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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (45 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Davis Previously Published Works (2019)
It has been widely reported that service dogs offer benefits to their human partners, however, it is unclear whether the expanding methods of training and roles of service dogs for their partners with various disabilities also provide similar benefits. This study aimed to investigate the self-reported experience of service dog partners to understand whether three different factors influence the benefits and drawbacks associated with partnering with a service dog: (1) different methods of training service dogs; (2) different severities of human partners' disabilities; (3) different roles of service dogs. Partners of service dogs were recruited to the web survey through service dog facilities and networking groups. Answers from 19 men and 147 women participants (91.8% living in the U.S.) were analyzed in this study. Participants experienced the expected benefits of service dogs, including increased independence, social relationships, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, and decreased anxiety, stress, and loneliness. However, the perceived benefits, concerns, and burdens differed depending on the partners' disabilities and the training history of the dogs. When first living with their service dogs, people who had self-trained their service dogs experienced more burdens than those living with professionally trained service dogs. No major reduction in expenses for assistance after acquiring a dog was reported. Personalized team training based on each person's disabilities and situation is required to optimize the benefits and minimize the burdens and concerns of living with service dogs.
    Cover page: Professionally- and Self-Trained Service Dogs: Benefits and Challenges for Partners With Disabilities
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Davis Previously Published Works (2019)
    Despite increasing information on enhancing client communication and compliance/adherence in veterinary medicine, literature focusing on special cases remains limited: working with clients with special needs, challenges or disabilities, or when the patient is an assistance or emotional support animal. This paper summarizes current recommendations on how best to build successful working relationships with these clients, including action items to implement in practice. In addition, this paper reviews current literature on important considerations for care of assistance dogs as patients.
      Cover page: Enhancing Success of Veterinary Visits for Clients With Disabilities and an Assistance Dog or Companion Animal: A Review
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Davis Previously Published Works (2021)
      Sickness behavior is broadly represented in vertebrates, usually in association with the fever response in response to acute infections. The reactions to sickness behavior in a group member or potential group member in humans is quite variable, depending upon circumstances. In animals, the reactions to sickness behavior in a group member or potential group member evoke a specific response that reflects the species-specific lifestyle. Groups of animals can employ varied strategies to reduce or address exposure to sickness. Most of these have scarcely been studied in nature from a disease perspective: (1) adjusting exposure to sick conspecifics or contaminated areas; (2) caring for a sick group member; (3) peripheralization and agonistic behaviors to strange non-group conspecifics; and (4) using special strategies at parturition when newborn are healthy but vulnerable. Unexplored in this regard is infanticide, where newborn that are born with very little immunity until they receive antibody-rich colostrum, could be a target of maternal infanticide if they manifest signs of sickness and could be infectious to littermates. The strategies used by different species are highly specific and dependent upon the particular circumstances. What is needed is a more general awareness and consideration of the possibilities that avoiding or adapting to sickness behavior may be driving some social behaviors of animals in nature.
        Cover page: How Does the Social Grouping of Animals in Nature Protect Against Sickness? A Perspective
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Davis Previously Published Works (2018)
        Mammals live and thrive in environments presenting ongoing threats from parasites in the form of biting flies, ticks and intestinal worms and from pathogens as wound contaminants and agents of infectious disease. Several strategies have evolved that enable animals to deal with parasites and pathogens, including eliminating away from the sleeping-resting areas, use of an array of grooming techniques, use of saliva in licking, and consuming medicinal plant-based compounds. These strategies all are species-specific and reflect the particular environment that the animal inhabits.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Evolution of pathogen and parasite avoidance behaviours'.
          Cover page: How mammals stay healthy in nature: the evolution of behaviours to avoid parasites and pathogens.
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Davis Previously Published Works (2008)

          Various aspects of the field known as the human-animal bond (HAB), or human-animal interactions, have expanded within veterinary medical education over the past quarter of a century. Using a variety of databases and informed search strategies, relevant information can be accessed, including recent articles, databases, journals, academic centers, societies and associations, programs, and key references. In this paper, methods for accessing resources supporting veterinary education on the HAB are organized into four subject areas: the HAB in veterinary school curricula; social work and support services for veterinary clients; the benefits of the HAB for human well-being, with applications of animal-assisted therapies, activities, and education; and companion animal behavior and welfare concerns. A related Web site can be accessed at http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/CCAB/humananimalinteractions.html.

            Cover page: The human-animal bond in veterinary medical education: accessing web-based information.
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Davis Previously Published Works (2015)
              Cover page: Exploring the Borderlands Between Wild and Non-Wild Animals: Wildlife Law and Policy in Transition
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Davis Previously Published Works (2023)
              The size of adult male giraffes (Giraffa giraffa angolensis) far exceeds the size of the females. At the Namutoni waterholes in Etosha National Park, bulls were seen many times each day screening adult females for their pending sexual receptivity by provoking them to urinate; this mainly involved sniffing their genitalia. If the female accedes to the male's invitation, she widens her hindleg stance, braces her body, and then urinates, usually for at least five seconds. The male places his muzzle and tongue in the urine stream, and then performs flehmen, often raising his head high in the air. Males never investigated urine on the ground. The bilateral papillae on the giraffe's hard palate connect with the nasopalatine ducts, which enter the bilateral vomeronasal organ (VNO). Unlike many mammals, the giraffe's VNO lacks a prominent connection to the nasal cavity and its connections to the oral cavity are primarily via the incisive papillae. Most days, some giraffes were observed searching for bones for extended periods, chewing them, and sometimes being troubled by a bone stuck in their mouth. A giraffe killed by lions was frequented for several days by a procession of giraffes investigating the carcass. A very dark-colored bull giraffe emitted loud pulsed growls that drove off most of the surrounding giraffes.
                Cover page: Flehmen, Osteophagia, and Other Behaviors of Giraffes (Giraffa giraffa angolensis): Vomeronasal Organ Adaptation
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Davis Previously Published Works (2004)

                The use of animals in teaching for college, veterinary and medical education in the USA has sharply declined in recent decades. Economic disincentives and public discussions have diminished this use of animals, as well as the growing availability of alternative resources for teaching. In the USA, the use of live animals in teaching at the post-secondary level requires a protocol review similar to that used for research, whereas protocols are not required for the use of non-living specimens. Many outstanding alternatives have been created that supplant some uses of animals. Creating alternatives for a comprehensive biological or veterinary curriculum can best be addressed by a long-term commitment of leadership at the institutional level, leading to an incremental development of alternatives. Economic realities and the demonstration of educational results equal to, or exceeding that of the consumptive uses of animals support supplanting the more traditional methods. Committed leadership at the University of California, Davis, has facilitated the development of teaching tools and the mainstreaming of alternatives within the standard undergraduate and veterinary curriculum. The institutional culture supports these resources, and finding further solutions requiring less consumptive uses of animals. We introduce here a web-based tool providing improved access to these resources: www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/Animal-Alternatives/main.htm.

                  Cover page: Uses of animals and alternatives in college and veterinary education at the University of California, Davis: Institutional commitment for mainstreaming alternatives
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Davis Previously Published Works (2021)
                  Extensive practice and knowledge of the methods and effects of castration of male livestock and even humans has been widespread since ancient times, but only a few decades ago did neutering (including spaying) become a routine part of canine husbandry. In the US, the 6-month neuter became standard practice. Only recently, however, have some of the consequences of this major physiological alteration become evident. As the data-based study on 35 breeds reveals, there are major breed differences associated with effects of neutering, especially with early neutering, including increased risks of joint disorders and some cancers. The study of mixed-breed dogs reveals that the risk of joint disorders is increased in the large dogs. Implications of breed-specific and sex-specific effects for age of neutering have prompted the consideration of a new paradigm with regard to this practice. This involves focusing on each individual dog when deciding upon the appropriate age of neutering to avoid increasing the risk of a joint disorder or cancer above that inherent for the breed. For many breeds, particularly the smaller dogs, no effects were found for the age of neutering on joint disorders and the cancers followed. In these cases, the caregiver has a wide range of choice for neutering without increasing the dog's risk for these diseases. In the future, additional research may reveal more about other increased risks for age-related cognitive dysfunction or elevated levels of luteinizing hormone caused by gonad removal, and lead to revised guidelines.
                    Cover page: An Ancient Practice but a New Paradigm: Personal Choice for the Age to Spay or Neuter a Dog.
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC Davis Previously Published Works (2014)
                    Trapping and handling is stressful for wild animals andmay result in injuries. Minimizing stress and injuries is important not only for the welfare of the animals, but to assure integrity of research using trapped wild animals. By recording injury rates associated with trapping and handling, it is possible to assess the welfare performance of trapping and handling methods. Although the International Organization for Standardization published a standardized scale for the type and severity of injuries caused by trapping and handling (ISO 1999), it does not provide guidelines for acceptable standards of animal welfare; that is left to the researchers themselves to determine. The purpose of this paper is to measure the level of injury to wild squirrels caused by trapping and handling using minimally disruptive methods. We report our injury rates from several studies conducted in California, USA, that used various trapping and handling methods and the refined procedures we have adopted. Our data set on multiple Sciuridae species provides values for comparison with other studies. We found that using a canvas cover for traps minimized stress and injuries in captured squirrels. We also found that using a cone handling bag minimized handling time and stress associated with handling and eliminated the need for chemical immobilants. Further, we found that covering the animals' eyes during handling appeared to reduce visible signs of stress. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.
                      Cover page: Trapping and handling squirrels: Trap modification and handling restraint to minimize injuries and stress
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