DS 3 Small animal housing Answers (1).docx

**NSCI 5738 Principles of Animal Husbandry** **Small Animal Housing** The Five Freedoms is a framework for the care of animals. It is holistic in that it can capture many factors across housing, handling, health and well-being. Housing itself incorporates many of the Five Freedoms. 1. Which Five...

**NSCI 5738 Principles of Animal Husbandry** **Small Animal Housing** The Five Freedoms is a framework for the care of animals. It is holistic in that it can capture many factors across housing, handling, health and well-being. Housing itself incorporates many of the Five Freedoms. 1. Which Five Freedoms are covered by ensuring adequate or gold-standard housing for your animals? Which ones are more important in this context than others? *All of them! Freedom from discomfort; thermal, such as the ability for the animals to move from hot to cold, and in the sun to in the shade, physical, such as being housed in a clean place with a flea-free bed etc, and mental well-being, e.g., being safe or able to escape (this links to Freedom from distress -- as animals need to be able to move away from other animals or danger (such as cars etc).* 2. Based on the PPT (slide 2) what do YOU think are the guiding principles for housing? Consider, as you answer, that the requirements for dogs or cats are quite different to the housing small furries? Fill in the table with the principles and think of a couple of examples for dogs, cats and small furries. *If you needed to answer a question in a test (or exam) this would be a good starting point to then talk about specifics for particular animals* +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | Principles | Small Furries | Dogs | Cats | +=================+=================+=================+=================+ | *Housing for | *E.g. Rabbits | *Areas to dig, | *Toys | | behavioural | need to have | run and | (enrichment) | | needs* | room to 'jump'* | socialise as | specially for | | | | well as rest* | kittens to | | | *GPs need to | | approximate | | | burrow and hide | | playing with | | | in a hidey or | | littermates and | | | have hay to | | practising | | | burrow* | | hunting | | | | | (specially for | | | | | inside cats)* | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | *Housing for | *Guinea pigs | *Multiple areas | *Litter boxes | | comfort* | urinate and | to rest that | regularly | | | defecate | are an | changed and not | | *a.k.a freedom | everywhere in | appropriate | placed in | | from discomfort | their enclosure | size for that | places that are | | covering | so need | animal* | disruptive.* | | hygiene, | REGULAR, that | | | | thermal and | means DAILY | | | | physical* | removal of | | | | | soiled | | | | | material* | | | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | *Housing that | *Cages for | *Fenced area | *Depending on | | is secure* | small furries | where dogs can | cat -- inside | | | need to be | not escape onto | at night etc -- | | | secure (as in a | a road* | in their home | | | dog could not | | they should be | | | tip it over)* | | able to escape | | | | | and hide from | | | | | kids/other | | | | | animals* | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | *Housing that | *GPs need 1.0m2 | *Temporary | *For inside | | has adequate | for a pair | spaces need to | animals, there | | space* | according to | meet the Code | needs to be | | | RSPCA -- not | of Welfare -- | areas for | | | very big -- | lie down, stand | individuals.* | | | space is | and turn -- and | | | | required for | be limited by | | | | resting around | time spent in | | | | the edge of the | crated areas | | | | enclosure and | (no space to | | | | being able to | defecate)* | | | | escape | | | | | (foraging | | | | | increases | | | | | exploration and | | | | | natural | | | | | behaviour)* | | | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ 3. The Codes of Welfare can help you work out how much space is required for your dogs or cats (particularly when housed at the kennels or cattery), however, there is not the same amount of information available for small furries. Spend a couple of minutes googling and see if you can find an answer to the question: What is the minimum size cage for a guinea pig? *Just a few I found:* *US -- 30"x36".* *US -- online The Spruce min 7.5 feet sq -- also mentions an aquarium? What??* *NZ -- C&C cage* *1 guinea pig: Area -- 0.7sq m / Grids -- 2×3 grids / Size -- 76×91cm*  *UK -- C&C cages* [ ] https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/cage-size-guide.120795/ *Also 1 GP = 3 x 2 feet sq* 4. Look at the minimum standards for the following codes of welfare, that relate to housing. Choose one minimum standard (either cat, dog or layer hen) and give you opinion on whether you agree with it, and whether you think it is detailed enough. Upload this to the Moodle forum. You can find the codes [here](https://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/animal-welfare/codes-of-welfare/)). *For example: Code: Companion Cats* *Minimum Standard No. 11 -- Euthanasia* *(a) When a cat is euthanased it must be carried out in such a way to ensure that death occurs quickly.* *(b) Cats (including kittens) must not be killed by drowning.* *I think this minimum standard is not detailed enough as it only specifies that euthanasia must be quick, but doesn\'t specify that it must be humane (NZ Companion Cats Code of Welfare, 2007, Minimum standard No. 11). Whilst human euthanasia falls under the animal welfare act, I think it would be prudent to include that information in the minimum standards for Companion Cats.* 5. **Although there is a lot of good stuff in the PPT -- there is so much more information out there that is both opinion and research. See if you can find a paper that looks at housing of an animal from a research perspective. Follow this:** **Head to the [library](https://unitec.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/login?vid=unitec&lang=en_US) and sign in (you should do this every time to ensure you can access articles). Once logged in, hit 'new search' at the top of the screen. Type in 'Animal Welfare'. The first hit should be the journal Animal Welfare, click on the title (it might ask you to login again) and then under 'View Online' click the link to the journal host in blue.** **Depending on where you are (on campus or at home) it might ask you to login again -- so do that. When IngentaConnect comes up search 'Animal Welfare'. You will see a list of volumes full of journal articles. Try doing an 'advanced search': Click on 'Advanced Search' and type 'rabbit housing' in the first search box and 'Animal Welfare' as the Publication (a.k.a. the journal).** **How many hits did you get?** **18?** **Good!** **What do you notice about the types of articles that have come up? Even though the articles are not specific to companion or pet rabbits that research can help us learn about appropriate housing.** **Click on the second article: "Welfare assessment in pet rabbits". I like to right click and open in a new tab so I don't lose my list (tricks for new players!).** **You can see that (if you have logged in to the library as instructed) you have full access and can download this article.** 6. **Read the Abstract -- it is an interesting study -- from just the abstract, which of the five freedoms, do you think are addressed in the study?** ***Freedom to express normal behaviour -- lack of typical behaviours, more stress behaviours, no social contact with other rabbits*** ***Freedom from malnutrition -- diet is affected*** ***Freedom from injury and disease -- some rabbits not vaccinated.*** 7. **Download the article and open it up. Have a read. There is a table on page 2 that shows the differences in the minimum size for rabbit cages in the UK, USA and Netherlands. How confusing for owners! The study looks at the effects of housing on rabbits based on a survey and behavioural observations. There is a lot to take away from this article in terms of how the housing of rabbits, in solitary or group conditions can impact their well-being especially as social animals. After reading this article -- what would you say to rabbit owners? Pop the citation in as well and provide the full reference using the templates.** **Citation: words words words (surname, surname & surname, year).** **Rabbit owners have a responsibility to ensure their animals have opportunities to perform behaviours and live as they would do in the wild. As not possible in cage environments, owners need to make an effort their rabbit pets healthy. There is inconsistent information available for owners. For example, a UK study found that the amount of space each rabbit should have according to available documents and sources varies between 5m^2^ and 16.2m^2^ (Shcepers, Koene &Beerda, 2009) and that in 2006 nearly half of respondents to the survey did not vaccinate their animals -- resulting in risk of disease to these animals (Shcepers, Koene &Beerda, 2009). As a rabbit owner it is important to connect with your vet and obtain correct and up-to-date information based on science to ensure their rabbits have good welfare.** **Schepers, F, Koene, P, & Beerda, B (2009). Welfare assessment in rabbits. *Animal Welfare, 18(4),* 477-485.** **Reference: surname, initial., initial., surname, initial., initial., & surname, initial., initial. (year). Title. *Journal, volume(issue),* page-page. DOI** ***(I looked for the DOI and there isn't one -- so you'd just put the website. E.g.,*** **As you progress through your courses you will need to become very familiar with the library and using science to help you learn, understand concepts and also back up your thinking. Schepers, Koene & Beerda (2009) would be an excellent article to cite if you were writing an essay on the scientific measurement of welfare, appropriate housing, or the behaviour of rabbits or as an example of research conducted to inform the husbandry of small animals.** 8. Head back to the 'Ingenta' page. Click on 'citations'. This page gives you a list of other articles that have cited this paper. Research on a silver platter -- yes please! This is a really great little tip for finding similar articles -- Google scholar and other platforms will have a similar list.