Margaret Gruen

About

Margaret Gruen is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed her veterinary degree at the University of Illinois and subsequently undertook an internship and residency in veterinary behavior at NCSU. She earned a Masters in Veterinary Public Health and became a board-certified veterinary behaviorist. After working on the faculty at NCSU, she pursued a PhD focused on understanding behaviors associated with pain in cats with naturally-occurring arthritis. She spent two years at Duke University, where she co-directed the Canine Cognition Center, before returning to NCSU. Her research areas include spontaneous animal disease models, animal behavior, chronic pain, welfare, cognition, and anxiety.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Cognitive psychology
• Internal medicine
• Audiology
• Computer Science
• Pathology
• Physical therapy
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs

  Animals · 2020 · 205 citations

  We argue that there is currently an under-reporting of the ways in which pain can be associated with problem behavior, which is seriously limiting the recognition of this welfare problem. A review of the caseloads of 100 recent dog cases of several authors indicates that a conservative estimate of around a third of referred cases involve some form of painful condition, and in some instances, the figure may be nearly 80%. The relationship is often complex but always logical. Musculoskeletal but a…

  DOI

• Dog cognitive development: a longitudinal study across the first 2 years of life

  Animal Cognition · 2020 · 76 citations

  DOI

• Cooperative Communication with Humans Evolved to Emerge Early in Domestic Dogs

  Current Biology · 2021 · 53 citations

  DOI

• Development of a checklist for the detection of degenerative joint disease-associated pain in cats

  Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery · 2020 · 50 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop an evidence-based, clinically expedient checklist to identify cats likely to have degenerative joint disease (DJD)-associated pain. METHODS: Data were compiled from previously conducted studies that employed a standardized subjective outcome measure consisting of a series of questions. These studies included a prevalence study (with DJD non-informed owners) and therapeutic trials (with DJD-informed owners). For each cat, and each question, respons…

  DOI

• Use of Cognitive Testing, Questionnaires, and Plasma Biomarkers to Quantify Cognitive Impairment in an Aging Pet Dog Population

  Journal of Alzheimer s Disease · 2022 · 41 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Aging dogs may suffer from canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CCDS), a condition in which cognitive decline is associated with amyloid pathology and cortical atrophy. Presumptive diagnosis is made through physical examination, exclusion of systemic/metabolic conditions, and completion of screening questionnaires by owners. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether cognitive function could be quantified in aging pet dogs, and to correlate cognitive testing with validated qu…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Longitudinal Cognitive and Emotional Development in Working Dogs

  NIH · $1.9M · 2019–2026

Frequent coauthors

• B. Duncan X. Lascelles

  North Carolina State University

  93 shared

• Emily H. Griffith

  39 shared

• Beth Case

  MedStar Washington Hospital Center

  34 shared

• Barbara L. Sherman

  North Carolina State University

  24 shared

• Andrea Thomson

  North Carolina State University

  22 shared

• Natasha J. Olby

  North Central State College

  22 shared

• Dávid Kňazovický

  North Carolina State University

  21 shared

• William Maixner

  DaVita Clinical Research (United States)

  20 shared

Labs

• Behavioral MedicinePI

Awards & honors

• Board-Certified Veterinary Behaviorist

Similar researchers at North Carolina State University

• Edward Breitschwerdth-100
• Craig Harmsh-54