| dc.description.abstract | Behavioural problems of animals can cause difficulties for their owners, their environment and themselves. Dangerous situations may arise and welfare is at stake. Behavioural therapy can be used successfully as treatment, sometimes (especially in the more severe cases) the combination with psychotherapeutics is useful and necessary. However, even though knowledge of these problems and the pathogenesis is improving, there is still little knowledge about the effects of drugs for dogs when treating specific problems. In this thesis data of dogs that have been treated with Clomipramine, Fluoxetine or Methylphenidate at the behavioural department of the university clinic of Utrecht has been analysed. The following data was collected: name, patient number, breed, gender, date of birth, weight, date of examination, examined by therapist, owner information, problem presented by the owner, problem category, previous treatment, prescribed medication and dose, prescribed behavioural therapy, prescribed food supplements, change in the medication or dose during treatment, results of treatment, side effects, follow up of the patient. This was done in order to get an insight into what treatment plans gave which results, looking both at the original plan and the actually implemented therapies by owners. We were specifically interested in what factors may influence results.
For the 77 dogs that fit our criteria, the following results were reported: 24,7% (19 dogs) improved to the owners satisfaction (problem solved), 54,6% (42 dogs) improved at least slightly, for 18,2% (14 dogs) treatment was reported to have no effect, and for 2,6% (2 dogs) a negative effect was reported. We also looked at the results achieved with the different psychotherapeutics and for specific problem behaviours. A loglinear analysis was done to assess which factors could have influenced results. No significant statistical higher order interaction was found for the used variables and result. Some lower order interactions did prove statistically significant after correction. Significant partial associations found when combining all variables: Effect*Therapist (P 0,003), Category*Sex (P 0,003), Category*Change in medication (P 0,004). After looking at smaller groups, we found the significant partial association of Therapist * Change in medication (P 0,002) for combined group of ‘generalized anxiety + separation anxiety’. When looking at the combined group of ‘aggression + fear induced aggression’, Effect * Change in medication proved significant (P 0,001). Unfortunately, no significant conclusion could be drawn from this data. It is suggested that the absence of statistically significant data might be explained by the small research group. Another important influencing factor is owner feedback, which was shown to be inconsistent at times. The gathered information did show that the amount of patients that improved with therapy is 79,3%. Hopefully the gathered information will help us to understand and improve the treatment of behavioural problems in dogs even more. | |
