Stress induced by muzzle wearing in dogs

Abstract

The study was conducted over a period of 6 months in collaboration with 2 private clinics in Iași on an initial number of 14 dogs of different breeds, sex and ages, clinically and paraclinically examined by hematological, biochemical, ultrasound and cortisol dosing, all being declared clinically healthy. The inclusion criterion in the study was the frequent wearing of the muzzle, all the individual being declared healthy prior to examination. The study aimed to establish the correlation between the increased level of sustained stress and the wearing of the muzzle in dogs with the possible development of adrenal gland neoplasia. The subjects were divided into 2 distinct groups, the first, consisting of 7 patients, represented by dogs that did wear muzzles, the second, 7 dogs who sis not wear it during testing. The test involved walking the dogs for about 60 minutes, four times in a week, under the same environmental and stimulation conditions for all participants, eventually being subjected to blood sampling to determine cortisol and to evaluate hematological changes at the beginning of the study, one and two weeks after. Compared with the initial values, group 1 showed significant increases of cortisol (from 3.76 ± 0.4 to 13.7±0.9 μg / dl), a marker of the stress level in the body. Also, the hematological picture revealed a decrease in eosinophil count. Subjects in group 2 had a slight increase in cortisol level (from 3,45±0,6 to 5.85±0.4 μg / dl), associated with no changes in total eosinophils. The study demonstrates the impact of muzzle wearing on dogs, which produces transitional changes in cortisol levels, but given the length of it, cannot be established any correlation with neoplasia development as the observed changes were only transitional.