Nicolhole Atero, Francisca Córdova-Bührle, Marília Salgado-Caxito, Julio A Benavides, Miriam Fernández, Benjamín Diethelm-Varela, Romina Ramos, Claudia Sapiente Aguirre, Florencia Trujillo, Salome Dürr, Fernando O Mardones
The global rise in companion animal populations, particularly dogs and cats, is driven by emotional and social benefits for owners, and their population management is becoming critically important to avoid a plethora of adverse effects on themselves, humans, and wildlife. We estimated the size and density of the owned canine and feline population in Chile and evaluated the status of microchipping, registration, sterilization rates, and the proportion of owned animals that roam unsupervised. A cross-sectional household survey in 36 districts was conducted and standard inferential statistics was employed to analyze differences between cats and dogs, sexes within each species, and between rural and urban areas...
March 14, 2024: Preventive Veterinary Medicine