Daniela Takacova

University of Veterinary Medicine in Košice · Department of Public Veterinary Medicine and Animal Welfare

Cross-compliance checks are a tool of the Common Agricultural Policy to promote agri-environmental objectives relating to the environment, animal welfare, and food safety. This mechanism consists of paying direct subsidies to farmers who comply with prescribed requirements. Compliance with animal welfare requirements in the Czech Republic is superv...

Poultry farming in Slovakia has a tradition and an irreplaceable position to ensure rational nutrition for the population. In terms of a nutritional value, poultrymeat (Galliformes) contains a high amount of proteins, essential amino acids, essential unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and a low fat content. Poultrymeat production has a rel...

Every mathematical solution to a problem corresponds to a model that more or less corresponds to reality. One of the many possibilities is the solution to epidemiological problems (processes) using the susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) model. Like any model, this model also has its advantages and benefits that allow us to close such a complicated...

The level of compliance with livestock welfare requirements is directly reflected in animal health, behaviour, and performance as well as farm profitability. It is mandatory to keep animals in conditions that prevent suffering and that respect animal needs in terms of biology and ethology. Compliance with these obligations in the Czech Republic is...

This paper is devoted to the transport of slaughter animals. There are obstacles that needs to be pointed out, removed, and resolved. General requirements for the movement of slaughter animals within the Union have proven to be an unjustified administrative burden and costly. It also presents how important is to keep and follow all the rules provid...

Animals may be subjected to various stressors during transport, which may compromise their health and welfare as well as meat quality. In the chain of operations between a farm and a slaughterhouse, animal transport is probably the most stressful and injurious stage. Data on mortality is commonly collected at slaughterhouse as a retrospective indic...

The determination of cortisol concentrations in animal hair appears to be a relatively simple and non-invasive method of assessing chronic stress.This method has advantages but it also has some drawbacks. We discovered that there are specific coat properties and individual factors in animlas that can affect corisol levels and skew the interpretatio...

In this study, the occurrence of repeat stunning, deviations in placement and direction of stun shots, and the occurrence of reflexes/reactions following stunning with a pneumatically powered captive‐bolt stunner in comparison with a cartridge‐fired captive‐bolt stunner in cattle were assessed. Repeat stunning and deviations in placement and direct...

To assess stress in horses, a method of monitoring eye blinks (full and half) and eyelid twitches while collecting saliva and blood samples before and after annual intensive police training was carried out. This noninvasive monitoring method was used to determine whether blood collection, which is considered invasive, is more stressful for horses t...

The welfare of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats was assessed by measuring trauma detected during veterinary postmortem inspection at slaughterhouses. The subject of this evaluation were all bovine, porcine, ovine and caprine animals slaughtered at Czech slaughterhouses in the monitored period, i.e., a total of 1,136,754 cows, 257,912 heifers, 1,015,54...

Every year, police horses undergo police training focused on passing difficult obstacles, during which their physical and mental abilities are tested. Using a method of eye movement monitoring, specifically eye blinking and eyelid twitching, we estimated if the training of horses was stressful. The results we found suggested that the training itsel...

Long-term tethering of dogs, or their keeping under unsuitable conditions can result in issues related to changes in their behavior as they may not satisfy their basic needs of life. These needs are discussed in this paper, along with cases when dogs unnecessarily have to endure cruelty and pain. The unavoidable tethering of a dog must not cause tr...

The occurrence of technological damage in cattle, pigs, sheep and goats reared and slaughtered in the Czech Republic was monitored by evaluation and analyzing results of post mortem inspections of official veterinarians from slaughterhouses in the period from 2010 to 2019. We found that technological damage was the most common in pigs, and less com...

The purpose of den trials is to assess innate ability and preparedness of dachshunds and terriers to work in natural beds in order to control fox numbers. International earthdog trials within the period 2009–2018 were evaluated in Slovakia, in which 1812 dogs participated, of which terriers represented 61.36% and dachshunds 38.64%. Depending on the...

Ear cropping is a controversial subject with both supporters as well as detractors. Some consider that the procedure is cruel and unnecessary, while others consider it to be routine and harmless. The cropping of the ears of dogs for cosmetic reasons has no medical merit. It is a cosmetic, surgical procedure performed to achieve a specific appearanc...

Mutilation of dogs is an emotive and controversial subject for veterinarians and animal keepers. The elective docking of a dog’s tail is illegal under both UK and Slovak law except for specific breeds that are intended to be used for specific purposes while the elective cropping of dogs’ ears is illegal under all circumstances. In the EU, there is...

Knowing the time of death of animals can be helpful for the forensic determination of death due to cruelty. We aimed to determine the time of death of companion animal carcasses, euthanised at an outpatient’s department (Small Animal Clinic) of the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice. The reasons for euthanasia included age of...

The objective of this study was to monitor the quality of ground water supplied to animal farms and 2 villages and of surface water (rivers) in the same area (Košice basin, eastern Slovakia) with the aim to assess contamination of water by potential sources in this area. Samples for physico-chemical and microbiological examination were collected at...

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the legal content of animal protection legislation in the Slovak Republic with that of Italian legislation. Firstly, we compare the legal systems in the Slovak Republic and Italy with respect to the animal protection laws, especially criminal law in both countries. This comparison of the two different l...

Knowing the time of death of companion animals as well as monitoring the cooling curve of a cadaver can be helpful for forensic determination of the time of death of animals that died due to cruelty, poaching, etc. The subject of our interest were carcases of dogs and cats (24 animals) divided into 7 groups according to weight, species and environm...

It is an effort of some animal lovers not to consider an animal as the object of legal relationship. In such conceptions it means that the animal may have character only as the subject of law. This is out of question in case of subhuman species, because the animal is considered as a thing from the legal point. It does not exclude that the animal as...

It is an effort of some animal lovers not to consider an animal as the object of legal relationship. In such conceptions it means that the animal may have character only as the subject of law. This is out of question in case of subhuman species, because the animal is considered as a thing from the legal point. It does not exclude that the animal as...

Ascaris suum is a parasitic nematode of pigs with worldwide distribution causing economic loses due do health interactions, reduced feed to gain efficiency and loses due to liver condemnation at abattoirs. To survey the herd prevalence of ascariosis in Slovakia, the presence of milk spots in liver of slaughtered pigs is monitored at abattoirs. Acco...

The aim of presented study was estimation of genetic relationship within and between 3 mentioned pig breeds bred in the Slovak Republic. Genetic variability at 10 microsatellite loci (SW24, SO107, SO068, SW936, sw353, so386, so355, sw72, tnfb, and SO070) was analysed in 412 pigs of Landrace, Yorkshire and Slovak White Improved breeds. Variation amo...

It is possible to determine the heart size on X-ray by estimation according to experience or to the number of intercostal space, or alternatively by measuring method, VHS (Vertebral Heart Score). VHS system is based on measuring the heart size, which is compared to the thoracic vertebras and it is given by vertebral unit (v). The target of the work...

Submitted work is focused to appraisal and breed characteristics of gene reserves of horses in the Slovak Republic. From available data number of animals of the breeds, bred in the Slovak Republic as well as their comparison to neighbouring European countries were found out. Based on the categorisation of risk populations according to number and st...

Biochemical and haematological analysis in horses is an important aid for clinical diagnosis of systemic, infectious and some parasitic diseases. It is important to determine the optimal treatment according to the relevance and the overall effects of the disease. Despite the widespread use of haematology in veterinary medicine for horses, in some c...

The authors evaluated the cases of dog's attacks during a 3 years period (2005-2008), taking into consideration the dog's breed, its age and sex and the location of injuries caused to persons and their age, as well. It is interesting that only few dog's attacks were caused by pittbulls, bandogs and other so-called dangerous dogs. Male dogs attacked...

The authors evaluated the cases of the dog´s attacks during a 3 years period (2005–2008), taking into consideration the dog´s breed, its age and sex and the location of injuries caused to persons and their age, as well. It is interesting that only few dog´s attacks were caused by pittbulls, bandogs and other so called dangerous dogs. Male dogs atta...

Chlamydiae are widely distributed throughout the world, causing various disease forms in animals and humans. The most important species, which can be pathogenic for humans, are Chlamydophila psittaci, causing ornithosis-psittacosis in birds, Chlamydophila abortus, causing abortion in ruminants and Chlamydophila felis, causing upper respiratory trac...

The activity of alkaline phosphatase in the duodenal and jejunal enterocytes was determined in 8-week-old clinically healthy piglets with normal (12 animals, average body weight 15.30 + 0.49 kg) and retarded growth (12 animals, average body weight 5.30 + 0.75 kg). A densitometric analysis was used. A marked decrease in an average density of the alk...

Efficacy of an experimental inactivated concentrated and purified rabies vaccine, potentiated with lipoid adjuvant was evaluated in comparative experiments performed in cattle by testing of specific cell-mediated immune response (CMI). Commercial inactivated rabies vaccines -Lyscelin (Czech Republic) and Rabisin (France) were used for comparison. T...

Some parameters of cell-mediated immunity (phagocytic activity PA and phagocytic index PI, metabolic activity and migration-inhibitive factor MIF of blood leucocytes) were investigated in calves experimentally infected with IBR virus (group II) and in calves premedicated with glucan seven days before infection (group I). A significant increase in t...

Submitted work is focused to appraisal and breed characteristics of gene reserves of horses in the Slovak Republic. From available data number of animals of the breeds, bred in the Slovak Republic as well as their comparison to neighbouring European countries were found out. Based on the categorisation of risk populations according to number and st...