Vol. 12, Special Issue 9 (2023)

A study was carried out to identify the level of awareness and practices followed by pet dog owners in Tirupati city of Andhra Pradesh. The study design involved the systemic personal interview of randomly selected 180 dog owners using a structured interview schedule. Hence the respondents were surveyed by multistage random sampling procedure. The study revealed that about 72.22% pet owners were aware of heat detection and 80.56% were even aware of the appropriate period for breeding. About 83.88% of pet dog owners were aware of balanced feeding, 87.50% had been using commercial foods and 58.33% were aware of the chocolate toxicity. Among those who were aware of prophylactic measures, cent percent owners adopted the practice and dewormed and vaccinated their pet dogs regularly. Among the 150 owners who were aware of the proper place for taking their dog out for leisure, only 85 adapted the practice of taking dog out for exercise. Pet dog insurance was known to only 50 respondents however none of them got their pet dog insured.