Food, nutrition and health status of the pet animals in Dhaka and Chattogram city of Bangladesh

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the socio-economic status of the pet owners and the traditional feeding, immunization and health practices of the pet animals in Bangladesh. During, August 2019 to January 2020, 100 pet owners were face to face interviewed who came to the Central Veterinary Hospital, Teaching and Training Pet Hospital and Research Center and SAQ Teaching Veterinary Hospital, Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. Results indicated that, the cats were reared mostly by the female while most of the dogs were reared by the male owners. The highest number of cat owners (50.0%) was a student while the majority of government officers and businessmen used to rear dogs. The local breed was the most dominant cat breed (60.5%) followed by the Persian breed (35.5%). Accordingly, the most dominant category of dog breed was local (50.0%) followed by the Spitz breed (29.2%). The cat population was mostly female (52.6%) unlike the majority was male in the case of dogs (66.7%). The ‘Lara’ and ‘Drools’ were the most frequently used commercial foods for the cats and dogs, respectively. The majority of the dogs and cats (were fed thrice a day. Trade name of the vaccines used and the incidence of skin diseases were different (p<0.05) whereas the pattern of deworming, vaccination, anthelmintics, digestive disorder and disease occurrence were similar (p>0.05) in cats and dogs. About 50.0% of the dogs and 48.7% of the cats were dewormed. Among the anthelmintics, ‘Delentin’ were used most frequently both in the cats and dogs. Vaccination was given in 57.9% and 62.5% in cats and dogs, respectively. It was concluded that the ownership of pet, occupation of the pet owners, sex, breed, nutrition, and immunization pattern of cats and dogs in Chattogram and Dhaka cities of Bangladesh are different.