The Influence of Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome and Sociocultural Context on Separation Anxiety Disorder in Extreme Brachycephalic Dogs

• Grant number: 25/07678-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Paola Castro Moraes
• Grantee: Maria Eduarda de Souza Oliveira
• Supervisor: Rowena Mary Anne Packer
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/17114-3 - HIF-1ALPHA AS A POSSIBLE BIOMARKER OF BRACHYCEPHALIC OBSTRUCTIVE AIRWAY SYNDROME SEVERITY IN DOGS, BP.IC

Abstract

Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is an affection characterized by excessive fear and anxiety about separation to attachment figures. In dogs it is called Separation-Related Behaviours, and this attachment figure is commonly one of the owners, and its absence may be triggering to exacerbated vocalization, destruction of objects, excessive motor activity and gastrointestinal dysregulations. There are lots of studies that trace the patients' profile. Genetical and environmental characteristics are already shown to influence the development of this disorder. There are a lot of particularities about brachycephalic dogs that concern us about their predisposition to SAD, like hyper attachment to owners, BOAS comorbidities and shared characteristics to sleeping disorders. Yet, there are no studies that explore these hypotheses. It is a concern that this disorder affects these dogs more than the others, due to their hard time thermoregulating, which could severely affect their stays at veterinary facilities, including post operative care. We propose an international collaboration to further investigate the influence of cultural, environmental and clinical factors in the development of this disorder. The main objectives of this study are (1) assess if extreme brachycephalic dogs have higher incidence of SAD when compared to mesaticephalic dogs, (2) correlate anxiety levels with clinical signs and (3) severity of BOAS in the affected dogs. Methodology includes (1) behavioral assessment, (2) application of questionnaires to the owner and (3) preoperative observation, with posterior statistical analysis of collected data.