Percepções públicas de reprodução de felinos: uma amostra de conveniência municipal de Pelotas

Abstract

When pet guardians do not have access to adequate knowledge, in order to provide their pets with adequate management, they end up becoming reckless and are the main cause of abandoned animals and abuse, demonstrating a need to carry an educational strategy with the population, even more when we refer to the Felidae family, which has several differences, behavioral and reproductive wise, such as the penis having keratinized spikes and an estrous cycle different from what we are used to. The aim of this dissertation is to discuss the physiological and anatomical mechanisms of the feline reproductive system, as well as to present research on the knowledge of the Pelotas population on the subject, through the use of a convenience sample, so that this work can be used as an educational tool in the future. A questionnaire was developed on the Google Forms platform, using closed questions and Likert scale questions. Socioeconomic variables include level of education, income, age and neighborhood of residence. Approximately 36% of respondents do not see problems with hunting behavior, but 47.7% do not think that cats study to have access to the street. Generally speaking, one population is against letting cats breed out, and in fact, around 67% of pets are neutered. Almost 70% of respondents take their cats to the vet only when they get sick and close to 50% of respondents think that penile spikes are used to make the vagina bleed. That is, despite the population having a high level of education, there is still work to be done, since there are still fallacies in these people's minds. It is concluded, therefore, that despite the result appearing to be more satisfactory than expected, there is still a great deal of awareness and education to be carried out in the population.