Infrared Thermography as a Tool for Assessing Animal Welfare and Its Usefulness in Veterinary Research

Abstract

This Special Issue, Infrared Thermography as a Tool for Assessing Animal Welfare and its Usefulness in Veterinary Research, presents leading research on the application of infrared thermography (IRT) and thermal imaging to analyze temperature variations in domestic and wild animals, encompassing both poikilothermic and homeothermic species. These variations reflect physiological responses to environmental stressors, including cold, heat, pain, fear, hunger, anxiety, and boredom, as well as natural processes such as illness, growth, aging, weight fluctuations, exercise, courtship, mating, imprinting, and stages like estrus, pregnancy, parturition, and lactation. This reprint provides valuable insights into how IRT systems, by detecting infrared radiation emitted from the body, efficiently assess superficial microcirculatory changes that influence thermal patterns. This innovative technique demonstrates significant potential in veterinary clinical research for identifying inflammatory processes, wounds, neoplasms, pain, emotions, and neuropathies. Furthermore, IRT has established itself as a valuable diagnostic tool in veterinary medicine, with applications in oncology, orthopedics, reconstructive surgery, and rehabilitation. IRT’s versatility extends beyond individual diagnostics and is used to evaluate the effects of climate change, heat stress, and the behavioral and physiological responses of farm, companion, laboratory, and wild animals to various internal and external factors. This solidifies its importance as an indispensable tool in veterinary science.