The effects of the demographic characteristics of pet owners on their animal ownership and care behaviors

In this study, the answers were obtained and evaluated from the questionnaires that were applied to the owners of cats and dogs in at least one province from each region, covering all geographical regions throughout Türkiye. To do this, the original questions for this survey were prepared to evaluate the information about the marital status, gender, age range, education level, place of residence (province, district, town, etc.), economic income level, animal species, and animal care/ownership knowledge level of cat and dog owners. In the study, a face-to-face questionnaire was applied to a total of 1000 participants in the cities of Hatay, Mersin, Elazığ, Erzurum, Kars, Van, Afyonkarahisar, Aydın, Balıkesir, İzmir, Uşak, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Ankara, Kırıkkale, Konya, Çorum, Bursa, İstanbul, Tekirdağ. A total of 962 (96.2%) participants completed the survey in its entirety, while 38 participants were excluded from the evaluation due to incomplete responses. According to the evaluation results of the data obtained; it has been revealed that different variables such as gender, income level, education level, and age of animal owners are highly effective on variables such as the specie, care and ownership knowledge level, and responsibility. As a result, the awareness level of individuals who own cats and dogs throughout Türkiye was measured under the leadership of different variables, and a very comprehensive study was put forward.