Reading the animal

Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour: what animals do, how the behaviour is produced, how it develops, what it is for and how it evolved. Welfare science asks a related question: how is this animal faring, in its body and in its experience, in the conditions in which it lives and dies? The two belong together, because behaviour is the most direct window a veterinarian has into how an animal feels. The World Organisation for Animal Health lists animal welfare among the Day 1 competencies of every graduating veterinarian.

Foundations of ethology and learning theory

Ethology asks four classic questions about any behaviour: what causes it, how it develops, what it is for and how it evolved. Young animals pass through sensitive periods; puppies are most open to socialisation from about 3 to 12–14 weeks of age, kittens from about 2 to 7 weeks. Learning runs from habituation, getting used to a harmless repeated stimulus, to associative learning, in which reinforcement makes a behaviour more likely and punishment less likely. Behaviour rewarded unpredictably is the hardest to extinguish.

Normal behaviour of farm species

Knowing normal is how you notice abnormal. Calves and goat kids are “hiders” that lie still while the mother grazes; lambs and foals are “followers”. Dairy cows lie down for roughly 10 to 14 hours a day and will give up eating time to rest, and a fall in rumination time is an early sign of disease. Sheep have the strongest flocking instinct, so a sheep should never be isolated without need. Pigs cool themselves by wallowing, and sows build nests about a day before farrowing.

Normal behaviour of companion animals

Dogs show fear early through small signals: lip licking, yawning, turning the head away, lifting a paw, or “whale eye”, showing the whites of the eyes. Punishing a growl can remove the warning and leave a dog that bites without one. Cats naturally live in colonies of related females, so unrelated cats sharing a home may stay in conflict. Urine spraying is marking, not toileting; scratching is normal; and a place to hide is a key resource for a cat at home, in a shelter or in a clinic.

Behavioural signs of pain

Prey species and cats hide pain, so the manual teaches you to watch the undisturbed animal first, then interact and examine. Grinding the teeth signals pain in cattle, sheep, goats and horses, and a horse with laminitis rocks its weight back onto its heels. Heart rate and breathing rate are not specific for pain. Validated tools help: grimace scales score changes in the face, and composite pain scales for dogs and cats set scores at which pain relief should be considered.

Behavioural signs of stress and abnormal behaviour

The stress response has a fast arm, adrenaline acting within seconds, and a slower hormonal arm acting within minutes through cortisol. Cortisol is not a pure distress marker: it also rises with handling for sampling, with the time of day and even with positive excitement. Faecal samples reflect the hours to a day before; hair reflects weeks to months. Stereotypies, repetitive and unvarying behaviours with no obvious function such as bar-biting in sows or crib-biting in horses, point to frustration or an animal trying to cope.

Welfare concepts: Five Freedoms, Five Domains and beyond

The Five Freedoms are freedom from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from pain, injury and disease; to express normal behaviour; and from fear and distress. They grew from a 1965 report asking that animals at least be able to stand up, lie down, turn around, groom themselves and stretch their limbs. The newer Five Domains model makes mental state the welfare outcome. Recent thinking adds positive welfare, a good life and One Welfare, which links animal welfare, human well-being and the environment.

Welfare assessment

Resource-based measures record what an animal is given; animal-based measures record how the animal actually is, and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) favours these outcomes. Protocols such as Welfare Quality use four principles (good feeding, housing, health and behaviour) and 12 criteria. Observers can rate demeanour, from relaxed to fearful, or measure how close a person can approach. Every measure must be valid, reliable and feasible.

Handling and restraint

Low-stress handling works with the way animals see and move: work from behind the point of balance at the shoulder, at the edge of the flight zone; step in front of the shoulder and the animal tends to stop or turn back. The flight zone is smaller in tame, well-handled animals. Animals balk at shadows, reflections, dangling chains, air in their faces and people visible ahead, and curved races with solid sides use their tendency to return the way they came. Poultry should be carried upright and supported, never by one leg.

Welfare in transport

WOAH's standards cover transport by land, sea and air. An animal that cannot stand or bear weight, is blind in both eyes, has an unhealed navel, is in the final 10% of pregnancy, or is severely sick or injured is unfit to travel; it should be treated or humanely killed on the farm, not loaded. Heat stress is worst when a vehicle stands still, and chronic stress can show up later as dark, firm, dry meat.

Welfare at slaughter

Calm movement through the lairage, correct placement of the stunning device and constant checking decide whether slaughter is humane. An effective stun shows immediate collapse, no rhythmic breathing, no corneal reflex, a fixed stare and a relaxed jaw. Some methods are reversible, so bleeding must follow quickly. Regular audits keep standards from slipping.

Housing and environmental enrichment

Enrichment can be social, occupational, physical, sensory or nutritional, but it only counts if welfare measures actually improve; adding objects is not enough. Pigs need material they can root, chew and manipulate, and a hanging chain alone does not meet that need. Legal minimums for space and housing vary between countries.

Behavioural problems in companion animals

First rule out medical causes, then diagnose the motivation, not just the behaviour. Most aggression in dogs is fear-related, and confrontational “dominance” methods increase the risk of bites. Separation-related problems happen only when a dog is alone or apart from the person it is attached to. For cats, a simple rule prevents much house soiling: one litter tray per cat plus one, in separate places, cleaned daily.

Behaviour is the most direct window a veterinarian has into how an animal feels.