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Information quality and attitudes of cat owners in Croatia about cat keeping and health: preliminary results

Studies on pet-keeping arouse ever more interest considering the owner’s quality of information and perception of the pet and pet ownership. The aim of this study was to assess the level of information and attitudes of cat owners in Croatia about keeping pet cats and their health. The study included a preliminary sample of first 300 cat owners that answered the questionnaire in 2021. The questionnaire was shared on Facebook groups for pet animals. The frequency of answers was determined by univariate analysis, while the relationship between respondent socio-demographic data and answers to the questions on cats and cat ownership was determined by the χ2-test, with the significance level of P<0.05. Study results revealed that the questionnaire was predominantly answered by female, generally young individuals, students or employed, with university degree, living in urban setting, in a house in Zagreb and central Croatia, single living in households with up to five family members without children younger than 18 years. The respondents generally reported having one cat as its first owner. The cats were mostly female, domestic, adopted or found, older than 2 years. Most of the cats were kept indoors with outdoor access, were neutered, clean of parasites and vaccinated, but without a microchip. Most of the cats did not have a litter. Half of the respondents spent 25-50 € per month for their cat and almost the same proportion fed their cats exclusively with commercial feed. The majority of respondents received information on cat feeding, housing and hygiene from various sources, and information on cat health from veterinarians. Around 90% of the respondents were taking their cats to veterinarians and trusted them. Most of the respondents were informed about zoonoses but in a lower proportion than they were aware of the fact that cats could transmit diseases to other animals. The majority of respondents reported having no plants at home that could be harmful to cats. More than 80% of the respondents considered that welfare of pet cats should be better protected. Considering the socio-demographic parameters investigated, the place of living (urban/rural) most frequently showed significant relationship with the respondent level of information and attitudes about cat keeping and health. The results of this preliminary study suggest that cat owners in Croatia are well informed about cat keeping and health having rational attitudes about cat ownership.

information, attitudes, cat owners, keeping, health, Croatia

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