Abstract
Oxytocin is often portrayed as a hormone specific to social behavior, reflective of positive welfare states, and linked to mental states. Research on oxytocin in domesticated animal species has been few to date but is rapidly increasing (in dog, pig, cattle, sheep), with direct implications for animal welfare. This review evaluates the evidence for the specificity of oxytocin as an indicator of: 1. Social, 2. Positive, and 3. Psychological well-being. Oxytocin has most often been studied in socially relevant paradigms, with a lack of non-social control paradigms. Oxytocin research appears biased toward investigating positive valence, with a lack of control in valence or arousal. Oxytocin actions are modulated by the environmental and social contexts, which are important factors to consider. Limited evidence supports that oxytocin's actions are linked to psychological states; nevertheless whether this is a direct effect of oxytocin per se remains to be demonstrated. Overall, it is premature to judge oxytocin's potential as an animal welfare indicator given the few and discrepant findings and a lack of standardization in methodology. We cover potential causes for discrepancies and suggest solutions through appropriate methodological design, oxytocin sampling or delivery, analysis and reporting. Of particular interest, the oxytocinergic system as a whole remains poorly understood. Appreciation for the differences that social contact and group living pose in domesticated species and the way they interact with humans should be key considerations in using oxytocin as a psychosocial indicator of well-being.
Highlights
Being able to display social behavior is key to the welfare of domesticated animals, who are all social species
We propose that OT may be evolutionarily linked to social coping strategies (BuismanPijlman et al, 2014; Cavanaugh et al, 2016), as the social arm of homeostatic processes, and as such neither positive nor negative but adaptive
Dogs with lower endogenous OT concentrations were more responsive to exogenous OT administration than dogs with higher endogenous OT concentrations (Romero et al, 2014)
Summary
Being able to display social behavior is key to the welfare of domesticated animals, who are all social species. A Review of Oxytocin for Psychological and Social Well-Being in domesticated animal species, because OT has been well researched in human, non-human primates and rodents (Winslow et al, 2003; Neumann, 2009; Cavanaugh et al, 2016; Freeman and Young, 2016), an emerging theory is that domestication may have influenced the oxytocinergic system (Nagasawa et al, 2015), to the effects of domestication on quantitative behavioral changes (Price, 2002). We excluded the special case of maternal behavior, covered by previous reviews (Neumann, 2009; Kim and Strathearn, 2016), and studies of human-animal interaction focused on the human experience. This review does not intend to exhaustively cover the literature on OT in domesticated species but rather focuses on aspects relevant to behavior and welfare, highlighting findings and gaps in research. Approaches to study animal welfare and animal welfare assessment are covered elsewhere (Fraser, 2008; EFSA, 2012)
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