A Survey Study on Self-Evaluations of Small Pet Practitioners about Exotic Pets in Istanbul in 2016

Year 2019, Volume: 45 Issue: 1, 9 - 15, 01.01.2019

Belgi Diren Sığırcı , Serkan İkiz , Baran Çelik , Seyyal Ak

Abstract

DOI:
10.26650/actavet.2019.433657

Exotic pet animal ownership is on the rise
all over the world. Regardless of being companion animals which are important
subjects in veterinary medicine, they also play a role in the transmission of
diseases to other animals and human beings. Therefore, veterinarians are
expected to have the knowledge and good practice in exotic pet medicine. This
survey was performed among small animal practitioners with the aim of
identifying their self-evaluation of competency and knowledge about the exotic
pet medicine in Istanbul. As a data collection tool, a three-part questionnaire
developed by the researchers was used in the current study. The first part of
the survey covered demographic variables of respondents; the second part
consisted of 6 questions, which examine the self-evaluation of small animal
practitioners on competency and knowledge about the exotic pet medicine
practice. The third part consisted of 8 Likert type questions about the
husbandry, transmission, prevention, diagnosis and therapy of the diseases for
the four different exotic pets including fish, turtle, other reptiles and bird.
The results showed that approximately 80% of the respondents consider that
exotic pet disease is essential regarding veterinary medicine. Thirty-five
percent of the veterinarian said that they were not sure about “what is an
exotic pet disease” while, 53% of them responded that question, as they did not
have any knowledge about the exotic pet diseases. For the 91.4% of the clinics
investigated, the exotic animals as a patient were 1-10% or less than 1% of all
the patients. It has shown that 42.4%, 32%, 16.9%, and 8.7% of the exotic pets’
species examined were birds, turtles, the other reptiles, and 8.7% fish,
respectively. Ninety percent of the veterinarians consider that they did not
get enough education about the exotic pet animal practice during their
undergraduate study at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Istanbul. It has
been determined that more than half of the participants (65%) were considered
themselves as having adequate knowledge of the husbandry, transmission,
prevention, diagnosis and therapy of the diseases of the birds. However, they
did not have enough experience about turtle, other reptiles and fish. As a
conclusion, the results indicated the importance of education, specialisation
and practice on potential exotic pet species.

Keywords

Exotic pets, survey, İstanbul, self-evaluation, Veterinary Medicine

References

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