11/12. Preventive behavioural medicine Flashcards
(43 cards)
Pre-purchase counselling for owners: What makes a suitable pet?
- No appreciable risk of harm to the community or the environment
- Adequately meet the needs of the species within captivity
- Suitable interactions with humans to ensure continued commitment
- For common companion species:
- Breed
- Health
- Morphology
- Behaviour
- Age
- Energy
- Training
- Health concerns
- Sex differences
- Source
Ethical Sourcing; where should dogs come from?
- ‘Adopt don’t shop’ is a great concept, but not realistic – for dogs
- Only use breeders that prioritize good health, behaviour and welfare
standards - Does large-scale necessarily mean that the breeder is bad?
- Beware of importation
- Sources of further information for clients, for pre-puchase info
- Kennel clubs
- Humane organizations (eg. ASPCA, BCSPCA)
- Online breed selector programs
Overview of early behaviour education for clients
- Appropriate socialization
- Appropriate training methods
- Meeting behavioural needs
- Pet-proofing
- Early behaviour issues
* Housetraining (covered later), jumping up, puppy biting/chewing, kitten rough play
What is the MOST CRITICAL topic to cover during early appointments?
behaviour-related topics
Socialization for puppies and kittens; how do we do it, why is it important
Appropriate early exposure is critical to normal development
* Promoting normal development of social and exploratory behaviours through early exposure to a variety of different people, animals, places and things – socialization
Early learning key to prevention of behaviour problems
* Safe objects and environments
* Appropriate social partners
* Appropriate species-typical behaviours
Sensitive periods; what are they? what happens once they close?
- Attachments and familiarity develop relatively easily and rapidly
- Starts with social and environmental exploration
- Once close, new things are treated with suspicion, slower process
sensitive periods for cats and dogs; when are they?
- Puppies – 3 to 16 weeks
- Kittens – 2 to 9 weeks
Canine Behavioural Development
- Neonatal – first 2 weeks
- Mainly sleeping and nursing, seeking tactile contact
- Transition – 2-3 weeks
- Eyes and ears open, become mobile, start interactions, eating solid
foods - Socialization – 3 to 12(-16* said in previous slide?) weeks
- Maturation of motor skills and nervous system
- Imprinting – dog identification and learning social limits
- 5-8 weeks optimum for socialization
- 8-14 weeks stranger danger develops, also parallel fear of objects
- Juvenile period
- Reinforcement of socialization and environmental complexity necessary
Feline Behavioural Development
- Neonatal – first week
- Eating, sleep, basic interactions with mother and littermates
- Transitional – second week
- Begins adult forms of eating and locomotion, emergence of
social behaviours - Socialization – 2 to 7(-9** from last slide) weeks
- Formation of social bonds/familiarity
- Adolescent
- Maturation of motor skills
- Ongoing socialization
- Adoption ideally at 10-16 weeks?
Inadequate socialization - Dogs; how does it occur?
Complete isolation from humans
* Withdrawal from humans starting after 5 weeks
* Intractable fear of humans after 14 weeks
Hand-rearing with isolation from other dogs
* After 12 weeks, passive with peers leading to later aggression
* Altered interactions with humans
how much socialization is required to avoid inadequate socialization?
- Only minutes of exposure per day is necessary to ameliorate extreme effects
- But reduced exposure to particular stimuli results in increased fear and aggression
Inadequate socialization - Cats; when does this occur? what are the results? how to avoid?
- Increased human avoidance when handling occurs outside of the 2-7 week period
- More handling associated with increased friendliness in adulthood
> Upper limit of ~1 hour per day - Enhanced socialization results in reduced fear in response to humans
in adult cats - Kittens exposed to puppies from 4 weeks of age showed no fear at 12 weeks of age, those unexposed very fearful
Fear-related issues
- Reduced welfare
- Related behaviour problems
- Eg. Aggression, noise phobia, house-soiling
- Consequences of behaviour problems and reduced bonding with pet
Benefits of socialization for veterinary care
Well-socialized pets will be easier to handle for both the owner and veterinary staff
* More complete physical exams
* More accurate diagnostics with reduced stress
* Easier to deliver treatments and increased client compliance * Owner more likely to bring pet to the vet
when should we tell owners about sensitive period?
Engage owners at first appointment
* Sensitive period is a limited window and occurs early
* Ends 12-16 weeks for puppies, 7-9 weeks for kittens
* Many owners aren’t aware of socialization requirements or are misinformed about risks
* Veterinarians are the only consistent exposure that puppy and kitten owners have during this time
* One of the most trusted sources of information
Effects of age of adoption for puppies
- Compared 3—40 days versus 70 days, higher rates of various behaviour problems in early weaned dogs
for socialization; What about older puppies and kittens?
For well-socialized animals
* Socialization should continue throughout the life of the animal
For poorly socialized animals
* Most won’t have complete deprivation, so some base to build on
* Will take longer with more effort, lack of generalization
* Particularly important for experiences to be positive
what types of stimuli should a puppy or kitten be exposed to during their sensitive period?
- Everything the puppy or kitten is likely to encounter later in life
- Use checklists
- Open discussion on lifestyle with owners
- Consider what life might be like over next 10 years
- People
- Dogs/cats
- Environments
- Sounds
- Surfaces
- Handling
- Transportation
Managing disease risks and safety concerns for socialization period; risks of disease? how to manage with vaccines?
- There are disease and safety risks associated with socialization activities… but the risk of serious behaviour problems without proper socialization is much higher!
- Risk of contracting canine parvovirus, but probably small based on studies
- Encourage owners to start vaccine series as early as possible
> Wait 1 week after first vaccination for titre to build - Prior to this, socialize but stick to safe activities
- After this, start moderately safe activities
- Following complete series, expand to more ‘risky’ activities
after first vaccination, how should we manage risks of socialization?
Choose safe dogs for socialization
* Fully vaccinated adults that play gently
* Healthy puppies with at least first vaccination
Choose safe environments
* Puppy classes with appropriate cleaning and vaccination
requirements
* Low traffic areas where potentially unsafe dogs can be avoided
* Avoid the dog park and other busy areas where control is limited
Managing disease risks and safety concerns - caveats
- Disease risks can vary by region and with season
- Be aware of risks in your area
Primary goal of good puppy classes
- Primary goal of good puppy classes is socialization
- Safe environment with various staged encounters
- Many owners aren’t aware of this
- Not all classes offer these opportunities
- Kitten classes are also available, but not as common
Choosing a puppy/kitten class
- Encourage owners to ask lots of questions
- All puppies should have at least first vaccination
- Clean and free of potential dangers
- Positive-reinforcement based methods
- Good rapport with instructors
- AVSAB handout on finding a trainer
