Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices of dog owners in Kyaliwajjala Parish, Kira Municipality, Wakiso District regarding dog nutrition

Abstract

Proper nutrition is one of the most important welfare needs of a dog. It is among the five welfare needs of dogs (and other animals) and is defined as the right food provided in the right amount and time. It is important therefore that dog owners ought to have adequate knowledge that would in turn inform their practice in appropriately feeding, handling and taking care of their dogs so as to avoid malnourishment or obesity. A cross sectional study which involved administration of structured questionnaires to a total of 109 respondents in Kyaliwajjala Parish, Wakiso district with the aim of assessing their Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dog nutrition. Generally, the majority of study respondents (86%; 94/109) had low levels of knowledge as regards to dog nutrition. Most of the study respondents; 53.2% (58/109) referred to proper dog nutrition as feeding dogs on a balanced diet. However, on further interaction most of them didn’t know the actual meaning of a balanced diet. About 50% of the dog owners (54/109) had a good attitude towards nutrition in dogs which implied that they were willing to provide the right nutritional needs for their pets. Concerning the nutritional practices, almost 46.8% (51/109) of the dog owners relied on homemade food as a source of nutrition for their dogs. Most of the study respondents who fed their dogs on homemade food provided posho as part of the meal. Majority of the dog owners fed their adult dogs once a day; 72.5% (79/109). There was no statistically significant association between gender of the respondent and the respondents’ level of knowledge and attitude as regards to dog nutrition (P>0.05) at 95% confidence level. This was similarly observed with the source of the dog (P>0.05). In conclusion, it was observed that most of the study respondents had poor knowledge about dog nutrition. Therefore, this calls for the need of sensitization campaigns to be carried out in Kyaliwajjala Parish, Wakiso District to enrich the dog owners with the appropriate knowledge about proper nutrition.