Animal Handling and Physical Restraint

C. B. Chastain

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351649346
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Veterinary Medicine

Key features:

• Stresses safety in handling, restraint, and containment of animals
• Covers handling and restraint of all domestic and common tamed animals and provides information on normal animal behavior and welfare
• Discusses how to recognize signs in animals of poor handling and containment
• Reviews zoonotic disease risks to animal handlers, particularly from normal-appearing animals, and how to avoid transmission of disease
• Features over 200 informative line drawings for clarity and simplicity of illustration
• Explains how to tie useful knots and hitches and when to use them for restraint
• Includes basic ethical considerations and legal liabilities of animal handling and containment
• Presents steps to prevent animal escapes, barn fires, and problems with transport
• Authored by an experienced veterinary educator in clinical medicine for veterinarians, veterinary students, pre-veterinary students, veterinary technicians and technologists, animal scientists, and animal owners

Proper handling and restraint are essential to the welfare of captive animals, allowing them to be examined, groomed and treated in ways that contribute to their optimum quantity and quality of life. The aim of the book is to prepare future or current veterinarians and veterinary technologists, technicians/nurses, and assistants to be able to handle animals more safely and gain the confidence of animals and their owners. In turn, they will be able to instruct owners in proper animal handling methods, reducing the risk of physical injury or mutual infectious diseases.

Throughout the book, the author emphasises that each animal is an individual and each handling environment provides its own advantages and disadvantages: handling an animal safely, humanely and efficiently requires practical knowledge of the species' normal behaviour. This is explored in detail in each of the species-based chapters, which cover proper handling of domestic household and laboratory animals, as well as farm and ranch animals where safe handling aids the producer in both humane practice and greater profitability.

After reading this book, the practitioner or student will be versed in the most basic part of the art of veterinary medicine: the safe handling of animals.

Part 1

PRINCIPLES OF SAFER HANDLING AND PHYSICAL RESTRAINT

CHAPTER 1 Safer animal handling and physical restraint

CHAPTER 2 Animal behavior

CHAPTER 1

SAFER ANIMAL HANDLING AND PHYSICAL RESTRAINT

Domestication is the process in which an animal species is habituated to survive in the persistent company of human beings. They are selectively bred for human-desired disposition, appearance, food or fiber production, or work ability. Prior to the domestication of the dog, animal–human interactions were hunter–prey. Animal handling and restraint began with the domestication of the dog (Canis familiaris), which is estimated to have occurred as early as 12,000 BC. The next animals to live dependently on the care of humans were goats (Capra hircus, circa 10,000 BC) and sheep (Ovis aries, circa 9,000 BC), followed by cattle (Bos taurus and Bos indicus) and swine (Sus domesticus, circa 8,000 BC). The cat (Felis catus) may have been domesticated by 7,500 BC, before the donkey (Equus asinus, circa 5,000 BC) and horse (Equus caballus, circa 3,500 BC). Chickens (Gallus domesticus), llamas (Lama glama), and alpacas (Vicugna pacos) were domesticated around 3,500 BC. The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), and hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) were domesticated about 100, 900, 1500, and 1930 AD, respectively.

Other animals such as reptiles, birds, and rodents are contained and handled by humans, but are not domesticated. They may be tamed individually (made tractable) and tolerant of being handled. Domesticated species can be made tolerant of the presence of humans much more easily. In general, domesticated animals are safer to handle than tamed, non-domesticated animals.

Physical restraint of animals is often necessary when training. If reasonable restraint is not tolerated, proper training has not been achieved. Chemical restraint by veterinary medical professionals is needed if the procedure to be done on an animal may cause moderate to severe pain without analgesia or anesthesia. The use of chemical restraint has to be weighed against the drug’s potential adverse effects, including prolonged exposure to ambient temperatures, sunlight, risk of trauma inflicted by herd mates, and other factors. For many common handling procedures on animals that require restraint, physical restraint methods are easier, quicker, less expensive, and safer than chemical restraint, if physical restraint is properly carried out.

Effective, safer (none is entirely “safe”) animal handling and restraint has therefore evolved over 14,000 years. The basic principle is well established: restrain as little as possible, but persist and do as much as it takes as long as it is safe and humane. Excessive, unnecessary restraint or initial failure will be magnified as greater resistance by the animal to handling in the future.

The reasons to handle or restrain individual animals include physical examination, prophylactic, medical, or surgical treatments, grooming, training, recreation, and companionship. Carnivores can be handled individually without others of their species present. Herd animals are handled as individuals with less stress if they are allowed to remain in a group or in close proximity to a group.

The single action that veterinary medical personnel do for each and every patient is the application of handling techniques.

Many animals become bonded to a handler, thus establishing a level of bilateral trust. Older animals that have had several handlers, all of whom did not mistreat the animals, often transfer trust in their past handlers to a new handler. Because of these situations of trust, it is common to see handlers put themselves in harm’s way with animals believed to be well behaved. For example, horse handlers may walk under the lead rope of a tied horse. Although this is extremely dangerous, the handler has become lulled into a false sense of safety. Giving into a false sense of security and not always exercising basic precautions is the major cause of handler injuries.

All animals that are not properly socialized to humans early in their life, or are subjected to circumstances in which they feel pain or feel they are endangered, can injure handlers in an attempt to escape or defend themselves. Animal handlers remain safer by not taking unnecessary chances with dogs that are said to “never bite,” horses that “never kick,” and similar scenarios.

ATTRITION OF PROPER HANDLING

Handlers should become familiar with animals in their care, including their normal habits of eating, drinking, sleeping, urinating, defecating, and exercising, so that problems can be identified early and corrected when possible.

Throughout the more than 14,000 years of domesticated animal handling, the benefits of good handling practices for the animal and for the handler were obvious, not only to the handlers but also the observing public. Starting with the Second Industrial Revolution that began in 1850 and accelerated by the advent of the automobile in the early 1900s, humans have become more detached from working directly with animals. A disconnect has developed between the decision makers, those who actually handle animals, and the general society. More than 95% of the U.S. population is three or more generations removed from farm or ranch living.

In addition to urbanization resulting in fewer young people being exposed to proper animal handling, there has been a de-emphasis on animal handling and containment in veterinary medical education. The Journal of Veterinary Medical Education dedicated an issue in 2007 to animal handling education in international veterinary colleges that were accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). The conclusions expressed in this issue were that more animal handling teaching was needed in veterinary medical education. However, the idea of adding or expanding animal handling courses has had to complete with teaching an ever-expanding body of knowledge in specialized fields that have strong advocates in academic veterinary specialists.

To aid in filling the void of training in animal handling of small animals, commercial postgraduate education has marketed Fear Free® (VetFolio, a joint partnership of the North American Veterinary Community and the American Animal Hospital Association) and Cat Friendly® (American Association of Feline Practitioners) training courses and certification for individuals and veterinary practices. Although some of the principles involve the use of synthetic pheromones and nutraceuticals, which may or may not be advantageous in decreasing stress, sensitization of veterinarians and veterinary technicians to the possible presence of discomfort and fear in their patients is beneficial in motivating change. Any renewed emphasis on improved animal handling is desirable. It is unfortunate, however, that veterinary practices that do not elect to participate in the copyrighted “Cat Friendly Practices” could be perceived as not being cat friendly, and the copyrighted name “Fear Free Practice” is hyperbole for stress reduction techniques. No veterinary practice is fear free to all patients.

Handling animals in seclusion, and thus without public visibility, by employees or agents of owners fosters an environment that allows the attrition of good animal handling. Several states in the U.S. have passed “ag gag” laws, which intentionally or unintentionally protect handlers of livestock from public scrutiny of inhumane handling of animals. Shielding of animal handling occurs with both livestock and companion animals (Table 1.1).

Streptomycin, discovered in the 1940s, was the first of many antibiotics that made possible the raising of food animals in greater confinement with lower risk of communicable disease. In the 1930s, chickens were the first to be raised in large-scale extreme confinement. Large feedlots for cattle became widespread in the 1960s. By 1990, most sows were kept in gestation crates.

The move from small farms to industrial-level raising of livestock has exacerbated the desensitization of on-site handlers to how animals are confined and handled. Ironically, the raising of animals in low physical and mental stress environments has repeatedly been shown to result in faster gains in productivity. However, since higher expenses in facilities and labor costs offset some of the gain in productivity, the pressure for extreme confinement persists. Fortunately, public knowledge of the disadvantages of raising animals in extreme confinement has grown. Responding to this, Burger King became the first U.S. corporation to announce it would begin switching to cage-free eggs and gestation-crate-free pork. Similar actions by Safeway, Kroger, Oscar Mayer, McDonalds, and other food companies have since followed the lead by Burger King. Smithfield Foods and Tyson Fresh Meats announced in 2014 proactive plans to improve hog housing and handling.

Table 1.1 Examples of contributors* to the attrition of good animal handling

• Animal trainers who require appointments for owners to see training practices

• Veterinary hospital personnel who remove dogs and cats from the owners’ observation in providing non-emergency handling, exams, and treatments

• Close confinement of livestock and poultry that prohibits public observation

• State laws that prohibit photographing animals in confinement

^* These situations do not innately cause poor animal handling, but they permit and protect environments without transparency to the public that can harbor poor animal handling.

Evaluation of the quality of animal handling and restraint is not an exact science. The best, and only meaningful, source of evidence for good animal handling, restraint, and confinement is what the animal reveals by its behavior when the handling and restraint are repeated or persist. If the behavior is unnatural (stereotypic or exaggerated fear), poor handling or restraint methods have taken place. Stereotypic behaviors beyond random occurrence can be caused by excessive confinement and include pacing, weaving, chewing cages or stalls, and self-mutilation (feather picking, excessive grooming). Unnatural behavior caused by poor handling, restraint, or confinement is one of the primary means of assessing the need for improved management of animals, as well as the number of animals with excessive lameness, external injuries, and vocalizations.

Animal welfare is the state of the animal and how it is coping with the conditions in which it lives. When humans domesticated animals, they took on the responsibilities to provide shelter, food, and a painless death. Fulfilling these responsibilities has been erratic. In the 1700s, animals were believed to lack a soul and were therefore without feelings. The ability to work or produce food or fiber was used as the only indicator of sufficient welfare. The first law to protect animals from abuse did not exist until 1822; this was the Act to Prevent the Cruel and Improper Treatment of Cattle, which was passed in Britain. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was later established in 1866, and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Caution
• Abbreviations
• PART 1: PRINCIPLES OF SAFER HANDLING AND PHYSICAL RESTRAINT
• PART 2: HOUSEHOLD AND LABORATORY ANIMALS
• PART 3: RANCH, FARM, AND STABLED ANIMALS
• Appendix: Additonal Further Reading
• Index