Companion animals

Cat relaxing on couch — 📷 Galyna Andrushko // Colourbox.com

Companion animals are growing in numbers not only in the West but also in many Asian countries (e.g., China). In some respects companion animals receive special treatment (as compared with other animals used by us). In other respects, however, they suffer as a direct result of the way we use them. Some companion animals, for instance, develop health or behavioural problems caused by social and physical factors in their environment.

Our awareness of the importance of companion animals in many people's lives is growing; in fact such animals are frequently used for therapeutic purposes. At the same time, many companion animals are abandoned, given up to shelters, or euthanized. Companion animals thus seem to be viewed both as individuals to be respected in their own right and as disposable sources of enrichment for humans.

Below you will find a variety of publications about companion animal ethics and welfare. They are also sorted within the categories listed in the left menu bar.

You can also search among all publications on the site here:

2022.09.16

A transnational study on veterinarians’ recommendations concerning radiotherapy in dogs and cats with cancer

Using an online questionnaire (N=636), we investigated what treatment Austrian, Danish and UK veterinarians would recommend for a cat and a dog in a disease scenario where adjunctive radiotherapy would be optimal.

2022.08.23

Compete or Cooperate with ‘Dr. Google’? Small Animal Veterinarians’ Attitudes towards Clients’ Use of Internet Resources

Using a questionnaire, we found that a majority of Austrian, Danish, and UK veterinarians (n = 641) surveyed were occasionally confronted with clients who question their medical advice based on information obtained from…

2022.07.08

Movement Patterns of Roaming Companion Cats in Denmark — A Study Based on GPS Tracking

We studied the roaming patterns of companion cats in Denmark. The movements of 97 cats with outdoor access were traced for about seven days using GPS tracking.

2022.04.26

Pampered pets or poor bastards? The welfare of dogs kept as companion animals

Two key challenges for companion dogs are examined in this paper: 1) unrealistic social demands that can lead to anxiety, depression, and aggression, and 2) ill devised breeding schemes that result in breeding-related…

2022.03.08

How Serious Are Health-Related Welfare Problems in Unowned Unsocialised Domestic Cats?

This paper presents results from the corpses of 598 unsocialised cats euthanised in Denmark in 2019 by two cat welfare organisations. Our findings reveal that unsocialised cats in Denmark face only a moderate load of…

2022.02.03

Insect-repelling behaviour in horses in relation to insect prevalence and access to shelters

This paper measures the level of discomfort of biting insects and whether access to shelters or other indoor areas may help prevent biting insect nuisance.

2021.07.16

Regulating Companion Dog Welfare: A Comparative Study of Legal Frameworks in Western Countries

This study compares legislation with an impact on the welfare of companion dogs in eleven Western jurisdictions. The comparison also provides a basis for further consideration of regulatory initiatives.

2021.05.17

Comparing Behavioural Problems in Imported Street Dogs and Domestically Reared Danish Dogs

The objective of this study was based on two survey, aimed at owners and veterinarians, to investigate whether former street dogs display a higher degree of behavioural problems than dogs reared in Denmark.

2021.01.27

Exploratory behaviour towards novel objects is associated with enhanced learning in young horses

This study presents the first evidence of a link between object-directed curiosity and learning performance in young horses in two very different learning tasks (visual discrimination and pressure-release).

2020.12.15

Breeding schemes for intervertebral disc disease in Dachshunds: Is disc calcification score preferable to genotyping of the FGF4 retrogene insertion on CFA12?

Approximately every fifth Dachshund is affected by disc herniation - a painful, hereditary condition which is typically preceded by disc calcification. In this study we investigate the incidence of disc herniation in th…

AnimalEthics