Medico-legal aspects of congenital heart diseases in buying and selling of pets.

AIM: The veterinarian should be able to assess congenital and inherited malformations such as heart defects because they may be object of legal disputes. In this study, the authors report some cases of congenital heart defects in pets (dogs and cats) to clarify whether or not they may be considered a redhibitory defect. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 28 medical records of pets referred with suspected congenital heart disease were examined. All patients aged between 3 and 24 months underwent clinical examination, chest X-ray examination, electrocardiogram, and echocardiography and angiocardiography when necessary. RESULTS: Congenital heart diseases or associated cardiac malformations were confirmed. Considering the above congenital diseases as redhibitory defect and the rights of the owners from a strictly legal viewpoint, 9 owners demanded an estimatory action and 11 a redhibitory action; 1 owner decided to demand the reimbursement of veterinary expenses because the animal died; 7 owners took no legal action but requested surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Until more appropriate and detailed legislation on the buying and selling of pet animals is put in place; the authors propose to include in the contract a temporal extension of the guarantee relating to congenital heart disease, which can often become evident later.

Protection of farmed camels (Camelus Dromedarius): Welfare problems and legislative perspective.

In the last years animal welfare has assumed an increasing interest in our society, influencing legislation to enact many provisions aimed at the protection of animals. Along with increased consumer awareness of the need to maintain ethically acceptable conditions of raised animals, scientists too have begun to investigate the conditions of animal welfare, the tools for its evaluation and for its improvement. Although there are many advances in knowledge, much remains to be investigated concerning many species considered "minor", that is, camels and dromedaries. Dromedaries, recently, have attracted the interest of some breeders following the results of studies concerning the nutritional and therapeutic properties of their products - milk in particular - that make them ideal for some particular categories of consumers, such as diabetics, obesity sufferers, lactose-intolerant subjects, menopausal women and so on. Considering their use in dairy husbandry, dromedaries are reared under intensive and/or semi-intensive systems with the resulting emergence of specific needs, which should be fulfilled in order to have appropriate welfare. This paper's purpose is to give practical elements in order to find out dromedary welfare standards, promoting a comprehensive set of regulations on welfare, care and protection of this animal.