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Animal Behavior for Shelter Veterinarians and Staff


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to be paid to the patient to determine if they continue to lick at the legs. In the experience of these authors, ALD is rarely a primary behavioral problem. If that is suspected, then the patient needs to be fully evaluated for other signs of fears or anxieties, such as noise sensitivities or phobias, barrier frustration, or separation anxiety, as it is unlikely that ALD would exist as a primary behavioral problem without one of these comorbid conditions. Grooming is a common displacement behavior, and the dog who is anxious about the strange sights, sounds, and smells of the shelter, as well as the sudden change in its living arrangement and separation from familiar people, may be inclined to exhibit displacement grooming to the extent that it develops or worsens an existing ALD.

      4.6.5.3 Feline Hyperesthesia

      Feline hyperesthesia is a poorly understood syndrome, known by a variety of different names, including rolling skin syndrome, twitchy skin syndrome, and feline neurodermatitis, to name a few. It is characterized by short episodes of thoracolumbar skin rolling or rippling, and, in some cases, epaxial muscle spasms. Cats may appear anxious or agitated and demonstrate exaggerated tail movements, running, vocalizations, or self‐directed aggression. The self‐directed aggression may be the extreme end of a spectrum that includes excessive licking, plucking, biting, and/or chewing directed at the tail, lumbar, flank, or anal area. In some cases, the increased motor activity, exaggerated rolling, crouching, and elevation of the perineal area may be confused with the behavior typically shown by an estrus female.

      Feline hyperesthesia is referred to as idiopathic in most textbooks because no single causal factor has been elucidated. It has been hypothesized that the behaviors are a result of focal seizures, sensory neuropathies, and dermatologic disease resulting in pruritus. As is the case with other skin conditions, it is likely that environmental and social stressors play a role in this condition. Systemic diseases such as toxoplasmosis and hyperthyroidism should be ruled out, as well as painful spinal or skin conditions, severe pruritus, FLUTD, anal sacculitis, and myositis, as they may all contribute to the behavior. Any disease condition that affects the central nervous system or alters reactivity to stimuli will need to be ruled out if the clinician is presented with a cat showing signs similar to feline hyperesthesia (Ciribassi 2009).

      4.6.5.4 Self‐Injurious Behaviors

      4.6.6 Endocrine Disease

      4.6.6.1 Dogs

      Hypothyroidism is one of the endocrinopathies most often mentioned as being associated with behavioral changes in dogs. However, there are minimal data supporting any causal association between hypothyroidism and aggression. One study compared the analytes commonly used to evaluate thyroid function between dogs with and without aggression toward people and found no difference between the two groups (Radosta et al. 2012). A double‐blind placebo‐controlled trial evaluated the effect of six weeks of thyroid replacement on owner‐directed aggression in 29 normal dogs with borderline low thyroid values and found no difference between the treatment and control groups (Dodman et al. 2013). In another study of 20 hypothyroid dogs without diagnosed behavior problems, treatment with levothyroxine resulted in no behavioral change other than increased activity levels (Hrovat et al. 2018). Serotonin and prolactin levels were also measured prior to, at six weeks, and six months after the initiation of levothyroxine therapy, and no significant changes in levels were noted (Hrovat et al. 2018). Thus, at this time, there are no data to support the proposal that thyroid supplementation may benefit behavioral therapy in dogs.

      4.6.6.2 Cats

      Tail chasing

       Intervertebral disc disease

       Injury of the tail

       Anal sac disease

       Spinal cord disease including neoplasia

       Cauda equina syndrome

       Focal seizures

       Flea allergy

      Fly snapping

       Viral diseases such as distemper

       Tick‐borne diseases such as Lyme, ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever

       Focal seizures

       Central nervous system neoplastic disease

       Gastroesophageal reflux

       Lymphocytic, eosinophilic, or plasmacytic enteritis

       Delayed gastric emptying

       Chiari malformation

       Chorioretinitis or other ocular abnormalities

      Acral lick dermatitis

       Allergic