Kirsten M McMillan

• PhD MSc BSc(Hons)
• Deputy Head of Research (Data Analytics) at Dogs Trust

Introduction Growing concerns over health and welfare impacts from extreme phenotypes in dogs have created an urgent need for reliable demographic information on the national breed structures of dogs. Methods This study included all dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK during 2019 at practices participating in VetCompass. Demographic data...

Online sales are increasingly a route by which exotic animals are sold in the global pet trade. There are numerous types of online platforms and transaction types, and dedicated classified advertisement sites are a popular means of buying and selling animals. Despite their large and increasing use, we have a relatively poor understanding of the num...

Simple Summary Over the last ten years, the UK (United Kingdom) puppy trade has moved almost entirely online. Breed demand and impulse buying have made puppies lucrative commodities in an industry driven by profitability. To compensate, production levels have risen, feasibly fuelled by unethical breeding, poor husbandry/handling practice, and reduc...

Introduction Businesses commonly text mine Twitter data to identify patterns and extract valuable information. However, this method is rarely applied to the animal welfare sector. Here, we describe Twitter conversations regarding dogs during a global pandemic, assess the evolution of sentiment, and examine the dynamics of sector influence. Methods...

Emerging infectious diseases are responsible for declines in wildlife populations around the globe. Mass mortality events associated with emerging infectious diseases are often associated with high number of infected individuals (prevalence) and high pathogen loads within individuals (intensity). At the landscape scale, spatial and temporal variati...

The trade in non-domesticated animals for pets (exotics) is a global industry with considerable implications for a range of taxa and stakeholders. The scale of the trade means it receives coverage in both popular and scientific media, and some narratives may receive more attention than others. As these media play an important role in shaping public...

There is limited knowledge about the size of the UK dog population. This makes it difficult to reliably monitor population dynamics and management. A repeatable method of measuring the UK dog population, including owned and unowned dogs i.e., those housed long term by animal welfare charities, would help inform interventions to reduce risks to dog...

The exotic pet trade is a global industry with considerable implications for a range of taxa and stakeholders. The scale of the trade means it receives coverage in both popular and scientific media, and some narratives may receive more attention than others. As these media play an important role in shaping public opinion, policy, and legislation, w...

The companion dog is one of the most phenotypically diverse species. Variability between breeds extends not only to morphology and aspects of behaviour, but also to longevity. Despite this fact, little research has been devoted to assessing variation in life expectancy between breeds or evaluating the potential for phylogenetic characterisation of...

There is limited knowledge about the size of the UK dog population. This makes it difficult to reliably monitor changes in overall population size and characteristics, or the dynamics of dog supply and movement. A repeatable method of measuring the UK dog population would help inform interventions to reduce risks to dog welfare such as poor breedin...

Variability between dog breeds extends not only to morphology and aspects of behaviour, but also to longevity. Nevertheless, little research has (1) assessed life expectancy variation between breeds, and (2) investigated phylogenetic characterisation of longevity. This is partly due to a lack of informative, comparable, and accessible data regardin...

Background This study explored dog owners’ concerns and experiences related to accessing veterinary healthcare during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods Data were obtained through two cross‐sectional owner‐completed surveys conducted in May (first nationwide lockdown) and October 2020 and owner‐completed diaries (April‐November 2020). Diaries and rele...

Background: This study explored dog owners’ concerns and experiences related to accessing veterinary healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were obtained through two cross-sectional owner-completed surveys conducted in May (first nationwide lockdown) and October 2020 and owner-completed diaries (April-November 2020). Diaries and rel...

Text mining social media platforms allows researchers to identify patterns and extract valuable information. However, this method is rarely utilized by the charity or animal welfare sector. Here, we examine Twitter content regarding dogs and COVID-19, highlighting the topical foci of conversations, assessing sentiment expressed by specific sectors...

The rapidly increasing volume and diversity of ecological data has been driven by many factors, such as automated collection, technological advances, and data repositories. Facing these big data, many researchers have developed and/or refined R programming skills for quality assurance and reproducibility, along with the ability to access open-sourc...

Simple Summary On 23 March 2020, the UK Government introduced a nationwide lockdown as part of efforts to reduce the impact of COVID-19. Lockdown control measures led many dog owners to make changes to their daily routines. This study aimed to explore how the experience of dog ownership in the United Kingdom (UK) was impacted during this lockdown....

Simple Summary Initial COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in the United Kingdom (23 March–12 May 2020) prompted many people to change their lifestyle. We explored the impact of this lockdown phase on pet dog welfare using an online survey of 6004 dog owners, who provided information including dog management data for the 7 days prior to survey completio...

Lifestyle changes ensued for many people across the United Kingdom (UK) in the Spring of 2020 due to ‘lockdown’ restrictions imposed to curb the spread of a newly emerged virus, SARS-CoV-2, which caused a global pandemic of the disease known as COVID-19. More than 6,000 dog owners living in the UK completed our online survey between the 4th – 12th...

One of the core objectives of many animal-welfare organisations is to achieve improvements in animal welfare through school education programmes. However, whilst many charities and organisations develop and deliver these educational activities, impact relating to specific animal welfare attitudes and behaviours remains largely undescribed. This stu...

Aim Understanding determinants of species' range size is paramount to explaining global ecological patterns and estimating extinction risk of species. Here, we examined whether a sample of 536 snake species exhibits a latitudinal gradient of range size in support of Rapoport's rule, and determined predictors of range size from a set of environmenta...

Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly recognized as key threats to wildlife. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the causative agent of chytridiomycosis, has been implicated in mass mortalities, population declines, and local and global extinctions of many species of amphibians around the world. As such, it is currently the largest infecti...