Las Vegas, NV. The 80th Western Veterinary Conference attracted about 8,000 veterinary professionals from around the world to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Feb. 17-21. Among the 730 hours of continuing education offered for veterinary professionals, expert researchers presented the latest and greatest in cutting edge medicine. Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Jacqui Nielson of Portland, OR offered this round-up of recent studies in the field of animal behavior.

            DAP Is Dependable 

            Shelters and breeders typically adopt puppies advising owners to use a puppy diet, visit their veterinarian and to socialize their new family member by enrolling in a puppy class. It turns out another piece of advice may soon be added to the list, that’s to use dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) collars.

            These collars contain a chemical scent which only puppies can detect. The collars contain an analog or man-made ‘knock off’ of an appeasing or calming pheromone which pups get when they nurse. In a study of 66 puppies, about half had DAP collars and half had placebo or neutral collars. Pups with the DAP collars had significantly reduced levels of separation distress, less nighttime vocalization and fewer fear-related behaviors than puppies who wore the phony placebo collars.

            In another study of 45 puppies who enrolled in an eight week training class, about half the pups wore a DAP collar and about half wore a placebo. Owners filled out questionnaires about their puppies after each lesson. Follow up questions were collected at various intervals following the completion of the class. Dogs with the DAP collars played for longer periods and enjoyed better social interactions than dogs wearing the placebo.

            Further work needs to be done, but these studies certainly suggest DAP collars may help puppies transition to their new homes, and may even aid in their socialization skills.

            You Can Lead A Cat To Water, But What Should He Drink?

            Perhaps cats aren’t as finicky as we think. It turns out that given a choice between ordinary tap water and fancy purified water, a study of shelter cats demonstrated a clear preference for the tap water. This study was conducted because most cats don’t get enough water in the first place. Lots of cats are going through life seemingly healthy, but at least partially dehydrated.  Encouraging water intake is particularly important for cats in some degree renal failure and cats who have either cystitis or feline lower urinary tract disease. Researchers attribute tabby’s H2O tap water preference to either what they’ve been previously conditioned to, and/or the possibility that the purified water is actually too acidic. The lesson learned: For most of cats, tap water is fine.

            You can lead a cat to water, but can’t force the cat drink. One idea to encourage cats to lap more H2O is to offer choices, more than a single place to drink. When there are other pets, and toddlers running about – many cats don’t feel comfortable enough to take a long drink in a water bowl on the floor, so move the water to a place up high, on a ledge or counter top. Also, cats prefer fresh water, so re-fill frequently. Some cats become enamored of water dripping from the tap, or water fountains which are made for pets.

            From the Brain to the Tail

            Dogs may lean to the left or the right, not as a political statement – but as a demonstration of emotion. It turns out, that at least according to one Italian study, dogs mostly wag to the right when they see someone approach they recognize and like. They wag to the left when they’re frightened or confronted with someone who may be threatening. 

            Dogs in the study who were either presented with a familiar person or a cat wagged to the right. Dogs who were shown an intimidating dog or an unfamiliar person wagged to the left.

            The wag direction likely is linked to the response of stimuli from the brain.

            It’s true dogs who wag their tails aren’t always happy to see you, they’re merely excited. They may be ecstatic, but they also may be angry. On a practical level, it would be nice to be able to discern where the wag is coming from. But unless you video record and then carefully play the tape back at a slow speed, it’s nearly impossible to tell which direction the wag began.

            It’s not true that dog who wag to the left prefer Clinton or Obama, and dogs who wag to the right will vote for McCain.

            Cat Has Their Tongue

            Veterinarians offered behavior advice to 85 owners about their cat’s various behavior issues. Eight weeks later, the owners made a second visit and the clinician. Both the owners and also the veterinarians were independently questioned about the overall severity of the same problematic behavior. 92 per cent of owners reported improvement since their first visit; the vets noted improvement in only 78 per cent of those cases.

            The good news is that most cats improved appreciably with behavior advice. What’s interesting is that owners suggested a far greater difference in improvement than the veterinarian. Maybe the cat owners had lower expectations than their vets had for their vets, or the cat owners simply became tolerant of the problem over time. Owners were also asked about compliance, or how well they specifically followed the behavior treatment plan. Those who were most compliant – following the prescribed advice - resulted in the most improvement for their cats.