Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of Cat Owners Towards Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

Managing cats diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) often requires long-term treatment to improve their quality of life. This study aimed to (i) assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of cat owners towards CKD; (ii) determine if socio-demographic characteristics and cat ownership influence KAP; and (iii) examine the association between KAP. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted, and 300 cat owners participated in this study. Data collected were descriptively analysed, and associations were determined using the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test and Spearman’s correlation analysis. Majority of the respondents were from Selangor (43.1%), female (80.7%), between 20-29 years old (49.0%) and had a monthly household income of RM2000-RM5000 (29.0%). Most of them had an education level of first degree or diploma (66.3%) with an occupation or study related to life sciences (30.1%). The majority of cat owners (86.3%) were aware that cats could be diagnosed with CKD, and their primary sources of information were from the internet (65.1%), followed by veterinarians (38.7%) and printed reading materials (38.0%). The cat owners in this study had good knowledge, attitude and practice towards CKD with median (IQR) scores of 12.5 (7.0), 5.0 (0.0) and 5.0 (4.0), respectively. Factors like occupation or study field, duration of rearing cats and experience handling pets with kidney-related issues significantly influenced their knowledge of CKD (p<0.05). Education level and occupation or study field showed significant association (p<0.05) in owners’ attitudes. Gender and education level with a history of having cats with chronic illnesses and having supported cats with kidney-related problems significantly affected (p<0.05) their practice. Significant correlations (p<0.01) between knowledge-attitude (r=0.217), knowledge practice (r=0.301) and attitude-practice (r=0.249) were observed. Hence, good knowledge among cat owners would positively influence attitude and practice. In conclusion, implementing planned strategies and educational interventions may improve cat owners’ awareness and knowledge. Thus, their attitude and practice towards the intention to treat cats with CKD can also be improved.