Percepção dos tutores a respeito da alimentação oferecida para seus animais de companhia na região do Brejo Paraibano

Abstract

A healthy life is linked to nutrition, and a proper diet that meets the nutritional requirements of the animal organism is fundamental. This job had as main register the profile of the tutors of the region of Paraíba related to the feeding of their animals. In the cities of Alagoa Grande, Areia, Pilões, Guarabira and Serraria, 500 semistructured questionnaires were subdivided into 100 questionnaires per city. The file began with the identification of the animal and, in sequence, questions about animal nutrition. The application took place in a random way, approaching people who walked in the urban area of the cities and who agreed to collaborate with the research. There was a significant difference in the number of dogs and cats fed with commercial food, with the number of dogs higher than the cats (P = 0.023). The daily frequency with the fed cats was higher than the dogs, with a significant difference between them (P<0.001). Commercial food price is one of the factors that contribute most to the dog owners to buy food with lower prices (p = 0.018). Dog guardians showed a better knowledge about the possibility of treatment and cure of diseases by feeding (P =0.028). In the form of vaccination, the number of vaccinated dogs was greater than the number of cats (p <0.001). On the other questions of the questionnaire there was no significant difference between responses for both species. Cat tutors appear to be better informed about the quality and characteristics of their animal’s food, but in practice both type of guardians have no economic power to acquire better quality products for their animals, in the studied region.