Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Background: Vaccination is an important part in cats’ welfare. It both helps to prevent the individual cat from catching a disease or lessen the symptoms of it, and protects the entire cat population from an epidemic. It is the cat owner who makes the decision to vaccinate or not. Understanding the cat owners’ perspective regarding vaccination may improve communication between the owner and the veterinary nurse, which may lead to a higher vaccination rate among cats.

Aim: To explore Swedish cat owners’ attitudes towards vaccination against upper respiratory tract disease (caused by feline calicivirus and feline herpesvirus), and feline panleukopenia (caused by feline panleukopenia virus).

Method: Data were collected through a web-based survey open from February 22nd to March 22nd 2012. Participants were found through pet shops and internet forums. A total of 200 respondents participated.

Results: A majority of the cats were reported to be currently vaccinated. Vaccination against both diseases was considered important. Both diseases were regarded as severe but feline panleukopenia slightly more so. The results indicate that knowledge about these diseases and how they infect varied among cat owners. Vaccination was believed to be an effective protection against disease, and a vaccinated cat was believed to be much less likely to catch a disease compared to a cat with no vaccination. Major factors influencing the decision to vaccinate were the opinion that vaccination is a matter of course, the belief that vaccination provides a good protection against disease, the wish to protect ones cat from disease, and the idea that the disease is severe.

Conclusion: Swedish cat owners generally regard vaccination as important and are willing to vaccinate their cats. It is possible that they lack information about these diseases and how they infect, and it is part of the responsibilities of the veterinary nurse to try to increase cat owners’ knowledge on the subject.