People often develop strong emotional connections with their dogs and consider them to be members of the family. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel validated tool, the Mourning Dog Questionnaire, to recognise and evaluate the mourning process in people who have lost a dog. The research model was based on a grid of five different questionnaires: the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire, the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale, the Animal-Human Continuity Scale, the Positivity Scale, and the Testoni Death Representation Scale. The Italian version of the survey was posted on social networks. A sample of 369 Italian dog owners filled in the questionnaire (mean age ± SD 42.00 ± 10.70 years). Reliability indices were good for all instruments. The total scores of the five questionnaires correlated with each other. The results from the Mourning Dog Questionnaire support the negative view of life after the death of a pet and people’s tendency to humanise their pet, since dog owners perceived animals no differently from humans in terms of emotions, needs and legal rights. Findings arising from the use of the Mourning Dog Questionnaire will help the implementation of rationality-based strategies to improve the wellbeing, resilience and quality of life of people in the world experiencing the loss of a pet.

Research on the socio-cognitive skills of different species often benefit from comparative experiments, however, the ecology of the species and development of the individuals may differently determine how they react to the same test situation. In this study, our aims were twofold: to observe and compare the spontaneous behaviour of companion cats and dogs in the same novel environment, and to habituate them (if needed) to the novel environment in the presence of their owners and an unfamiliar experimenter. The behaviour of 62 family cats, 31 experienced (which had the opportunity to meet strangers and explore unfamiliar places) and 31 inexperienced cats, and 27 family dogs was compared in an unfamiliar room. The subjects’ behaviour was coded during the first five minutes in the presence of two passive persons, their owners, and an unfamiliar experimenter. Then, based on a set of rules, first the owner, and then the experimenter tried to initiate interactions with the subjects and the subjects’ willingness to interact was evaluated. To pass the habituation test, subjects were expected to play with the experimenter or accept food from them. All dogs passed the test on the first occasion, while almost 60% of the cats failed. The cats’ experience did not play a significant role, in fact, younger cats passed more easily. We found marked differences between dogs and cats in all behavioural variables; compared to dogs, cats spent more time crouching and close to their box, while less time exploring or close to the owner. We did not find a difference in the cats’ behaviour based on their experience. Our results support the hypothesis that unlike dogs, cats need extensive habituation in a novel environment. This could partially be explained by the difference in the ecology and/or domestication process of the species, although developmental effects cannot be excluded. Our findings have fundamental consequences not only for the considerations of the testability of cats and on the interpretation of their data collected in the laboratory, but in a more general sense on developing comparative experiments.

Poor knowledge is available on the effectiveness of reading to dogs in educational settings, particularly in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In this study, we test the hypothesis that reading to a dog improves propensity towards books and motivation to read after the end of the programme, as well as reading and cognitive skills in children with ASD. The study is a prospective, randomized controlled trial, consisting of testing and re-testing after a 10 sessions reading programme with and without the presence of a dog. Nine Children with ASD (6–11 years old) were randomly assigned to a control (CG, reading without a dog, n. 4) or experimental group (EG, reading to a dog, n. 5). Children’s attendance at reading sessions was recorded at each session. Parents’ perceptions were evaluated at the end of the programme to detect changes in children’s attitudes and motivation toward reading. Psychologist-administered validated reading (Cornoldi’s MT2 reading test; test of reading comprehension, TORC; metaphonological competence test, MCF) and cognitive tests (Wechsler intelligence scale for children Wisc IV, Vineland) to all children, at baseline and at the end of the reading programme. Compared with CG children, children in the EG group participated more frequently in the reading sessions, and they were reported to be more motivated readers at home after the programme. However, there were no differences on reading and cognitive tests’ scores either within each group of children or between groups. Further studies are warranted in order to understand whether and how incorporating dogs into a reading programme is beneficial to Children with ASD at the socio-emotional and cognitive level.

Exposure to sub-lethal hydrostatic pressure (HP) treatment is emerging as an approach to improve the general resistance of gametes and embryos to in vitro conditions. The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of HP treatment on in vitro-produced ovine blastocysts. Experiment 1 was aimed to define optimal treatment parameters: two different HP treatments were applied to blastocysts and embryo survival was evaluated. In Experiment 2, HP parameters (40 MPa, 70 min, 38°C) selected in Experiment 1 were used to treat blastocysts. Embryo quality was assessed and compared with untreated controls by counting total cell number, the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) cells and by evaluating nuclear picnosis. HP-treated blastocysts were processed for gene expression analysis (AQP3, ATP1A1, BAX, CDH1, HSP90ß, NANOG, OCT4 and TP53) 1, 5 h after the end of HP exposure. Results showed that the hatching rate of embryos treated at 40 MPa was significantly higher than that of the 60 MPa-treated group (P < 0.01) and similar to untreated embryos. Blastocysts exposed at 40 MPa showed higher ICM (P < 0.05) and TE (P < 0.01) cell number and a lower percentage of picnotic nuclei (P < 0.05) compared with the control group. Significantly lower abundance for BAX (P < 0.01) and OCT4 (P < 0.05) transcripts were observed in HP embryos than in the control group. In conclusion, treatment with HP improved the quality of in vitro-produced ovine blastocysts by increasing their cell number and reducing the proportion of nuclear picnosis.

Physiological biomarkers of canine anxiety have not been extensively investigated to date. To identify new biomarkers in dogs, we compared behaviorally normal dogs (Control group, N = 13) to dogs diagnosed with separation problems (Case group, N = 13) as they were introduced into a novel environment in the presence of two strangers and subjected to a short episode of separation and reunion with the owner. During the separation phase, dogs in the Case group explored significantly less than controls and were significantly more persistent in expressing passive stress-coping strategies aimed at seeking proximity to their owners. When the owners returned, dogs with separation distress spent significantly more time jumping up on the strangers than control dogs did. Salivary oxytocin and vasopressin concentrations did not differ between samples taken before and after the separation. However, vasopressin concentrations immediately after separation were significantly higher in the Case than in the Control group and remained higher, although not significantly so, 10 min later. These results indicated that dogs with separation distress became more anxious than typical dogs when separated from their owner in an unfamiliar environment and provided preliminary support for the use of salivary vasopressin as a possible biomarker for anxiety-related responses in dogs.

Witnessing a companion animal’s death can be a stressful psychological experience for human guardians, affecting their ability to grieve. The veterinary and psychological sciences offer useful tools for supporting human guardians during their companion animal’s terminal illness. Accordingly, the present study aimed to validate the HHHHMM Quality of Life Scale in the Italian context. The study followed a mixed-methods design and involved 314 participants. The Mourning Dog Questionnaire (MDQ), Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ), and open-ended questions were adopted to test the research hypotheses and qualitatively explore the grieving experience. The results showed that the model’s fit was partially adequate, with all parameters being significant and over 0.40. Moreover, human guardians’ anger levels were high when their companion animal’s quality of life was poor, and greater levels of grief were associated with higher levels of attachment. Gender differences were observed only with the LAPS, and a negative correlation with age was found with the LAPS and PBQ. A thematic qualitative analysis revealed four themes: continuing bonds, coping strategies, shared moral values, and perceived support. Thus, the research reaffirmed the importance of adequate veterinary and psychological support for human guardians experiencing the loss of companion animals.