Abstract :
[en] Canicross and its derivatives are burgeoning sports activities for the dog-master duo;
nonetheless, scientific knowledge in this field is lacking. Our aim was to work on this gap, thus helping owners and veterinarians for their sports and profession. On December 2021 (5°C, 80% humidity) and May 2022 (20°C, 54% humidity) we recruited 9 and 11 dogs covering a distance of 5.7 and 4 km, respectively. We collected physical and blood parameters as heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), rectal temperature (RT), hematology, biochemistry, blood lactate and glucose, at rest (T0), immediately (T1) and 1 hour after exercise (T2). We performed a one-way ANOVA on repeated measures. On December as on May, we observed a significant increase in RT and HR. Mean RT at T1 was more than 1°C higher on May (40.49±0.88) than on December (39.29±1.06). Hematocrit increased significantly with exercise only in December. Concerning blood electrolytes, only Mg decreased with exercise on December, whereas also other electrolytes (Cl, K, Ca, P, Mg) changed with exercise on May. Biochemistry was unchanged, except for creatinine, and only on May. Interestingly, lactate was not affected by exercise on December, whereas it increased significantly on May from T0 to T1. In conclusion, few parameters were modified in cold racing conditions, while other electrolytes and lactate significantly changed in warmer conditions. The difference in the increase of RT between December and May is a crucial parameter when considering animal welfare.
Hypomagnesemia with exercise was a common finding in both situations. These data have to be further investigated and explained in the light of comparative exercise physiology.
