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Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Low income has been reported to be a risk factor for dog relinquishment to shelters in the U.S. The majority of people with lower incomes, however, do not relinquish. Risk factors for relinquishment in a low socioeconomic region of Los Angeles were examined. Cost was associated with...

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Autores principales: Dolan, Emily D., Scotto, Jamie, Slater, Margaret, Weiss, Emily
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4693217/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26690483
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani5040413
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author Dolan, Emily D.
Scotto, Jamie
Slater, Margaret
Weiss, Emily
author_facet Dolan, Emily D.
Scotto, Jamie
Slater, Margaret
Weiss, Emily
author_sort Dolan, Emily D.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Low income has been reported to be a risk factor for dog relinquishment to shelters in the U.S. The majority of people with lower incomes, however, do not relinquish. Risk factors for relinquishment in a low socioeconomic region of Los Angeles were examined. Cost was associated with relinquishment, and most people were not aware of available assistance. Those who relinquished reported emotional attachment to the dog and higher perceived stress than a comparison group. The majority of reasons for relinquishment were likely solvable with assistance, highlighting an opportunity to provide community-specific alternatives to relinquishment. ABSTRACT: Dog relinquishment is a large component of shelter intake in the United States. Research has shown traits of the dog are associated with relinquishment as well as general characteristics of those relinquishing. Low income is often cited as a risk factor for relinquishment. The majority of people with lower incomes, however, do not relinquish. A group of people accessing a shelter in a low socioeconomic region of Los Angeles to relinquish their dogs was surveyed. This study examined risk factors for relinquishment, controlling for household income, compared to a group utilizing low cost spay/neuter services. A total of 76.9% of those relinquishing noted cost as a reason for relinquishment. Of participants in the relinquishment group, 80.7% reported not being aware of any services available to them. Most notable in the findings was that the odds of relinquishment were generally higher as the amount of perceived stress in the home in the past three months increased. The majority of people in both groups reported being emotionally attached to the dog. In this sample from a South Los Angeles community, the majority of reasons for relinquishment were likely solvable with assistance. These findings highlight an opportunity to assess community needs and provide community specific alternatives to relinquishment.
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spelling pubmed-46932172016-01-07 Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter Dolan, Emily D. Scotto, Jamie Slater, Margaret Weiss, Emily Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Low income has been reported to be a risk factor for dog relinquishment to shelters in the U.S. The majority of people with lower incomes, however, do not relinquish. Risk factors for relinquishment in a low socioeconomic region of Los Angeles were examined. Cost was associated with relinquishment, and most people were not aware of available assistance. Those who relinquished reported emotional attachment to the dog and higher perceived stress than a comparison group. The majority of reasons for relinquishment were likely solvable with assistance, highlighting an opportunity to provide community-specific alternatives to relinquishment. ABSTRACT: Dog relinquishment is a large component of shelter intake in the United States. Research has shown traits of the dog are associated with relinquishment as well as general characteristics of those relinquishing. Low income is often cited as a risk factor for relinquishment. The majority of people with lower incomes, however, do not relinquish. A group of people accessing a shelter in a low socioeconomic region of Los Angeles to relinquish their dogs was surveyed. This study examined risk factors for relinquishment, controlling for household income, compared to a group utilizing low cost spay/neuter services. A total of 76.9% of those relinquishing noted cost as a reason for relinquishment. Of participants in the relinquishment group, 80.7% reported not being aware of any services available to them. Most notable in the findings was that the odds of relinquishment were generally higher as the amount of perceived stress in the home in the past three months increased. The majority of people in both groups reported being emotionally attached to the dog. In this sample from a South Los Angeles community, the majority of reasons for relinquishment were likely solvable with assistance. These findings highlight an opportunity to assess community needs and provide community specific alternatives to relinquishment. MDPI 2015-12-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4693217/ /pubmed/26690483 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani5040413 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Dolan, Emily D.
Scotto, Jamie
Slater, Margaret
Weiss, Emily
Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter
title Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter
title_full Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter
title_fullStr Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter
title_full_unstemmed Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter
title_short Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter
title_sort risk factors for dog relinquishment to a los angeles municipal animal shelter
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4693217/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26690483
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani5040413
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