Klauber Menezes Penaforte , Eduardo Sérgio da Silva , Saulo Nascimento de Melo , Paulo Henrique Araújo Soares , Cláudia Maria de Souza Gonçalves , Renata Aparecida Nascimento Ribeiro , Marco Aurélio Pereira Horta , Sarah de Faria Lélis , Clara Guimarães Silveira , Fabiano Borges Figueiredo , Rafael Gonçalves Teixeira-Neto , Vinícius Silva Belo
{"title":"Factors associated with adherence to the principles of responsible companion animal guardianship in a municipality in southeastern Brazil","authors":"Klauber Menezes Penaforte , Eduardo Sérgio da Silva , Saulo Nascimento de Melo , Paulo Henrique Araújo Soares , Cláudia Maria de Souza Gonçalves , Renata Aparecida Nascimento Ribeiro , Marco Aurélio Pereira Horta , Sarah de Faria Lélis , Clara Guimarães Silveira , Fabiano Borges Figueiredo , Rafael Gonçalves Teixeira-Neto , Vinícius Silva Belo","doi":"10.1016/j.prevetmed.2024.106207","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Responsible companion animal guardianship (RCAG) covers aspects that are relevant to both animal and human health. Understanding the factors associated with adherence to RCAG principles can guide accountability, animal welfare and disease control. The present observational study describes the level of adherence to RCAG by guardians living in a medium-sized Brazilian municipality and identifies the factors associated with inadequate guardianship. Questionnaires were administered to randomly selected guardians of 704 dogs. The binary outcome of the study, namely more and less adequate compliers to RCAG principles, was analyzed using a score list comprising eight variables relating to the care provided to the dogs, namely provision of veterinary services, vaccination against rabies, deworming, no access to the streets without supervision, walking with guardian, dog freedom at home, registration (microchipping) and satisfactory food supply. Factors possibly associated with less adequate adherence to RCAG by the guardian, such as socioeconomic and cultural features of the guardians, characteristics of the dogs and attributes of the guardian-animal interactions, were analyzed using multiple logistic regression models. The RCAG actions least adopted by guardians were animal registration, provision of veterinary care, walking with the dog and preventing access of the dogs to the streets without supervision. Individuals who cared for a single dog, a mixed breed dog or had previously lost a dog were less likely to show adequate adherence to RCAG. Conversely, guardians who owned cars, acquired dogs as puppies, lived in households with a maximum of four residents, cared for a sterilized dog or thought that caring for a dog was easier than (or as) expected, had a higher chance of showing adequate adherence to RCAG. The results verify that the socioeconomic and behavioral characteristic of guardians must be taken into consideration for understanding the adherence to RCAG. In addition, it is important to facilitate access to veterinary services and to raise awareness about the significance of a safe and healthy environment for companion animals.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":20413,"journal":{"name":"Preventive veterinary medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Preventive veterinary medicine","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016758772400093X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"VETERINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Responsible companion animal guardianship (RCAG) covers aspects that are relevant to both animal and human health. Understanding the factors associated with adherence to RCAG principles can guide accountability, animal welfare and disease control. The present observational study describes the level of adherence to RCAG by guardians living in a medium-sized Brazilian municipality and identifies the factors associated with inadequate guardianship. Questionnaires were administered to randomly selected guardians of 704 dogs. The binary outcome of the study, namely more and less adequate compliers to RCAG principles, was analyzed using a score list comprising eight variables relating to the care provided to the dogs, namely provision of veterinary services, vaccination against rabies, deworming, no access to the streets without supervision, walking with guardian, dog freedom at home, registration (microchipping) and satisfactory food supply. Factors possibly associated with less adequate adherence to RCAG by the guardian, such as socioeconomic and cultural features of the guardians, characteristics of the dogs and attributes of the guardian-animal interactions, were analyzed using multiple logistic regression models. The RCAG actions least adopted by guardians were animal registration, provision of veterinary care, walking with the dog and preventing access of the dogs to the streets without supervision. Individuals who cared for a single dog, a mixed breed dog or had previously lost a dog were less likely to show adequate adherence to RCAG. Conversely, guardians who owned cars, acquired dogs as puppies, lived in households with a maximum of four residents, cared for a sterilized dog or thought that caring for a dog was easier than (or as) expected, had a higher chance of showing adequate adherence to RCAG. The results verify that the socioeconomic and behavioral characteristic of guardians must be taken into consideration for understanding the adherence to RCAG. In addition, it is important to facilitate access to veterinary services and to raise awareness about the significance of a safe and healthy environment for companion animals.
期刊介绍:
Preventive Veterinary Medicine is one of the leading international resources for scientific reports on animal health programs and preventive veterinary medicine. The journal follows the guidelines for standardizing and strengthening the reporting of biomedical research which are available from the CONSORT, MOOSE, PRISMA, REFLECT, STARD, and STROBE statements. The journal focuses on:
Epidemiology of health events relevant to domestic and wild animals;
Economic impacts of epidemic and endemic animal and zoonotic diseases;
Latest methods and approaches in veterinary epidemiology;
Disease and infection control or eradication measures;
The "One Health" concept and the relationships between veterinary medicine, human health, animal-production systems, and the environment;
Development of new techniques in surveillance systems and diagnosis;
Evaluation and control of diseases in animal populations.