News about Animal welfare

Assessing welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score

Paper on welfare risks in unowned unsocialised domestic cats in Denmark based on associations with low body condition score. Published open access in Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica.

Ethicists’ commentary on medicine for geriatric zoo animals

Ethical question of the month, December 2022 In zoo animal medicine, the timing of humane euthanasia for quality-of-life issues is an ethical challenge. Should we engage in “therapeutic relentlessness” on captive wild…

Ethicists’ commentary on fabricating the cause of death

Ethical question of the month, November 2022 Veterinary pathologists regularly encounter numerous cases in which a diagnosis cannot be determined. In one such case, a healthy, indoor-only, 12-year-old, neutered male,…

Mapping of initiatives to prevent inherited diseases and exaggerated phenotypes in dogs

Report on initiatives to prevent inherited diseases and exaggerated phenotypes in dogs. Funded by the Danish Knowledge Centre for Animal Welfare, Danish Veterinary and Food Administration.

Danish milk consumers are critical of advanced breeding methods in dairy production

Danish milk consumers are critical of advanced breeding methods in dairy production, but only 1 in 5 is unwilling to drink milk from dairy cows bred with semen derived from such methods Lund, T.B., Sandøe, P., Secher,…

Human empathy makes us better at understanding animal sounds

Those who do well on human empathy tests are also measurably better at decoding the emotional sounds of animals, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. Other aspects, such as age and work related to…

CPH Cattle Seminar 2022

The CPH Cattle annual seminar was held on the 24th of November 2022.

Ethicists’ commentary on post-surgical pain control

Ethical question of the month, August 2022 Your client purchases a young large-breed stallion that must be castrated on short notice. You are unable to do the surgery, so ask the client to find another veterinarian that…

Webinar with Associate Professor Nick Bell, University of Nottingham, UK.

in the network for health and biosecurity under the Danish cattle research coordination committee, we were pleased to have held an open webinar, which can be seen on video.

Ethicists’ commentary on debarking of dogs

Ethical question of the month, July 2022 A provincial animal welfare agency has requested that the provincial Veterinary Registrar consider a ban on devocalization surgeries in dogs. Reasons for the request include…

Opportunities and Challenges in Applying the 3Rs to Zoos and Aquariums

This paper analyses opportunities and challenges for each of the three Rs when applied to animals housed in zoos and aquariums.

Experts agree: Dairy cattle's welfare worse than beef cattle

Cattle welfare experts rate the welfare of dairy cattle as lower than that of beef cattle, research from the University of Copenhagen shows.

Conference presentation

Post doc Sarah Nissen is sharing her knowledge about atrial fibrillation and training induced cardiac remodeling at The European Europhysiology Conference

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.

PhD defense Sarah Nissen

Sarah Nissen sucessfully defend her PhD thesis titled: The effect of long-term exercise on cardiac conduction and electrophysiology in Standardbred racehorses - -With a translational perspective to human athletes.

Ethicists’ commentary on appropriate use of pharmaceuticals

Ethical question of the month, June 2022 You are an equine veterinarian who relies on firocoxib as your “go to” for chronic arthritis pain. There was no equine-labelled product in Canada until recently, so you were…

The modern dog fights a lonely battle

Separation anxiety and behavioral problems. Veterinary care and malnutrition are no longer the main problems for Danish dogs, as was the case a hundred years ago. On the other hand, our sky-high expectations of them are…

The modern dog fights a lonely battle

Separation anxiety and behavioral problems. Veterinary care and malnutrition are no longer the main problems for Danish dogs, as was the case a hundred years ago. On the other hand, our sky-high expectations of them are…

Ethicists’ commentary on obtaining hormones from pregnant mares

Ethical question of the month, May 2022 Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG) is used in farmed animal agriculture for the induction and synchronization of ovulation in cattle, pigs and sheep, superovulation in cattle…

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.

Best oral presentation - Sarah Nissen

PhD student Sarah Dalgas Nissen wins the best oral presentation at the International Congress of Equine Exercise Physiology (ICEEP).

Wild animal welfare

In this commentary on Rowan et al’s article on sentience politics, especially regarding farm animals, we ask how the welfare of wild animals differs from that of farmed animals, especially how the ability to make…

Ethicists’ commentary on nutritional neglect

Ethical question of the month, April 2022 A colleague refers an 11-year-old German shepherd dog to you for a cardiac ultrasound examination. The dog has a history of ascites and elevated resting respiratory rate. The…

Ethicists’ commentary on humane killing of healthy surplus animals

Ethical question of the month, March 2022 The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) position statement on the Care of Neonatal Calves on Dairy Farms states that euthanasia/humane killing of surplus calves is th…