ASSESSMENT OF POPULATION KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF DOGS AND CATS

The relationship between man and animal has narrowed over the years, causing them to be considered as family members. However, not all owners are aware of the correct ways of raising animals. The objec-tive of this research was to evaluate the level of population knowledge on the ways of handling and breeding dogs and cats. The present work consists of the application of an online questionnaire to the population of Patrocínio-MG. The questionnaire included objective questions about the owner’s personal data, animal data, types of care, management and prevention of diseases. The percentage values obtained in each question were compared using the chi-square test at 5% signiÞ cance. A total of 345 dog and cat owners, residents of the city of Patrocínio -MG, participated in the research. Most of


INTRODUCTION
The relation between humans and pets, mainly dogs and cats, is closely related to the development of social behavior, so that these animals have the status of family members, as they leave the backyards and go inside the homes (SANTANA and OLIVEIRA, 2006). Due to a higher contact with human beings, and the change of these animals' proÞ les, owners have been showing greater concern with health, prevention, care and treatment of diseases in pets. Therefore, owners have increasingly sought veterinarians to take care of pets, aiming at a better quality of life (ALVES et al., 2005). in order to provide better well-being and health to the animals (PARK, GRUEN and ROYAL, 2021). This way, this study aims to assess the populational knowledge on the types of breeding and care with home dogs and cats. The collected answers were tabulated in software Microsoft OfÞ ce Excel 2013, and, then, relative and percentile frequencies were obtained from the answers given.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Then, the chi square (x 2 ) test was used, at 5% signiÞ cance level for each question, in or-der to check whether there were signiÞ cant levels among the answers.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Three hundred and forty-Þ ve (345) cats and dogs' owners were interviewed for this studyowner. It was observed that for all the evaluated variables, the statistical difference was p<0.05; however, only in the evaluation of sex, there was no difference. Table 1 shows the results of the interviewees age group. schooling, pay grade and knowledge about zoonosis. The assessment of the animals' species that were being bred by owners, showed that most of the interviewed people had dogs in their homes, and the sex did not differ. Howe-ver, animals of deÞ ned breed and adults were more prevalent among the owners. Regarding sterilization, only 23.48% of the animals were castrated (Table 2).
About the animals' vaccination, most of the owners hold the multiple antiviral and anti-rabies vaccination, since they were cubs, with annual reinforcement. Dogs are mainly immunized with antiviral and anti-rabies vaccines, while in cats the anti-rabies ones  (Table 3).   About the vaccines given to animals, owners do not know about the ones that can be given to animals, and they also declare that they follow the vaccine protocol for the animals since they are cubs, with booster.
According to Wang et al. 2021 andBertasio et al. 2020 well-being (Faraco, 2008). More behavioral changes were expected, once they are home animals, and, many times, recluse, which may result in changes in the pattern of well -being, incidence of accidents, among others (LIMA e LUNA, 2012); However, such result has not been found.
Dry food is the most offered foodto their animals, which corroborates what has been described by Stercova et al. (2020), who af-Þ rm that dry commercial diets are popular among the owners of cats and dogs, because they are easy to store and to supply, and many of these owners consider these foods complete and balanced, which favors their acquisition and preference in the supply.