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Simple Summary: European citizens' perception of dogs and cats has shifted, calling for a more robust and appropriate approach to protect the welfare of these pets. While recent updates to EU legislation have aimed to improve some aspects of companion animal welfare, these measures remain insufficient and lack harmonization across Member States. The existing legal framework still falls short of establishing a comprehensive, high standard of care and protection for these animals. Key issues include unhealthy and unethical breeding practices, irresponsible sale and ownership, the complexities of transporting animals for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, and inadequate regulations on training methods and working dog conditions. Additionally, there are concerns about the regulation of dog and cat shows, competitions, therapeutic neglect, end-of-life care, shelter management, and the rights of free-ranging cat and dog populations. To address these issues more effectively, there is a need for more consistent legislation across Europe, coupled with increased education and awareness of responsible pet ownership. The One Welfare approach, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of human and animal welfare, could also play a crucial role in bridging these legislative gaps, ensuring that the human–animal bond is better integrated into modern society's welfare considerations. However, despite these efforts, many challenges remain unresolved, highlighting the need for further legislative action and societal engagement to fully protect companion animal welfare. Companion animals, especially dogs and cats, have increasingly been recognized as moral subjects and valued as family members by European citizens. This new role encourages policy makers to face the many companion animals' welfare issues not yet covered by the EU legislation. The main gaps in the protection of dog and cat welfare during their all lifespan have been identified: unhealthy and unethical breeding practices, irresponsible sale and ownership, transport for commercial and non-commercial purposes, training methods, working dog conditions and rights, regulation of dog and cat shows and competitions, the therapeutic neglect, dog and cat end-of-life care, shelter management legislation and the free-ranging cat and dog population rights. The EU legislation framework is still very weak and far from establishing a harmonized approach, promoting a high standard of care and protection across Member States. We conclude that education and awareness regarding responsible pet ownership and the need for a One Welfare approach have a high value in finding adequate solutions, especially when poor human social welfare affects companion animal welfare. Given the link between human and companion animal welfare, the use of stakeholders' involvement strategies and a transdisciplinary approach appear crucial for the development of an EU legal framework for the well-being of dogs and cats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free Choice Profiling (FCP) methodology allows observers to qualitatively assess animal behavior using their own vocabulary. This study aims to investigate the ability of 3 different observer groups to recognize pain-related emotions in 20 dogs using FCP methodology, and to compare FCP data with the Glasgow Composite Pain Scale-Short Form (GCPS- SF) scores. The observer groups consisted of 10 dog owners, 10 veterinary students and 10 veterinarians. Ten healthy ("healthy") dogs and 10 dogs showing clinical signs of pain ("pain") were filmed, and the resulting 20 footages were shown to observers who were blind to the pain-related nature of the study. All observers described and scored animals' emotional expression using FCP; then, students and veterinarians scored all dogs using GCPS- SF. FCP data were analyzed using Generalized Procrustes Analysis (GPA). Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) was used to determine the correlation among observer groups' FCP scores of the first two FCP dimensions (DIM1 and DIM2), and to compare GCPS-SF scores with FCP scores for the students and veterinarian observer groups. Each observer group reached a significant (p < 0.001) good consensus profile. "Healthy" dogs were mainly described as "quiet" and "lively", while the majority of "pain" dogs were considered "in pain" and "suffering". The correlation among FCP scores was high between owners' DIM1 and students' DIM1 (ρ = -0.86), owners' DIM2 and students' DIM2 (ρ = 0.72) and students' DIM2 and vets' DIM1 (ρ = 0.70). The correlation between GCPS-SF scores and FCP scores was high for students' DIM2 (ρ = 0.77) and for veterinarians' DIM1 (ρ = 0.92). Qualitative methods such as FCP could be used in association with semi-quantitative methods to evaluate the effect of pain on animal emotional expression. Observers' cultural background and personal experience did not substantially affect qualitative behavioral assessment in dogs with acute somatic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dog Behavior is the property of Edizioni ETS s.r.l. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This short communication introduces the reader to challenges faced by a cat rescue organization (Dingo-Venezia ONLUS) operating in the Venice area during and after the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The area around Venice houses more than 1,500 cat colonies, in the mainland and in a number of densely inhabited isles. During COVID-19 restrictions, providing for animals was recognized as a legitimate cause to circulate, but there was uncertainty about the procedure to obtain such recognition. Volunteers chose to go and feed the animals nonetheless, even with the risk of incurring legal consequences. During restrictions, there was an increase of cat adoption demands, but also in cat relinquishment, and a general decrease in donations due to the economic crisis. Although not reporting experimentally sourced data, this paper affords the reader an informed insight into the challenges due to COVID-19 restriction, directly from the experience of an established Italian cat rescue organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dog Behavior is the property of Edizioni ETS s.r.l. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Dog Behavior is the property of Edizioni ETS s.r.l. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)