Outi Vainio

Pain alleviation in animals: attitudes and practices of Finnish veterinarians.

A questionnaire was sent to 911 Finnish veterinarians to assess their attitudes and practices to pain relief in animals. Responses to statements about recognition and treatment of pain were either to agree or to disagree. The pain caused by specified surgical and clinical conditions was rated. Inquiries were also posed about the number of analgesics available and their use in specific surgical procedures and clinical situations. The questionnaires were returned by 441 respondents. Women and younger veterinarians generally rated pain higher and treated it more frequently than men and older colleagues. Younger veterinarians and those in larger practices also had more analgesics available than older veterinarians and those in smaller practices. Respondents agreed with the statement that relieving pain is beneficial for animals. However, large differences were present in the frequency of use of pain alleviation between different animal species undergoing similar operations and between clinical conditions scored equally in the numerical rating of pain. The severity and clinical relevance of feline pain is probably often underestimated, as cats were less likely to receive analgesics than dogs after similar operations.

Dogs do look at images: eye tracking in canine cognition research

Despite intense research on the visual communication of domestic dogs, their cognitive capacities have not yet been explored by eye tracking. The aim of the current study was to expand knowledge on the visual cognition of dogs using contact-free eye movement tracking under conditions where social cueing and associative learning were ruled out. We examined whether dogs spontaneously look at actual objects within pictures and can differentiate between pictures according to their novelty or categorical information content. Eye movements of six domestic dogs were tracked during presentation of digital color images of human faces, dog faces, toys, and alphabetic characters. We found that dogs focused their attention on the informative regions of the images without any task-specific pre-training and their gazing behavior depended on the image category. Dogs preferred the facial images of conspecifics over other categories and fixated on a familiar image longer than on novel stimuli regardless of the category. Dogs’ attraction to conspecifics over human faces and inanimate objects might reflect their natural interest, but further studies are needed to establish whether dogs possess picture object recognition. Contact-free eye movement tracking is a promising method for the broader exploration of processes underlying special socio-cognitive skills in dogs previously found in behavioral studies.

The effects of L-659,066, a peripheral α2-adrenoceptor antagonist, on dexmedetomidine-induced sedation and bradycardia in dogs

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of L-659,066, a peripheral α2-adrenoceptor antagonist, on dexmedetomidine-induced sedation and reduction in pulse rate (PR) in dogs. STUDY DESIGN Randomized, cross-over. ANIMALS Six healthy laboratory Beagles. METHODS All animals received dexmedetomidine (5 μg kg-1 IV, DEX) alone or in combination with L-659,066 (250 μg kg-1 IV, DEX + L) with a 7-day rest period between treatments. Sedation was assessed using a composite sedation score and PRs were recorded. Atipamezole (50 μg kg-1 IM, ATI) was administered to reverse the sedation. Overnight Holter-monitoring was carried out to obtain a minimum heart rate (MHR) at rest. RESULTS Bioequivalence was shown for clinical sedation between DEX and DEX + L. Heart rate was significantly higher with DEX + L during the period of sedation. Bioequivalence was demonstrated between MHR and PR in the DEX + L group during the period of sedation. Recoveries after ATI were uneventful. CONCLUSIONS L-659,066 did not affect the quality of dexmedetomidine-induced sedation whilst it attenuated the reduction in PR. Thus, L-659,066 could prove a useful adjunct to reduce the peripheral cardiovascular effects attributed to dexmedetomidine in dogs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The clinical safety of α2-adrenoceptor agonists could be markedly improved with less peripheral cardiovascular effects.OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of L-659,066, a peripheral alpha2-adrenoceptor antagonist, on dexmedetomidine-induced sedation and reduction in pulse rate (PR) in dogs. STUDY DESIGN Randomized, cross-over. Animals Six healthy laboratory Beagles. METHODS All animals received dexmedetomidine (5 microg kg(-1) IV, DEX) alone or in combination with L-659,066 (250 microg kg(-1) IV, DEX + L) with a 7-day rest period between treatments. Sedation was assessed using a composite sedation score and PRs were recorded. Atipamezole (50 microg kg(-1) IM, ATI) was administered to reverse the sedation. Overnight Holter-monitoring was carried out to obtain a minimum heart rate (MHR) at rest. RESULTS Bioequivalence was shown for clinical sedation between DEX and DEX + L. Heart rate was significantly higher with DEX + L during the period of sedation. Bioequivalence was demonstrated between MHR and PR in the DEX + L group during the period of sedation. Recoveries after ATI were uneventful. CONCLUSIONS L-659,066 did not affect the quality of dexmedetomidine-induced sedation whilst it attenuated the reduction in PR. Thus, L-659,066 could prove a useful adjunct to reduce the peripheral cardiovascular effects attributed to dexmedetomidine in dogs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The clinical safety of alpha2-adrenoceptor agonists could be markedly improved with less peripheral cardiovascular effects.

The effects of increasing doses of MK-467, a peripheral alpha2-adrenergic receptor antagonist, on the cardiopulmonary effects of intravenous dexmedetomidine in conscious dogs

Different doses of MK-467, a peripheral alpha(2)-adrenergic receptor antagonist, with or without dexmedetomidine were compared in conscious dogs. Eight animals received either dexmedetomidine (10 μg/kg [D]), MK-467 (250 μg/kg [M250] or dexmedetomidine (10 μg/kg) with increasing doses of MK-467 (250 μg/kg [DM250], 500 μg/kg [DM500] and 750 μg/kg [DM750], respectively). Treatments were given intravenously (i.v.) in a randomized, crossover design with a 14-day washout period. Systemic hemodynamics and arterial blood gas analyses were recorded at baseline and at intervals up to 90 min after drugs administration. Dexmedetomidine alone decreased heart rate, cardiac index and tissue oxygen delivery and increased mean arterial pressure and systemic vascular resistance 5 min after administration. DM250 did not completely prevent these early effects, while DM750 induced a decrease in mean arterial pressure. With DM500, systemic hemodynamics remained stable throughout the observational period. MK-467 alone increased cardiac index and tissue oxygen delivery and had no deleterious adverse effects. No differences in arterial blood gases were observed between treatments that included dexmedetomidine. It was concluded that MK-467 attenuated or prevented dexmedetomidines systemic hemodynamic effects in a dose-dependent manner when given simultaneously i.v. but had no effect on the pulmonary outcome in conscious dogs. A 50:1 dose ratio (MK-467:dexmedetomidine) induced the least alterations in cardiovascular function.

Oral ketoprofen is effective in the treatment of non-infectious lameness in sows.

The efficacy of ketoprofen in the treatment of non-infectious lameness in sows was examined in a double-blinded study. Two dose rates of oral ketoprofen were compared to placebo treatment over five consecutive days. Lameness was assessed with a five-grade scoring system prior to and on the last day of the treatment. The rate of treatment success was 54.3% for the ketoprofen 4mg/kg group (n=46), 53.2% for the ketoprofen 2mg/kg group (n=47) and 20.8% for the pigs in the placebo group (n=48). The difference between both ketoprofen groups and the placebo group was significant (P=0.001), but there was no difference between the two ketoprofen groups (P=0.78). Oral ketoprofen was well tolerated and no adverse events were observed. As lameness is a very common problem in sows, oral ketoprofen appeared to be a practical way to alleviate pain and improve the welfare of sows.

How dogs scan familiar and inverted faces: an eye movement study

AbstractFaces play an important role in communication and identity recognition in social animals. Domestic dogs often respond to human facial cues, but their face processing is weakly understood. In this study, facial inversion effect (deficits in face processing when the image is turned upside down) and responses to personal familiarity were tested using eye movement tracking. A total of 23 pet dogs and eight kennel dogs were compared to establish the effects of life experiences on their scanning behavior. All dogs preferred conspecific faces and showed great interest in the eye area, suggesting that they perceived images representing faces. Dogs fixated at the upright faces as long as the inverted faces, but the eye area of upright faces gathered longer total duration and greater relative fixation duration than the eye area of inverted stimuli, regardless of the species (dog or human) shown in the image. Personally, familiar faces and eyes attracted more fixations than the strange ones, suggesting that dogs are likely to recognize conspecific and human faces in photographs. The results imply that face scanning in dogs is guided not only by the physical properties of images, but also by semantic factors. In conclusion, in a free-viewing task, dogs seem to target their fixations at naturally salient and familiar items. Facial images were generally more attractive for pet dogs than kennel dogs, but living environment did not affect conspecific preference or inversion and familiarity responses, suggesting that the basic mechanisms of face processing in dogs could be hardwired or might develop under limited exposure.

Reactivity of Dogs' Brain Oscillations to Visual Stimuli Measured with Non-Invasive Electroencephalography

Studying cognition of domestic dogs has gone through a renaissance within the last decades. However, although the behavioral studies of dogs are beginning to be common in the field of animal cognition, the neural events underlying cognition remain unknown. Here, we employed a non-invasive electroencephalography, with adhesive electrodes attached to the top of the skin, to measure brain activity of from 8 domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) while they stayed still to observe photos of dog and human faces. Spontaneous oscillatory activity of the dogs, peaking in the sensors over the parieto-occipital cortex, was suppressed statistically significantly during visual task compared with resting activity at the frequency of 15–30 Hz. Moreover, a stimulus-induced low-frequency (∼2–6 Hz) suppression locked to the stimulus onset was evident at the frontal sensors, possibly reflecting a motor rhythm guiding the exploratory eye movements. The results suggest task-related reactivity of the macroscopic oscillatory activity in the dog brain. To our knowledge, the study is the first to reveal non-invasively measured reactivity of brain electrophysiological oscillations in healthy dogs, and it has been based purely on positive operant conditional training, without the need for movement restriction or medication.

The effects of L‐659,066, a peripheral α2‐adrenoceptor antagonist, and verapamil on the cardiovascular influences of dexmedetomidine in conscious sheep

We investigated whether administration of L-659,066, a peripheral α(2) -adrenoceptor antagonist, or verapamil, a calcium-channel antagonist, would prevent the cardiovascular effects of dexmedetomidine. Eleven sheep received three intravenous treatments with a randomized, cross-over design: dexmedetomidine (5 μg/kg, DEX); DEX with L-659,066 (250 μg/kg, DEX + L); and verapamil (0.05 mg/kg) 10 min prior to DEX (Ver + DEX). Haemodynamics were recorded at intervals upto 40 min. Acute increases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) (106 ± 10.7 to 120.8 ± 11.7 mmHg), central venous pressure (CVP) (3.3 ± 3.2 to 14.7 ± 5.0 mmHg) and systemic vascular resistance (SVR) (1579 ± 338 to 2301 ± 523 dyne s/cm(5) ), and decreases in cardiac output (CO) (5.36 ± 0.87 to 3.93 ± 1.30 L/min) and heart rate (HR) (88.6 ± 15.3 to 49.7 ± 5.5/min) were detected with DEX. The peak SVR remained lower after Ver + DEX (1835 ± 226 dyne s/cm(5) ) than DEX alone, but the other parameters did not significantly differ between these treatments. 2 min after drug delivery, differences between DEX and DEX + L were statistically significant for all measured haemodynamic parameters. With DEX + L, an early decrease in MAP (99.9 ± 6.8 to 89.3 ± 6.6 mmHg) was detected, and DEX + L induced a slight but significant increase in CVP and a decrease in HR at the end of the observation period, while SVR and CO did not significantly change. All animals were assessed as deeply sedated from 2-20 min with no differences between treatments. L-659,066 has great potential for clinical use to prevent the cardiovascular effects of dexmedetomidine mediated by peripheral α(2) -adrenoceptors, whereas the effects of verapamil were marginal.

Plasma glucose, insulin, free fatty acids, lactate and cortisol concentrations in dexmedetomidine-sedated dogs with or without MK-467: a peripheral α-2 adrenoceptor antagonist.

Six healthy laboratory Beagles were treated IV with 10 μg/kg dexmedetomidine (DEX) or 10 μg/kg dexmedetomidine combined with 500 μg/kg MK-467 in the same syringe (DMK) in a randomised cross-over design with a 14 day washout. Blood was collected immediately before treatment and 35, 60 and 120 min post-injection through a central venous catheter. The plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, non-esterified free fatty acids (NEFAs), lactate and cortisol were determined. A repeated-measures ANOVA test was used to compare treatments and effects for each sample time point. Significant differences between treatments were found for plasma glucose (P=0.037) and insulin (P=0.009). DEX significantly increased plasma glucose at 120 min, but reduced plasma insulin at 35 and 60 min. NEFA decreased for both treatments at 35 min. This reduction was transient for DMK, whereas it persisted during the follow up period for DEX. Plasma lactate concentrations increased at 35 and 60 min with DEX. Neither treatment altered plasma cortisol concentrations. The addition of MK-467 to dexmedetomidine prevented or abolished most metabolic changes in healthy Beagles.

Influence of MK-467, a Peripherally Acting α2-Adrenoceptor Antagonist on the Disposition of Intravenous Dexmedetomidine in Dogs

Growing evidence supports the use of (2R-trans)-N-(2-(1,3,4,7,12b-hexahydro-2′-oxo-spiro(2H-benzofuro(2,3-a)quinolizine-2,4′-imidazolidin)-3′-yl)ethyl) methanesulfonamide (MK-467), a peripherally acting α2-adrenoceptor antagonist, in conjunction with the sedative-anesthetic agent dexmedetomidine in animals to avoid hemodynamic compromise. We evaluated the possible effects of different doses of MK-467 on the plasma concentrations of dexmedetomidine in eight beagle dogs. Both drugs were administered intravenously. Each dog received five treatments: dexmedetomidine alone (10 μg/kg), MK-467 alone (250 μg/kg), and dexmedetomidine (10 μg/kg) combined with different doses of MK-467 (250, 500, and 750 μg/kg) in a randomized, crossover fashion. Selected pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. The area under the time-concentration curve of dexmedetomidine was significantly greater after dexmedetomidine alone (by 101 ± 20%, mean ± 95% confidence interval) compared with that after dexmedetomidine and 250 μg/kg MK-467. Increasing the dose of the antagonist had no further effect on the exposure to dexmedetomidine. The apparent volume of distribution of dexmedetomidine was significantly smaller after dexmedetomidine alone compared with that after all treatments that included MK-467. Dexmedetomidine (10 μg/kg) did not significantly influence the plasma concentrations of MK-467 (250 μg/kg). The results suggest that the peripherally acting α2-adrenoceptor antagonist MK-467 markedly influenced the early disposition of dexmedetomidine without obvious effects on the later plasma concentrations of the drug.