can lead to surrender of these, through cats allowed to roam free outside which can lead to the owner losing these and through the reproduction that occurs amongst these surrendered or lost cats. One aim of this study is to give an account of this problem. It is however difficult to draw general conclusions about these populations of cats since studies all over the world has been carried out on different types of populations, during different conditions and different periods of time. The welfare of many of these cats is presumably low because they are exposed to risks as disease, starvation, climate, traffic, other animals and humans.

ABSTRACT There is present a lot of focus on animal welfare issues during transport and the related loading and unloading of animals. This thesis is a field study investigating the present situation of beef and dairy farms in Sweden. The predominant reasons stressing cattle when transported to abattoirs are when they are loaded and unloaded on the trucks. The aim of this thesis is to improve the handling and the loading facilities to facilitate the handling and reduce the stress for the animals as well as the personnel. The field study was done by travelling together with the transports from the farm to the abattoir in Uppsala. Three trucks where used and about 60 farms were visited January to March 2003.

Major changes within the agricultural politics today have forced the dairy production to scaleup, in order to compete on a global market. This has resulted in a reduction in the number ofsmaller dairy farms in Sweden, from about 40000 to just over 4000 over the last 30 years. Thepurpose of this study Svenska mjölkbönder, snart ett minne blott? ? Markbygdensmjölkbönder i tankar om mjölkproduktionens nuvarande situation och framtidsutsikter, is topresent the opinions of dairy farmers in Sweden, regarding the Swedish dairy industry and therelation to their own dairy production. A secondary purpose is to problematize how theconsequences of pastures and cultural landscapes influences human society as dairy farms andgrazing animals are becoming fewer.

In this thesis, the flows of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in Scania were investigated and quantified. The thesis was also intended to form a basis for comparison between the urban nitrogen flow and other flows of nitrogen within Scania. The management of nitrogen in society has disturbed the natural nitrogen cycle. This is linked to a series of environmental problems such as eutrophication, acidification, global warming and smog. The method used was Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) for Nr. For calculation and flow charts Scania was divided into three subsystems; air, water and society.

AbstractWe are facing a century of rapid change in climate, with significant challenges in managing the impact of changes in living conditions for plants and animals. We can already see the responses of species through changes in phenology and spatial distribution, which may change ecosystem structure and function, with subsequent effect on ecosystem services and biological diversity. In Sweden, between 2005 and 2010, the red-listed species has increased by 13 % and similar trends can be seen across the world, making it difficult to attain national and international environmental objectives of preserving biodiversity. One way to reduce the loss of biodiversity is to protect nature from exploitation by allocating valuable areas as nature reserves, but climate change affects protected areas just as much as other landscapes and therefore requires elaborate systems of protection to facilitate species' survival. The paper has examined  how the decisions and management plans for nature reserves in Sweden have been followed-up and whether they are climate adapted or not by examining 30 nature reserves, classified as newly formed (2012), recently revised (2009-2011) and older (1977-2007) reserves, and assessed what is in the decisions and management plans for follow-up, revision, long-term goals and documentation.

The Pallas cat is a small cat living in central Asia. The cat is approximately the size of a domestic cat but the Pallas cat is more stocky build and has a much thicker fur that enables the cat to live in a climate with temperatures plummeting to -50°C. The thick fur is one of the reasons this cat has been a popular game for hunters in the past. Nowadays there are other threats to the Pallas cat. One of the major threats today is the reduction of food sources.

Akupunktur har används i många år som behandling mot diverse sjukdomstillstånd, bland annat som smärtlindring. Om man kan använda akupunktur som ett komplement till medicinsk smärtlindring, skulle man få billigare och säkrare behandlingar och sövningar. Denna artikel är ett försök i att reda ut om det finns vetenskaplig grund till akupunkturens analgetiska effekt, och hur detta verkar i kroppen. Flera forskare har genomfört studier som förklarar hur smärtlindringsmekanismen verkar, och jag går här igenom 6 teorier: gatewayteorin, aktivering av GABA-receptorer samt frisättning av serotonin och noradrenalin, frisättning av endogena opioider, frisättning av antiinflammatoriska cytokiner, ändrad aktivitet i olika delar av hjärnan, och halten cholecystokinin octapeptid (CCK-8). Det finns flera motsägande artiklar till många av teorierna, men den teori som verkar ha störst belägg är frisättning av endogena opioider. Naloxon, som är en opioidantagonist för alla opioidreceptorer, blockerar analgesi som uppstått efter akupunktur, likaväl som den blockerar analgesi från morfin.

Two haematological instruments intended for small animal clinic use were evaluated at the Department of Clinical Chemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. The QBC-V and Vet abc were compared to a reference instrument, the Cell-Dyn 3500. Fresh blood samples were obtained from canine and feline patients from the University Veterinary Hospital, SLU. The QBC-V was used for 111 canine samples and 78 canine blood samples were analysed with Vet abc. From cats, 23 samples were analysed with both instruments.

This study was conducted at VikingGenetics' bull breeding station in Falkenberg, Sweden. The bulls waiting for the results of their progeny testing at this station are either kept in group housing or individual housing. Since both of these housing systems have advantages and disadvantages, it was in the interest of VikingGenetics to know which of these housing systems is the best. The aim of this study was to investigate the welfare of the bulls in these two housing systems through behavioural observations and the use of activity monitors. In the preparations for the study 16 bulls, 8 in each housing system, were chosen.

Stereotypic pacing is frequently observed in captive carnivores, however the underlying causes of this behaviour remain somewhat unclear. One of these possible causes are unpredictable feeding signals, which may give rise to frustration and subsequent pacing. Animal keepers at Nordens Ark had noticed that their Amur leopards had shown stereotypic pacing in connection to the passing of ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) used by animal keepers primarly when feeding the animals in the park. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the stereotypic pacing of the two Amur leopards at Nordens Ark were affected by the introduction of a signal associated with feeding. The leopards were trained by classical conditioning to associate the sound of a siren with the delivery of food by an animal keeper.

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.

Användningen av biomarkörer inom medicin är ett viktigt verktyg för att ställa diagnos och fatta terapetiska beslut. Surfaktant protein D (SP-D) har visat sig vara en lovande biomarkör för perifera lungsjukdomar på humansidan och har därför även börjat studeras inom veterinärmedicinen. Surfaktant protein D är ett relativt lungspecifikt protein och produceras främst i perifera delar av lungorna, f.f.a av claraceller i bronkioler och typ II pneumocyter i alveoler. Det fungerar som ett akutfasprotein med liknande egenskaper som kollektiner och är därför viktigt för medfödda immunförsvaret. Förutom detta har det också visat sig vara grundläggande för normala lunghomeostasen genom att utgöra en beståndsdel i surfaktant. Mekanismerna bakom dess funktion i lungan är dock inte helt klarlagda. Eftersom SP-D är så basalt för lungan påverkas det ofta kraftigt vid perifera lungskador.

The Northern Raccoon (Procyon lotor) belongs to the Carnivore-family and is a species endemic to North America. Every year hundreds of orphaned raccoon cubs are admitted into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota (WRCM), a non-profit organization where all injured or orphaned wild animals are admitted and receive quality health care with the goal of being released out into the wild. The WRCM routinely vaccinate all of the admitted raccoon cubs with a killed feline panleucopenia vaccine, but despite this there are outbreaks of parvovirus infection every year where up to 50% of the admitted cubs have been euthanized or died. The objective of this study was to determine whether vaccinating the admitted raccoon kits has any significant protective effect to developing clinical parvoviral disease. A single-blinded cohort study was designed with two parallel, independent groups. One group was given a dose of killed feline parvovirus vaccine at admission, and the other group was not given any vaccination at all. Assignment to the vaccinated or unvaccinated group was on a per-litter basis and done randomly by drawing lots out of a box.