Dogs

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of and risk factors for pathological conditions of the reproductive organs in stray dogs under tropical conditions. Three hundred and eighteen dogs were examined post-mortem in the period from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003. Before killing, a blood sample (from the cephalic vein) for testosterone assay was taken. Pathological conditions of the reproductive organs were found in 135 of the dogs (42.5%) and in 175 of the testes (64.8%). The most frequent pathologies found were testicular degeneration, cryptorchidism, testicular hypoplasia and testicular tumours (in 15.1%, 6.6%, 6.6% and 5.4% of the dogs and 15.1, 4.6, 6.0 and 3.5 of the testes, respectively). Transmissible venereal tumour (TVT) was seen in 5.4% of the dogs. Testicular degeneration was more common in old dogs and underweight dogs (p < 0.05). Testicular tumours were 14.3 times more common in cryptorchid dogs. Age was another important factor for the development of testicular tumours (p < 0.05). Lower levels of testosterone concentration (p < 0.05) were observed in dogs with advanced testicular degeneration (0.7 +/- 0.8 nM), dogs with hypoplastic testicles (0.8 +/- 0.9 nM) and dogs with one degenerated and one retained testis or with bilateral cryptorchidism (1.2 +/- 0.9 nM) compared to dogs with one or two normal testes (7.0 +/- 5.5 nM). Testicular volume and weight were significantly lower in degenerated, hypoplastic and retained testes compared with the contralateral normal testis. Some spermatogenic activity was found in three of the retained testes, producing oligozoospermic smears with a high percentage of sperm abnormalities. No comparable epidemiological data about male pathological conditions of the reproductive organs in the dog is available. The prevalence found in this study, yet, appears high.

The paper focuses on Greek epitaphs set up for dogs and attempts to demonstrate the kind of data that can be extracted from such texts. It analyses the texts of canine epitaphs and compares them not only to similar Latin inscriptions and literary evidence, but also to Greek funerary inscriptions set up for humans, as the structure of the canine epitaphs is often similar to the structure of human ones. Topics such as dog names and ‘professions’ are also touched upon in the paper, and it is concluded that dog owners seem to have named their dogs in a similar manner to how they have named their slaves and have adopted a pattern of expressing their grief over the loss of a pet from the epitaphs commemorating the deaths of dependent members of their households.

«ЗДЕСЬ ТЕПЕРЬ Я ОТДЫХАЮ ПОД ЗЕМЛЕЙ, О ХОЗЯИН, МНОГО ПОТРУДИВШИСЬ»: МЕСТО СОБАКИ В ЖИЗНИ ДРЕВНЕГРЕЧЕСКОГО ОЙКОСА НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ НАДГРОБНЫХ НАДПИСЕЙ
В статье рассматриваются древнегреческие эпитафии собак и предпри- нимается попытка продемонстрировать, какого рода информацию можно извлечь из по- добных текстов. Анализируя тексты эпитафий, авторы сравнивают их не только с ана- логичными латинскими текстами, но и с древнегреческими надгробными надписями, посвященными людям. В работе затрагиваются такие темы, как клички собак и их «про- фессии». Авторы приходят к выводу, что формулы, используемые в собачьих эпитафиях, а также их клички ближе всего к именам и формулам из эпитафий рабов и/или других зависимых членов домохозяйства.