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Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Pet cat and dog obesity contributes to increased risk of several diseases, including cancer and diabetes mellitus as well as a worsening of orthopaedic problems, and a reduction in survival rate. This study aims to develop a better understanding of cat and dog owners’ self-reported belie...

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Autores principales: Downes, Martin J., Devitt, Catherine, Downes, Marie T., More, Simon J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5607608/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28944041
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13620-017-0107-8
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author Downes, Martin J.
Devitt, Catherine
Downes, Marie T.
More, Simon J.
author_facet Downes, Martin J.
Devitt, Catherine
Downes, Marie T.
More, Simon J.
author_sort Downes, Martin J.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Pet cat and dog obesity contributes to increased risk of several diseases, including cancer and diabetes mellitus as well as a worsening of orthopaedic problems, and a reduction in survival rate. This study aims to develop a better understanding of cat and dog owners’ self-reported beliefs and factors that influence owner behaviour around feeding and exercising their pet cat or dog, as there is a lack of in-depth understanding in this area. Seven focus group discussions, with 43 pet owners in total, were conducted. RESULTS: Pet owners often reported a perceived a low level of control over feeding; often undermined by other people feeding of their pet, their pets begging for food, and their pets attitude towards food. Treats were used in the absence of owner control over pet begging and emotional attachment, and to influence pet behaviour. The majority of participants had positive attitudes to pet exercise, which could be related to pet specific requirements, especially differences in cats and dogs. There were some negative experiences of stress associated with dog walking and fears over aggressive confrontations with other dogs. CONCLUSION: Feeding one’s pet is influenced by beliefs about pet specific needs, pet food and pet health, pet owners’ perceived control over feeding, and the implications for the pet owner. Pet exercise is influenced by beliefs about pet specific exercise needs, and the implications of exercising one’s pet for the pet owner. Understanding owner behaviours on feeding and exercise allows for a more targeted approach to preventing and treating pet obesity.
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spelling pubmed-56076082017-09-24 Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study Downes, Martin J. Devitt, Catherine Downes, Marie T. More, Simon J. Ir Vet J Research BACKGROUND: Pet cat and dog obesity contributes to increased risk of several diseases, including cancer and diabetes mellitus as well as a worsening of orthopaedic problems, and a reduction in survival rate. This study aims to develop a better understanding of cat and dog owners’ self-reported beliefs and factors that influence owner behaviour around feeding and exercising their pet cat or dog, as there is a lack of in-depth understanding in this area. Seven focus group discussions, with 43 pet owners in total, were conducted. RESULTS: Pet owners often reported a perceived a low level of control over feeding; often undermined by other people feeding of their pet, their pets begging for food, and their pets attitude towards food. Treats were used in the absence of owner control over pet begging and emotional attachment, and to influence pet behaviour. The majority of participants had positive attitudes to pet exercise, which could be related to pet specific requirements, especially differences in cats and dogs. There were some negative experiences of stress associated with dog walking and fears over aggressive confrontations with other dogs. CONCLUSION: Feeding one’s pet is influenced by beliefs about pet specific needs, pet food and pet health, pet owners’ perceived control over feeding, and the implications for the pet owner. Pet exercise is influenced by beliefs about pet specific exercise needs, and the implications of exercising one’s pet for the pet owner. Understanding owner behaviours on feeding and exercise allows for a more targeted approach to preventing and treating pet obesity. BioMed Central 2017-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5607608/ /pubmed/28944041 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13620-017-0107-8 Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Downes, Martin J.
Devitt, Catherine
Downes, Marie T.
More, Simon J.
Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study
title Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study
title_full Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study
title_fullStr Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study
title_short Understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in Ireland: a qualitative study
title_sort understanding the context for pet cat and dog feeding and exercising behaviour among pet owners in ireland: a qualitative study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5607608/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28944041
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13620-017-0107-8
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