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Should stress management be included in clinical management of dogs with chronic illness?
A D V A N CE S
and provides an average of the individual’s cortisol response over the period of hair growth. Hair color alters the level of cortisol.
P age 3
veterinary visitation. Hair cortisol levels were positively related to the length of time regularly left alone.
Author Conclusions Objectives To investigate whether stress management should be integrated into veterinary care, this research compared the chronic stress levels of chronically ill and healthy dogs and investigated potential stressors. It was hypothesized that the levels of chronically ill dogs would be significantly higher than those of healthy dogs, and would be influenced by disease-dependent and diseaseindependent stimuli.
Procedure
Should Stress Management be included in Clinical Management of Dogs with Chronic Illness? Background A chronic disease is a persistent illness of more than one week’s duration. Many chronic diseases in dogs can only be managed, rather than cured, and some are also progressive. Veterinarians often focus on physical health but may not consider the role of stress in the disease process and inpatient welfare. Very little research exists on the relationship between stress and disease in dogs. Previously, two independent research groups found that dogs with non-adrenal disease had significantly higher acute stress levels than healthy controls. The stress response is a necessary adaptation to disease. Studies have shown that short-term moderate stress may be beneficial, as it allows the individual to adapt to change. Prolonged or excessive stress may contribute to the disease processes. Stress hormones, sympathetic activity, and inflammatory diseases releasing cytokines may contribute to stress problems. Everyday stressors unrelated to disease may affect the health of chronically ill dogs. Confounding effects of acute stressors and the need for repeated sampling create difficulties for canine chronic stress research. Hair cortisol has recently been validated as a biomarker of chronic stress in dogs. It is insensitive to acute stressors
Thirty-three dogs participated in the research. All dogs were pet dogs. Chronically ill subjects were recruited from a charity veterinary clinic. Healthy dogs were recruited from the general public and the same charity veterinary clinic. Both sexes, a variety of ages and breeds were included. Chronically ill dogs comprise the test group (n = 16), and healthy dogs served as the control group (n = 17). The ill dogs had a variety of disease processes from cardiac failure to atopic dermatitis and chronic bronchitis. The literature has noted that black hairs contain significant less cortisol is all than yellow hairs. Dogs were initially subcategorized based on hair color. Dogs were included in the study following extensive history taking. The owner of each dog was asked to complete a behavior and health questionnaire. Hair sampling was collected by brushing from shorthaired dogs and trimming from long-haired dogs. Approximately 300 mg was obtained per subject. Cortisol levels were obtained using a Salivary Cortisol ELISA test kit.
Results No significant difference was identified in the hair cortisol levels of black and nonblack dogs. The hair cortisol concentrations of the ill dogs ranged from 1.77 pg/mg to 25.22 pg/mg with an outlier of 42.82 pg/mg. The hair cortisol of the healthy dogs ranged from 1.70 pg/mg to 28.70 pg/mg. There was no difference in the ranges between these two groups. Dogs performing chronic stress behaviors did not have significantly different hair cortisol concentrations than those not performing them. Hair cortisol levels were not significantly related to frequency of
The results from this study suggest that ongoing diseases do not cause chronic stress in dogs. Additional research is required to confirm our findings in individual disease states and to investigate the effect of disease severity on canine chronic stress levels of both healthy and chronically ill dogs. Factors such as living in a single-dog household, along with the time a dog is regularly left alone, may influence a healthy dog’s stress level. Further research with a larger sample size is needed to support these results. Nonetheless, as chronic stress may be a detriment to the health of dogs, lifestyle factors such as social environment and time regularly left alone should be taken into consideration when planning canine clinical care.
Inclusions Three tables, 37 references.
Editor Annotation As movements such as Fear Free™ take hold in the veterinary community, more and more veterinarians are concerned about the stress level of their patients. In this study, the authors set out to determine if chronic illnesses caused chronic stress responses in dogs by measuring the hair cortisol levels in 16 chronically ill and 17 healthy dogs. In addition, owners were interviewed via a behavioral questionnaire. No significant differences were found in hair cortisol levels in healthy and sick dogs. Hair cortisol levels were not correlated with the number of veterinary visits. In addition, no differences were found in the stress-related behaviors which were exhibited in chronically ill and healthy dogs. There were significant correlations between hair cortisol levels and the time that the dog regularly spent alone in healthy and in chronically ill dogs. This is an extremely important finding. While there is little doubt that veterinary visits and chronic illness cause stress responses within the dog’s body, the most stressful event for well and chronically ill dogs observed in this study was the relatively long amounts of time spent alone. These findings were only true in single-dog households, not multi-dog households.
P age 4
A D V A N CE S
As with humans, environmental factors can cause chronic stress in dogs. Owners should be counseled on the impact of long amounts of time spent alone. Possible solutions may be daycare, dog walkers, or additional pets as company. More studies needs to be done to assess what types of company (e.g., cats, hamsters, fish) will decrease stress in dogs. (LR) Nicholson, S.L., Meredith, J.E. Should stress management be part of the clinical care provided to chronically ill dogs? J Vet Behav 2015;10:489-495.
and provides an average of the individual’s cortisol response over the period of hair growth. Hair color alters the level of cortisol.
P age 3
veterinary visitation. Hair cortisol levels were positively related to the length of time regularly left alone.
Author Conclusions Objectives To investigate whether stress management should be integrated into veterinary care, this research compared the chronic stress levels of chronically ill and healthy dogs and investigated potential stressors. It was hypothesized that the levels of chronically ill dogs would be significantly higher than those of healthy dogs, and would be influenced by disease-dependent and diseaseindependent stimuli.
Procedure
Should Stress Management be included in Clinical Management of Dogs with Chronic Illness? Background A chronic disease is a persistent illness of more than one week’s duration. Many chronic diseases in dogs can only be managed, rather than cured, and some are also progressive. Veterinarians often focus on physical health but may not consider the role of stress in the disease process and inpatient welfare. Very little research exists on the relationship between stress and disease in dogs. Previously, two independent research groups found that dogs with non-adrenal disease had significantly higher acute stress levels than healthy controls. The stress response is a necessary adaptation to disease. Studies have shown that short-term moderate stress may be beneficial, as it allows the individual to adapt to change. Prolonged or excessive stress may contribute to the disease processes. Stress hormones, sympathetic activity, and inflammatory diseases releasing cytokines may contribute to stress problems. Everyday stressors unrelated to disease may affect the health of chronically ill dogs. Confounding effects of acute stressors and the need for repeated sampling create difficulties for canine chronic stress research. Hair cortisol has recently been validated as a biomarker of chronic stress in dogs. It is insensitive to acute stressors
Thirty-three dogs participated in the research. All dogs were pet dogs. Chronically ill subjects were recruited from a charity veterinary clinic. Healthy dogs were recruited from the general public and the same charity veterinary clinic. Both sexes, a variety of ages and breeds were included. Chronically ill dogs comprise the test group (n = 16), and healthy dogs served as the control group (n = 17). The ill dogs had a variety of disease processes from cardiac failure to atopic dermatitis and chronic bronchitis. The literature has noted that black hairs contain significant less cortisol is all than yellow hairs. Dogs were initially subcategorized based on hair color. Dogs were included in the study following extensive history taking. The owner of each dog was asked to complete a behavior and health questionnaire. Hair sampling was collected by brushing from shorthaired dogs and trimming from long-haired dogs. Approximately 300 mg was obtained per subject. Cortisol levels were obtained using a Salivary Cortisol ELISA test kit.
Results No significant difference was identified in the hair cortisol levels of black and nonblack dogs. The hair cortisol concentrations of the ill dogs ranged from 1.77 pg/mg to 25.22 pg/mg with an outlier of 42.82 pg/mg. The hair cortisol of the healthy dogs ranged from 1.70 pg/mg to 28.70 pg/mg. There was no difference in the ranges between these two groups. Dogs performing chronic stress behaviors did not have significantly different hair cortisol concentrations than those not performing them. Hair cortisol levels were not significantly related to frequency of
The results from this study suggest that ongoing diseases do not cause chronic stress in dogs. Additional research is required to confirm our findings in individual disease states and to investigate the effect of disease severity on canine chronic stress levels of both healthy and chronically ill dogs. Factors such as living in a single-dog household, along with the time a dog is regularly left alone, may influence a healthy dog’s stress level. Further research with a larger sample size is needed to support these results. Nonetheless, as chronic stress may be a detriment to the health of dogs, lifestyle factors such as social environment and time regularly left alone should be taken into consideration when planning canine clinical care.
Inclusions Three tables, 37 references.
Editor Annotation As movements such as Fear Free™ take hold in the veterinary community, more and more veterinarians are concerned about the stress level of their patients. In this study, the authors set out to determine if chronic illnesses caused chronic stress responses in dogs by measuring the hair cortisol levels in 16 chronically ill and 17 healthy dogs. In addition, owners were interviewed via a behavioral questionnaire. No significant differences were found in hair cortisol levels in healthy and sick dogs. Hair cortisol levels were not correlated with the number of veterinary visits. In addition, no differences were found in the stress-related behaviors which were exhibited in chronically ill and healthy dogs. There were significant correlations between hair cortisol levels and the time that the dog regularly spent alone in healthy and in chronically ill dogs. This is an extremely important finding. While there is little doubt that veterinary visits and chronic illness cause stress responses within the dog’s body, the most stressful event for well and chronically ill dogs observed in this study was the relatively long amounts of time spent alone. These findings were only true in single-dog households, not multi-dog households.
P age 4
A D V A N CE S
As with humans, environmental factors can cause chronic stress in dogs. Owners should be counseled on the impact of long amounts of time spent alone. Possible solutions may be daycare, dog walkers, or additional pets as company. More studies needs to be done to assess what types of company (e.g., cats, hamsters, fish) will decrease stress in dogs. (LR) Nicholson, S.L., Meredith, J.E. Should stress management be part of the clinical care provided to chronically ill dogs? J Vet Behav 2015;10:489-495.