Volume: 3, 2024
3rd International PhD Student’s Conference at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland:
ENVIRONMENT – PLANT – ANIMAL – PRODUCT
Abstract number: A014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24326/ICDSUPL3.A014
Published online: 24 April 2024
ICDSUPL, 3, A014 (2024)
Effect of anxiety in dogs on the incidence of grade V lameness after healed knee injuries treated with surgery (design of experiment)
Milena Juśkiewicz1*, Małgorzata Goleman1, Izabela Rodzyń2
1 Department of Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Faculty of Animal Sciences and Bioeconomy, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
2 Department of Animal Hygiene and Environmental Hazards, Faculty of Animal Sciences and Bioeconomy, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
* Corresponding author: juskiewicz.milena@gmail.com
Abstract
Anxiety in dogs is a problem that affects many individuals, both pure-breed and mixed breed dogs. The aforementioned anxiety can affect the course and effectiveness of the animal’s recovery from any injury requiring surgical intervention. Grade V lameness is a pathological condition that is unrelated to the physical condition of the dog and is rather a behavioural problem. It is therefore important to obtain knowledge of the correlation between the degree of anxiety of an individual and the appearance of grade V lameness following knee injury and full rehabilitation. The therapist’s own appropriate approach to the anxious animal and modification of the standard rehabilitation protocol appears to be the only effective way to rehabilitate anxious dogs so as not to cause the animal unnecessary stress and subsequent grade V lameness. The proposed research design will allow us to verify the hypothesis of whether anxiety can significantly influence the occurrence of behavioural complications in the rehabilitation process, as well as to point out the direction of work to ensure the comfort of the anxious patient as much as possible. The experimental material will be a group of 40 small- and miniature-breed dogs following surgery for tibial tuberosity transposition and femoral block deepening, in the early stages of recovery. Animals will be characterised as fearful or non-anxious by a zoophysiotherapist using a specially designed assessment test. The results will be compared with the duration and effects of full rehabilitation, modified or not, depending on the timidity of the patient. The research will therefore result in a novel rehabilitation protocol targeting the anxious dog. The study is intended to draw attention to a problem occurring in animal rehabilitation clinics and to direct veterinarians, zoophysiotherapists and pet owners towards appropriate forms of behavioural and/or pharmacological therapy. An individual, suitably modified approach to working with an anxious animal will increase the patient’s psychological comfort and enhance the effectiveness of the rehabilitation process. In the near future, rehabilitation protocols should not only include strictly physiotherapy-related management, but will be tailored to patients primarily from a behavioural perspective.
Keywords: canis lupus familiaris, anxiety, zoophysiotherapy, grade V lameness
How to cite
M. Juśkiewicz, M. Goleman, I. Rodzyń, 2024. Effect of anxiety in dogs on the incidence of grade V lameness after healed knee injuries treated with surgery (design of experiment). In: 3rd International PhD Student’s Conference at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland: Environment – Plant – Animal – Product. https://doi.org/10.24326/ICDSUPL3.A014