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Topic Review
Anatomical Defects Associated with  Repeat Breeder Cow Syndrome
Repeat breeder cow (RBC) syndrome encompasses cows failing three or more times to become pregnant, but with the special characteristic that their estrous cycles have a normal duration. Farmers and technicians commonly feel incapable of addressing this reproductive issue, and after numerous unsuccessful attempts to conceive, it is often necessary to cull cows. Important economic losses are linked to RBC syndrome due to diagnosis, therapy, or reduced milk production, among others.
  • 616
  • 13 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Vectors and Hosts of Rickettsia felis in Europe
Rickettsia felis in an obligate intracellular Gram negative bacterium and the causative agent of flea-borne spotted fever (FBSF). Rickettsia felis requires a vertebrate and invertebrate host to survive and reproduce. The cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) is considered as the primary vector and the reservoir host of this pathogen.
  • 605
  • 23 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Rabbits as Animal Models for Anti-Tick Vaccine Development
Studies evaluating candidate tick-derived proteins as anti-tick vaccines in natural hosts have been limited due to high costs. To overcome this problem, animal models are used in immunization tests. The most commonly used rabbit breeds were New Zealand (73.8%), Japanese white (19%), Californians (4.8%) and Flemish lop-eared (2.4%) rabbits. Anti-tick vaccines efficacy resulted in up to 99.9%. Haemaphysalis longicornis (17.9%) and Ornithodoros moubata (12.8%) were the most common tick models in vaccination trials. Experiments with rabbits have revealed that some proteins (CoAQP, OeAQP, OeAQP1, Bm86, GST-Hl, 64TRP, serpins and voraxin) can induce immune responses against various tick species. 
  • 604
  • 11 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Organic Pig Population in Greece
Information on the production, development and health status of organic pig farming in Greece and the potential prospects for sustainability and future development. Among the pig breeds reared on organic farms, the indigenous Greek Black Pig is the most common.
  • 594
  • 17 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Immune Responses Potentially Involved in Brucella-Induced Pregnancy Complications
Infection by Brucella species in pregnant animals and humans is associated with an increased risk of abortion, preterm birth, and transmission of the infection to the offspring. The pathogen has a marked tropism for the placenta and the pregnant uterus and has the ability to invade and replicate within cells of the maternal–fetal unit, including trophoblasts and decidual cells. Placentitis is a common finding in infected pregnant animals. Several proinflammatory factors have been found to be increased in both the placenta of Brucella-infected animals and in trophoblasts or decidual cells infected in vitro. As normal pregnancies require an anti-inflammatory placental environment during most of the gestational period, Brucella-induced placentitis is thought to be associated with the obstetric complications of brucellosis.
  • 589
  • 22 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Influenza A Virus Subtypes in Chile
The influenza A virus (IAV) poses a significant global threat to public health and food security. Chile’s encounter with IAV began in 2002, with the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H7N3 virus, derived from a unique South American low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus. 
  • 572
  • 06 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Endocrine Diseases in Donkeys
Hyperlipemia, defined as abnormally high blood triglyceride concentrations, is the most common metabolic disease in donkeys. In contrast, metabolic syndrome, insulin dysregulation (ID) and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) are the most common endocrine disorders in this species. Although diagnostic approaches for these conditions are similar to horses, donkey-specific protocols must be used.
  • 534
  • 26 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Canine Ovariectomy
Canine ovariectomy is an elective surgery with a moderate level of pain.
  • 516
  • 05 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Assistance Dogs in Human Mental Health Care
The prevalence of mental health disorders, driven by current global crises, is notably high. During the past decades, the popularity of dogs assisting humans with a wide spectrum of mental health disorders has significantly increased.
  • 505
  • 07 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Coxiella burnetii Infection in Cats
Coxiella burnetii is the etiologic agent of the zoonosis called Q fever. The disease was first described in Australia in 1935 by Edward Holbrook Derrick who investigated a disease in a group of abattoir workers in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The “Q” comes from “query” fever, as named by Derrick.
  • 456
  • 12 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Dog DEA 1 prevalance in Luanda (Angola)
Prevalence of dog blood groups varies geographically and between breeds. In dogs, the risk of an acute hemolytic transfusion reaction at the first transfusion is negligible; however, mismatched transfusions may produce alloimmunization. To avoid fatal acute hemolytic reactions in subsequent blood transfusions, it´s important to recognize blood groups and to blood type both the donor and the recipient. this work describes for the first time the DEA 1 prevalence in a canine population in Luanda (Angola) and evaluates the alloimmunization risk after an incompatible blood transfusion.
  • 327
  • 31 Oct 2024
Topic Review
Rabies virus detection in Desmodus rotundus, Ceará, Brasil
This work aims to investigate the dynamics of the rabies virus in the Desmodus rotundus species.
  • 292
  • 13 Dec 2024
Topic Review
Hematological Reference Intervals in Miranda's Donkey
The Miranda’s donkey is a Portuguese breed from northern Portugal considered endangered. Several researches in different scientific areas have been conducted to help in these animals preservation. The knowledge of hematological reference intervals is important to characterize the breed, identify the health status of the animals and help veterinarians in the diagnosis of diseases and follow-up of patients. This study aimed to determine the hematological reference intervals for healthy Miranda’s donkeys and to evaluate the interference of sex and age in these parameters. Only age interfered in the hematological values and should be considered when interpreting the results. The results described here can be used to assess the health of animals and herds, guide the diagnosis of diseases and assist in the selection of healthy animals for reproduction, contributing to the preservation of the breed.
  • 234
  • 23 Sep 2024
Topic Review
Equine and Ovine Ethology
Equine and ovine ethology is the study of the species-typical behaviour of the domestic horse (Equus caballus) and the domestic sheep (Ovis aries): their social organisation, feeding, reproduction, and interaction with humans and housing [1][2]. Both are grazing prey species, yet their social systems diverge: horses form stable groups in which affiliative bonds and tolerance structure interaction, and this sociality is treated as an ethological need that domestication has not removed [3]. Sheep are strongly gregarious, and their behaviour and welfare vary with the housing system and with the social bonds available within the group [4]. For both species, the repertoire set out in these accounts is the reference against which housing and handling are judged [1][2].
  • 5
  • 05 Nov 2026
Topic Review
Canine Behavior
Canine behaviour is the behavioural repertoire of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), comprising social, communicative, foraging, reproductive, and locomotor patterns together with the perceptual and cognitive processes that organise them [1]. Sensitivity to human signals is a prominent feature, yet it is not a fixed inherited module: it develops through ontogeny and depends on acceptance of humans as social companions and on prior conditioning [2]. Communication is multimodal, integrating visual signals such as postures, facial movements, and tail carriage with acoustic and olfactory information, and the same signals serve both conspecific and human-directed interactions [3]. Breed-specific selection has diversified morphology and some behavioural tendencies, but individual variation within breeds remains substantial [1].
  • 4
  • 05 Nov 2026
Topic Review
Feline Behavior
Feline behaviour is the behavioural repertoire of the domestic cat (Felis catus), comprising social, communicative, predatory, and reproductive patterns and the developmental processes shaping them [1]. It is organised around territorial security rather than attachment to people or other cats: cats descend from a solitary, territorial ancestor, and domestication has reduced antagonism towards larger animals without removing that reliance [2]. Inadequate exposure to people during the socialisation period is a common origin of problem behaviour, and strongly aversive events at any age also contribute [2]. Chemical signals carry much of the information on which cats act, and feline sensitivity far exceeds human perception [2]. Housing constrains expression, and how far indoor environments meet behavioural needs is little studied [3].
  • 4
  • 05 Nov 2026
Topic Review
Horsemanship
Horsemanship is the human practice of working with horses, from routine handling and training to ridden work, and in welfare science it denotes the quality of that practice as judged from the horse's behavioural and physiological responses [1][2]. It is relational rather than a property of the handler alone: the human–horse relationship emerges from repeated interactions, and the incidence of horse-related accidents depends more on the frequency and amount of contact than on the level of competence [3]. Owner knowledge and experience shape attitudes and management behaviour, which in turn affect welfare [4]. In ridden work, more skilled riders achieve better gait quality, yet behavioural pain markers do not differ consistently with rider skill [2].
  • 4
  • 05 Nov 2026
Topic Review
Anxiety Assessment
Anxiety assessment is the systematic determination of whether a companion animal is anxious, how severe that state is, and which situations elicit it. Its evidence base is twofold: owner-completed instruments validated for dogs and cats convert descriptions of everyday behaviour into quantitative scores for fear- and anxiety-related traits such as stranger-directed fear and separation-related behaviour, capturing relatively stable predispositions rather than momentary state [1][2], while salivary cortisol provides a non-invasive index of adrenocortical activity, although between-individual and between-occasion variation limits the interpretation of single samples [3]. Assessment must also separate anxiety from fear and phobia and identify the eliciting context, such as separation or noise [4].
  • 3
  • 05 Nov 2026
Topic Review
Assistance Dogs
Assistance dogs are dogs trained to perform specific tasks that mitigate the effects of a disability and that are placed with the person they assist. The category comprises guide dogs for people with visual impairment, hearing dogs, mobility assistance dogs, medical-alert and psychiatric service dogs, and dual-purpose animals combining roles [1][2]. Placement imposes welfare demands met only through adequate rest and recovery, predictable daily routines, and sufficient opportunity for recreation outside working hours [3], while the finite working life obliges providers to plan retirement with animal welfare and handler dependence both in view [4].
  • 3
  • 05 Nov 2026
Topic Review
Behavioral Assessment Techniques
Behavioural assessment techniques are the procedures by which behaviour is converted into systematic, comparable records for clinical, welfare, or research purposes. They divide into indirect instruments, in which owners report behaviour across everyday contexts, and direct methods, in which behaviour is recorded during a defined observation window, often under standardised conditions such as a brief separation test [1]. Because the two yield only partially corresponding results, scores from one cannot substitute for the other [1]. Every technique is judged on purpose, standardisation, reliability, validity, and practicality, and many instruments in use lack documented evidence for these properties [2]. Observer-rated tools additionally require demonstrated inter-rater and intra-rater agreement before their scores can be compared across assessors or occasions [3].
  • 3
  • 05 Nov 2026
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