Grooming-Related Concerns Among Companion Animals: Preliminary Data on an Overlooked Topic and Considerations for Animals' Access to Health-Related Services.

Shelby E Mcdonald,Colleen Doherty,Laura Niestat,Jessica Sweeney

doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.827348

Abstract

Grooming is an essential health maintenance activity that is fundamental to the welfare of many companion animals. Despite the potentially serious consequences of inadequate grooming for pets and their caregivers, few studies have examined the role of access to pet grooming services and supplies in promoting and maintaining companion animal health and welfare. The goal of this paper was 2-fold: (1) To provide preliminary findings demonstrating the scope of grooming and matting concerns among animals served by a large, non-profit animal welfare organization and (2) to provide a call for research to guide effective prevention of and responses to grooming-related omissions of care. We retrospectively extracted data from five American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) programs serving the New York City area: ASPCA Animal Hospital (AAH), Community Medicine (CM), One ASPCA Fund, ASPCA-NYPD (New York City Police Department) Partnership, and the Community Engagement (CE) Program. The prevalence of grooming–related concerns was relatively consistent across all three veterinary service programs (AAH: 6%; CM: 4%; One ASPCA Fund: 6%). Thirteen percent of the ASPCA-NYPD Partnership's cruelty cases involved general hair matting concerns and/or strangulating hair mat wounds (93% were long-haired dog breed types). Five percent of CE cases received grooming-related supplies to support pet caregivers' in-home grooming capabilities. Our findings underscore the need to understand the scope of grooming-related concerns among animals served by veterinarians and other community programs to improve animals' access to health-related services.

Highlights

Pet grooming is a health maintenance activity that is fundamental to the welfare of companion animals
Our findings provide preliminary evidence that improving access to grooming services and supplies and improving caregivers’ knowledge of their pets’ grooming needs is likely to improve the welfare of a significant number of companion animals
Consistent with prior work, our findings suggest that improved inter-agency and cross-services collaboration can help to ensure the health and welfare of multispecies families [5, 47]

Summary

Introduction

Pet grooming is a health maintenance activity that is fundamental to the welfare of companion animals. Most companion animals require some degree of grooming, which can include basic hygiene care such as brushing, clipping, and trimming hair, bathing, cleaning the ears, and trimming claws. Grooming-Related Concerns Among Companion Animals threats to animal health and wellbeing. The claws may grow in a circular pattern and penetrate the paw pads on the underside of the feet causing painful wounds. Overgrown claws can alter the normal anatomic position and function of the feet [1]. Matted hair can contribute to and cause medical conditions such as skin irritation and infection, recurrent or chronic ear and ocular infections and disease, anal soiling and obstruction, fecal constipation and impaction, urine scalding, and parasitic infestations [1–4]. Chronically matted hair can encircle the lower limb(s) and constrict blood flow and lymphatic drainage resulting in soft tissue death, bone injury, and potentially amputation of the affected limb [2]

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion