{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T11:18:47Z","timestamp":1784546327923,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770768000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Vet. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In human medicine, limb amputation affects caregiver psychosocial burden. This study assessed caregiver burden in owners of dogs following limb amputation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Materials and methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      From March to September 2024, owners of healthy dogs with limb loss (&amp;gt; 6\u202fmonths) and owners of healthy dogs without limb amputation (control dogs) were recruited via veterinary clinics, physiotherapy practices, university hospitals and social media to complete an online questionnaire. The 115-item survey included general questions on daily life and validated instruments assessing caregiver burden and psychosocial functioning: Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), Perceived Stress Scale, Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale, Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and group comparisons (Chi-Squared, Mann\u2013Whitney U test and Students\n                      <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>\n                      -test) were performed in R.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Seventy-six owners of dogs with limb amputation (hindlimb: n\u202f=\u202f35; forelimb: n\u202f=\u202f41) and 74 owners of control dogs completed the survey (90.7% women; 70.7% aged 19\u201349). ZBI and other scores did not differ significantly between groups. Caregiver demographics (age, gender, relationship status, profession, number of caregivers) and dog-related factors (age at amputation, reason, leg affected, size, weight, adoption status) showed no significant effect on ZBI-scores. Higher ZBI-scores were reported when dogs could no longer hike (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.05), and lower scores when caregivers received positive social feedback (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.02). Prosthesis use (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.02), low prosthesis acceptance (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.04) or use of assistive devices (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.02) were associated with higher caregiver burden.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Most caregivers of canine amputees do not report elevated caregiver burden. However, functional changes in the dog and social or assistive factors were associated with caregiver experience.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2026.1754268","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T05:30:55Z","timestamp":1770787855000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Comparing caregiver burden in owners of healthy dogs with and without limb amputation: a cross-sectional analysis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Janine","family":"Pryjmak","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"LMU Small Animal Clinic, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit\u00e4t","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yury","family":"Zablotski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LMU Small Animal Clinic, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit\u00e4t","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monika A.","family":"Mille","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LMU Small Animal Clinic, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit\u00e4t","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Susanne K.","family":"Lauer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LMU Small Animal Clinic, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit\u00e4t","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1136\/vr.104295","article-title":"Caregiver burden in owners of a sick companion animal: a cross-sectional observational study","volume":"181","author":"Spitznagel","year":"2017","journal-title":"Vet Rec"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105868","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tvjl.2022.105868","article-title":"Relationships among owner consideration of euthanasia, caregiver burden, and treatment satisfaction in canine osteoarthritis","volume":"286","author":"Spitznagel","year":"2022","journal-title":"Vet J"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1098612X221145835","DOI":"10.1177\/1098612X221145835","article-title":"Caregiver burden in cat owners: a cross-sectional observational study","volume":"25","author":"Spitznagel","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Feline Med Surg"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"438","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijnss.2020.07.012","article-title":"Caregiver burden: a concept analysis","volume":"7","author":"Liu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int J Nurs Sci"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"946","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.129.6.946","article-title":"Is caregiving hazardous to one's physical health? 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