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If you are a veterinary professional working in general practice in the UK, you cannot have failed to notice the increase in the number of dogs originating from overseas being registered at clinics. Love it or hate it, the topic of importation of overseas rescue dogs to the UK is a hot topic that is attracting vibrant and heated debate. The number of dogs imported to the UK is growing rapidly. Under the EU Balai Directive, commercial imports of dogs from Romania – the most common country of origin for imported rescue dogs1 – alone increased from 3616 in 2014 to 19,487 in 2019.2 While these figures do not only include rescue dogs, and may underestimate the true number of rescue dogs imported due to illegal imports,1 they do give a broad indication that adopting an overseas dog is an increasingly popular choice for would-be dog owners. Thus, veterinary professionals on the frontline will increasingly encounter rescue dogs imported from overseas and be asked by their clients to provide advice and guidance across a range of health and welfare topics. Translocation and importation of rescue dogs is not a phenomenon unique to the UK, with many countries around the world moving rescue dogs across countries or states from areas of low to high demand.3 However, the translocation of rescue dogs has raised concerns about the health risks this poses for native animals and people,3-8 with poor owner awareness of travel-related diseases.9 This has led to expert discussion10 and position statement development,11 which has helped provide veterinary professionals with improved knowledge of the potential healthcare risks associated with importing dogs. However, very little is known about the frequency with which imported rescue dogs, either as a whole or at the export country level, …

Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an emerging transboundary disease in Europe, which can cause significant production losses among ruminants. The analysis presented here assessed the costs of BTV surveillance and vaccination programmes in Austria and Switzerland between 2007 and 2016. Costs were compared with respect to time, type of programme, geographical area and who was responsible for payment. The total costs of the BTV vaccination and surveillance programmes in Austria amounted to €23.6 million, whereas total costs in Switzerland were €18.3 million. Our analysis demonstrates that the costs differed between years and geographical areas, both within and between the two countries. Average surveillance costs per animal amounted to approximately €3.20 in Austria compared with €1.30 in Switzerland, whereas the average vaccination costs per animal were €6.20 in Austria and €7.40 in Switzerland. The comparability of the surveillance costs is somewhat limited, however, due to differences in each nation’s surveillance (and sampling) strategy. Given the importance of the export market for cattle production, investments in such programmes are more justified for Austria than for Switzerland. The aim of the retrospective assessment presented here is to assist veterinary authorities in planning and implementing cost-effective and efficient control strategies for emerging livestock diseases.

Small ruminant lentivirus infections in goats affect both production and animal welfare. This represents a threat to the qualitative and quantitative growth of goat farming, recently observed in mountainous regions such as the Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol (Italy). To monitor and eradicate the caprine arthritis encephalitis virus in this goat population, a compulsory eradication campaign was launched, based on a strict census of small ruminants and yearly serological testing of all animals, followed by the consequent culling of seropositive individuals. The campaign succeeded in completely eliminating cases of clinical disease in goats, while drastically reducing the seroprevalence at the herd as well as individual animal level. The serological outcome of the introduced control measures was determined using commercially available ELISA kits, demonstrating their suitability for use in this type of campaign, aimed at reducing seroprevalence as well as clinical manifestations of these infections. However, this clear success is diminished by the failure to achieve a complete eradication of these viruses. The reasons leading to the observed tailing phenomenon and the occurrence of new infections in already sanitised flocks are discussed and implementation of further measures are proposed.

Cage-cleaning is necessary for a hygienic environment, but since rats communicate using scent, they might suffer if their cages are cleaned too frequently. Male rats (Sprague–Dawley and Wistar) were kept for five months across four animal units. Their cages were cleaned twice-weekly, weekly, or every two weeks, and contained either aspen woodchips or absorbent paper bedding. Aggression, injuries and general health, weight gain, chromodacryorrhoea (a stress-related Harderian gland secretion), handleability, and lung pathology were monitored, as was in-cage ammonia. Cleaning frequency had no clear impact on rat welfare, although frequent cleaning decreased ammonia concentrations and handleability, and non-aggressive skirmishing was highest in weekly cleaned rats. Surprisingly, bedding type did not affect ammonia, but all ammonia readings were unexpectedly low. However, rats kept on aspen had greater sneezing rates and lung pathology than those on paper bedding, but also had higher body weights. The results raise concerns about aspen bedding, which is relatively inert compared with other wood beddings, but nevertheless more harmful than paper. Animal unit significantly affected eight of the 11 variables tested, having interactive effects on five of them. The study also demonstrates the interactive effects of different animal units, casting doubt on the feasibility of standardization. We explored multiple variables of interest, so all findings require confirmation through further work. Nevertheless, cage-cleaning rates seem to affect socially housed male rats little, while bedding type has important effects on rat health.

The relationship among ammonia levels, cage-changing frequency, and bedding types is an important and potentially controversial topic in the laboratory animal science community. Some bedding options may not provide sufficient urine absorption and bacterial regulation to minimize ammonia production during the interval between cage changes. High intracage ammonia levels can cause subclinical degeneration and inflammation of nasal passages, rhinitis and olfactory epithelial necrosis in exposed mice. Here we sought to compare the effects of 4 commonly used bedding substrates (1/4-in. irradiated corncob, reclaimed wood pulp, aspen wood chips, and recycled newspaper) on ammonia generation when housing female C57BL/6 mice in static and individually ventilated caging. Intracage ammonia levels were measured daily for 1 wk (static cage experiment) or 2 wk (IVC experiment). The results of this study suggest that the corncob, aspen wood chip, and recycled newspaper beddings that we tested are suitable for once-weekly cage changing for static cages and for changing every 2 wk for IVC. However, ammonia levels were not controlled appropriately in cages containing reclaimed wood pulp bedding, and pathologic changes occurred within 1 wk in the nares of mice housed on this bedding in static cages.

Behavioural and psychological needs of laboratory animals generally cannot adequately be met in standard laboratory cages. Environmental enrichment, which provides a more structured environment can enhance the well-being of laboratory animals. They may perform more of their species-specific behaviour and may control their environment in a better way. An easily applicable form of enrichment for laboratory mice is nesting material. Six different types of nesting materials were evaluated in a preference test with male and female animals of two strains (C57BL/6J or BALB/c, n=48). No significant differences in preference were found between the strains or between the sexes. All mice showed a clear preference for cages with tissues or towels as compared to paper strips or no nesting material, and for cages with cotton string or wood-wool as compared to wood shavings or no nesting material. Paper-derived materials were preferred over wood-derived materials, although the results also suggest that the nature (paper or wood) of the nesting material is less important than its structure, which determines the nestability of the material. Nesting material may be a relatively simple method to contribute to the well-being of laboratory mice.

Several materials have been used as bedding substrates in broiler production. In this work, the sludge from paper recycling was tested for its potential use as litter material and was compared with wood shavings. Moisture content, apparent density, and water-holding capacity were measured and characterized in both materials. Later, 192 male broiler chickens were distributed among 16 experimental pens, 8 of which contained wood shavings as bedding material and 8 of which contained the sludge. growth rate, consumption, tonic immobility, gait score, breast lesions, foot pad dermatitis, hock burn, tibial dyschondroplasia, and metatarsal thickness were determined in the birds. Although the moisture content of the sludge was high, it decreased strongly after 7 d of drying, reaching lower values than those of wood shavings. In general, few differences were found between the materials in terms of bird performance and welfare and only the incidence of hock burn was higher in the sludge than in the wood shavings. Although further research is needed, sludge from paper recycling is a possible alternative to traditional bedding materials because it achieves most of the requirements for broiler bedding materials and does not show negative effects on the birds.

Moisture absorbency is one of the most important characteristics of rodent beddings for controlling bacterial growth and ammonia production. However, bedding manufacturers rarely provide information on the absorbencies of available materials, and even when they do, absorption values are usually expressed per unit mass of bedding. Since beddings are usually placed into cages to reach a required depth rather than a particular mass, their volumetric absorbencies are far more relevant. This study therefore compared the saline absorbencies of sawdust, aspen woodchips, two virgin loose pulp beddings (Alpha-Dri™ and Omega-Dri™), reclaimed wood pulp (Tek-Fresh™), and corncob, calculated both by volume and by mass. Absorbency per unit volume correlated positively with bedding density, while absorbency per unit mass correlated negatively. Therefore, the relative absorbencies of the beddings were almost completely reversed depending on how absorbency was calculated. By volume, corncob was the most absorbent bedding, absorbing about twice as much saline as Tek-Fresh, the least absorbent bedding. Conversely, when calculated by mass, Tek-Fresh appeared to absorb almost three times as much saline as the corncob. Thus, in practical terms the most absorbent bedding here was corncob, followed by the loose pulp beddings; and this is generally supported by their relatively low ammonia production as seen in previous studies. Many factors other than absorbency determine whether a material is suitable as a rodent bedding, and they are briefly mentioned here. However, manufacturers should provide details of bedding absorbencies in terms of volume, in order to help predict the relative absorbencies of the beddings in practical situations.

Husbandry conditions in a laboratory environment can be barren and monotonous. Improving those conditions by providing opportunities for laboratory mice to engage in species-specific behavior can improve their mental and physical well-being 1 . Giving the animals choices and control over their environment is key to reducing stress 2 . Nesting is a normal behavior of mice, and giving mice nesting opportunities allows them to choose how and where to create their nest and provides them a means of thermoregulation in their microenvironment.