Attitudes and Beliefs of a Sample of Australian Dog and Cat Owners towards Pet Confinement.

Animals (Basel). March 2023;13(6):.

Jacquie Rand¹, Zohre Ahmadabadi², Jade Norris³, Michael Franklin⁴

¹ School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.; ² Australian Pet Welfare Foundation, Kenmore, QLD 4069, Australia.; ³ Australian Pet Welfare Foundation, Kenmore, QLD 4069, Australia.; ⁴ School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.

Abstract

Most cats and dogs entering Australian animal shelters and municipal facilities are classed as strays, typically from low socio-economic areas. Contemporary practices increasingly focus on proactively reducing the number of stray animals, which requires further understanding of factors associated with straying animals, including pet confinement. Australian cat and dog owners (n = 2103) were surveyed to investigate attitudes towards four types of pet confinement and how these were influenced by social norms, demographics and concerns about pet quality of life and potential wildlife predation. Dog owners showed the strongest support for confining dogs to the owners' property whenever unsupervised (98% agreement) and less support for confining dogs inside the house at night (54% agreement), and only 23% believed dogs had a negative impact on wildlife. Cat owners showed the strongest support for confining cats inside the house at night (89% agreement). Cat owners' non-supportive attitudes towards cat confinement were partly because of higher concern for cat quality of life and lower concern about their cats' predation behaviours, compared to non-cat owners. The findings provide valuable information to inform more effective strategies to reduce stray animals which would reduce shelter admissions, euthanasia, costs, nuisance issues, potential wildlife predation and negative mental health impacts of euthanasia on staff. Strategies to reduce strays include assisting low-income pet owners to install effective fencing and programs to increase identification. Informing cat owners about bedtime feeding is recommended to assist with night containment, and providing high-intensity free sterilization of owned and semi-owned cats targeted to areas of high cat impoundments is also recommended.

Keywords

animal shelter; confinement; containment; mental health; pet cat; pet dog; semi-owned cat; sterilization; stray; wildlife;

Article Tools:

Medline

Email to me

Archives Highlights:

Equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy
A fever spike usually precedes the clinical onset of EHM. Clinical signs may include lethargy; mild to severe ataxia; weakness of the hind limbs to tetraplegia; edema of the distal limbs; urinary incontinence or urinary retention; prostration; and death.

High-pressure injection of paint into the hand: A small injury with serious consequences.
High-pressure injection injury to the hand is a serious lesion threatening the limb. Several injected materials are involved, and paint is known to have the most serious consequences, with a high amputation rate. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are two important prognostic factors for a better outcome.

Evaluating Communication Training at AVMA COE-Accredited Institutions and the Need to Consider Diversity within Simulated Client Pools.
Participating institutions summarized their communication curricula: 18 (85.71%) used simulated clients (SCs). Over 55% of these did not track SC demographic data or social identities; among institutions that did track, SCs were primarily monolingual English-speaking (77%), non-disabled (94.2%), white (90.4%), non-Hispanic/Latinx (98.6%) women (57%) over age 56 (64%). Sixteen institutions agreed with the statement "I do not feel that our SC pool is adequately diverse."

Clinical and epidemiologic features of persons accessing emergency departments for dog and cat bite injuries in California (2005-2019).
The average annual incidence of dog bites was highest in children aged < 10 years and males, while that of cat bites was highest in adults aged ≥ 80 years and females. Both dog and cat bite injuries were more likely to occur to upper limbs. Bacteria were isolated from 3% of dog bite injuries and 21.5% of cat bite injuries at initial presentation.

Cowpox in zoo and wild animals in the United Kingdom.
We present epidemiological data and diagnostic features of 27 recent, naturally occurring cowpox cases in zoo and wild animals across the UK, including the first reports of cowpox in two snow leopards, a Bengal tiger, three Chilean pudus, a Malayan tapir, and a Eurasian otter, and the first reports of Orthopoxvirus infection in a lar gibbon, a Southern tamandua, and an aardvark.