BACKGROUND This study examined the prevalence of dog ownership and dog walking and its association with leisure-time walking among metropolitan and nonmetropolitan older adults. METHODS A telephone-based cross-sectional survey targeting Taiwanese older adults was conducted in November 2016. Data related to dog ownership, time spent dog walking (categorized as non-dog owner, non-dog walkers, a...

Free-roaming dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) are of public health and conservation concern because of their potential to transmit diseases, such as rabies, to both people and wildlife. Understanding domestic dog population dynamics and how they could potentially be impacted by interventions, such as rabies vaccination, is vital for such disease control efforts. For four years, we measured demogra...

The seroprevalence of toxocariasis was investigated in 1997/98 in 1009 schoolchildren (aged 5-12 years) throughout Trinidad. Infection, as measured by titre, was found to be high compared to values obtained from children in other countries. Using an excretory-secretory antigen and performing an ELISA test, it was found that 62.3% of children had an IgG antibody titre of > or = 1:100, indicating...

A number of authors suggest that children exhibit a natural interest towards animals, and different intervention programs have shown the presence of an animal being able to increase children’s attentiveness and motivation levels. Nonetheless, few research efforts have been devoted to the identification of specific animal characteristics able to attract and engage children. It has been hypothesi...

Over half the people in Western societies share their daily life with pets, which makes it the norm rather than the exception. Our shared history with domestic animals goes back tens of thousands years. However, technological advances in the last decades – computer, internet, social media – revolutionized our means of communication, and particularly our social lives. A legitimate but tacit ques...

Introduced predators have a global reputation for causing declines and extinctions of native species. Native prey naiveté towards novel predators is thought to be a key reason for predator impacts. However, naiveté is not necessarily forever: where coexistence establishes, it is likely that naiveté will be reduced through adaptation, and the once alien predator will eventually become recognised...

The prevalence of IgG-antibodies reactive with an Israeli strain of Rickettsia conorii (Israeli strain 487), the agent of Israeli spotted fever, was examined in humans and dogs from two rural villages in Israel where the disease has been reported in humans. Sixty-nine of 85 (81%) canine sera and 14 of 136 (10%) of human sera had anti-R. conorii antibodies. No direct association could be made be...

background: toxoplasma gondii infects a wide range of animals; felines are definitive hosts and other animals including the dogs are intermediate hosts. the aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of t. gondii infection in dogs in tehran, capital of iran and to investigate possi­ble associated risk factors. m ethods: three hundreds ninety six serum samples were collected during 20...

Pet ownership positively influences clinical outcomes in cardiovascular prevention. Additionally, disease (CVD) has been previously linked to microbiota dysbiosis. We evaluated the influence of owning a pet and its relationship with intestinal microbiota. analyzed gut from 162 coronary patients CORDIOPREV study (NCT00924937) according whether they owned pets (n = 83) or not 79). The pet-owner g...