13140 - Husbandry of Companion Animals

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has the basic knowledge on mammals considered as pets, especially on dog and cat. In particular, the student is able to: understand the basic principles of dogs and cats rearing, with special reference to aspects related to the breeding, nutrition and wellness, evaluate the rearing techniques, use the information on genetic values.

Course contents

Dog and cat: origin and taxonomy, breeds classification, herd book and breeding schemes. Characteristics of the main dog and cat breeds. Hereditary pathologies, Dog and cat feeding. Basic information on other mammalians included in the pet category.

Readings/Bibliography

Pictures, graphs and tables showed during the lectures are downloaded from the web page of the teacher at this address http://www.unibo.it/docenti/leonardo.nannicosta

Teaching methods

The course is divided into two teaching parts, the first theoretical, consists of 30 hours of lectures supported by pictures and movies with the aim to provide basic information to assess the main aspects of pets husbandry. The remains 10 hours will be dedicated to seminars inviting breeders and stakeholders

Assessment methods

The exam of the “Husbandry of companion animals” course is mainly based on the discussion of a short written paper (max 12 pages) delivered 7 days before the examination exclusively to the following site: http://www.compilatio.net/depositare/bkln9

The paper has to be focused on breed consistency, nutrition and hereditary diseases of dog or cat breeds, or other mammal considered as pet chosen by the student.

In the case of canine or feline breeds, the paper must include the following mandatory information:

a)calculation of the energy requirements for an adult individual,

b) the quantity of commercial food to be administered,

c) the main hereditary pathologies, along with their incidence, which can be found on English-language websites,

d) for canine breeds, the number of puppies registered with the ENCI (National Kennel Club),

e) a list of references (Bibliography) and websites (Sitography) consulted for the preparation of the paper.

The paper will be processed by Compilatio software devoted to avoid plagiarism. Excluding the breed standard, if the index of similarity is over 30%, the paper is rejected. It has to be written again and presented to the next session of examination. If the evaluation of paper is positive, a written copy of it must be presented during the examination, which starts with two short questions on topics reported on the slides showed during lectures and reported at the web pages of the teacher.

Oral exam aimed at identifying the level of knowledge and competence achieved through general and species-specific questions. In addition to knowledge, the skills of expression and connection will be as well evaluated.

The test lasts about 20minutes, and no aids are allowed, except for eligible students. These students are kindly requested to contact the teachers in advance by copying the reference SLD/ Disability Service staff who take care of them.

The evaluation is expressed with a mark out of thirty. The test is passed with a score of at least 18/30. In the event of maximum marks (30/30), honours can be attributed.

In details, here is the score grid for oral examinations:

- in-deep knowledge of the topics addressed in the course, together with high skills of critical analysis, connection and a sure command of specific terminology will be evaluated with the maximum score (30-30L);

- very good knowledge of the topics addressed in the course, together with good analytical and critical skills and the possession of a sure command of specific terminology will be evaluated with good marks (27-29);

- technically adequate preparation and a sufficient analytical capacity, even if not particularly articulated, expressed in a correct language, will produce fair evaluations (23-26);

- sufficient preparation and capacity for analysis, expressed in a language which is barely formally correct, will determine the sufficiency (18-22).

By the University Didactic Regulation, the student has the right to refuse the verbalization of the proposed positive grade at least once.

Booking for the examination can be esclusively done by means of Alma Esami web system.

Teaching tools

PC with video projector.

Office hours

See the website of Leonardo Nanni Costa