Enriquecimiento ambiental para la adaptación general del paciente canino hospitalizado

Abstract

This research arises from the lack of adaptation of dogs in new environments and the need to increase their welfare in the processes of hospitalization in veterinary clinics. The subject was carried out with a group of dogs of nervous nature: Chihuahua and Shih Tzu, with a total of 21 dogs and 32 observations in total. The dogs were distributed in two Treatments, T1 that received double confinement with olfactory enrichment and without olfactory enrichment (N11) and T2 that did not receive olfactory treatment, being confined only once (N10). All animals were placed in the clinic's holding cages, recorded, and observed for a continuous two-hour period of habituation to the environment, thus recording their behavior. The presence, frequency, and repetition time of 7 signs of stress and 2 signs of comfort were evaluated. The associativity of the data of presence of behavior was analyzed using a Chi2 test where it was observed that dogs without environmental enrichment significantly increase the frequency and manifestation of signs of stress (p≤0.05) such as licking and biting, in addition, they are restless. On the other hand, a single factor ANOVA was performed for the cumulative times and frequencies of the behaviors (p≤0.05) where also no significant differences in favor of the effective object were observed. Concluding that olfactory enrichment works and that the use of ICTs in this methodology is useful for future research of this type in other breeds or other circumstances. Keywords: welfare,ethogram, tics, usualization, canines