Estudo prévio para a implantação de um programa de controlo de reprodução em canídeos

Abstract

The fact that stray animals are a danger for the Public Health implies that these ones need to be systematically collected from the streets by the Autarchies. Every year thousand animals are delivered on their Official shelters (former municipal kennels) and therefore there is no other solution that its euthanasia. To change and manage this issue it is necessary to establish a program to control dog reproduction in a long term through its sterilization with an educational policy and awareness on the current situation about the animal over-population. Unique in Portugal, the purpose of this study was to determinate the possibility of a necessary program to establish the control of dog reproduction, evaluating and verifying the availability of the population for the sterilization of their animals. This work will allow to decide the best way to deal with the risky population, making a diagnosis of the current situation for the acceptance of the sterilization of their animals by the dog s owners. Due to the reduction of risk of the appearance of mammary tumor conferred by the sterilization, it was also found alongside this sample the prevalence of this disease. In this study were surveyed 1219 dog owners and all of them had access to the official campaign of anti-rabic vaccination in 2006 and 197 by the veterinary clinics of the municipality, a total of 1416 fulfilled inquiries. Their animals were evaluated to diagnose nodules and therefore analysed the possibility of mammary tumor. Through the inquiries maded to the population who attended the official campaign, the results were not encouraging, with a low level of sterilized animals (4.9%), 1% in males and 10.5% in females. The sterilization is not a recurrent act among the population because only 22.5% of the Munícipes are available to support and recognize the benefits. Most of the inquired people (48.6%) don t know the advantages of the sterilization and 28.9% are against the sterilization, mainly because they consider that a wrong option and also an anti-natural way to solve this issue. The higher rate of sterilization of animals is relied to a social stratum with medium-high incomes, with a higher educational level and with more specialized professions. In opposite, the lowest rate of sterilization of animals and the highest percentage of opposition to sterilization is related to lower social strata, with lower financial resource and who lives in rural areas. The factors of risk for the subsistence and increase of the number of abandoned animals such as the vagrant animal feeding and lack of the use of the lead by the dog s owners is a still a reality in the population that have animals, with a share of 15.6% and 42.2%, respectively . The lack of the excrement collection by the owners of the animals when they walk them in the street reached 75.7%. It was verifyied that the owners of animals that meet the official campaign of vaccination have less educational and lower economic resources, as well as less specialized professions than those who prefer to choose private veterinary clinics. The prevalence of mammary nodules was estimated by palpation of all animals evaluated, and 2.6% (n = 33) and have been statistically linked to the factors of gender and age of the animal. The lack of mammary nodules in animals sterilized before 3 years of age was verified and confirmed. These results show that it seems essential the investment in educational campaigns to promote reproduction control in order to familiarize the sterilization to the owners of the animals. The factor that may encourage the sterilization is the advantage that brings the level of prevention of mammary tumors. The economical support to the lower income classes in the matter of sharing the costs of sterelization is also necessary to enable access to all and in a near future also to make possible the abillity to reach the level of other developed countries in terms of the control of reproduction.