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Lookup NU author(s): Professor James Shaw
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2017 by the authors. Current pet diabetes mellitus (DM) treatment necessitates the active daily involvement of owners and can be costly. The current study aimed to investigate the owner population which opts for euthanasia instead of DM treatment. A survey was designed using multiple feedback steps and made available online to veterinarians world-wide. A total of 1192 veterinarians completed the survey and suggested a median one in 10 diabetic pets are euthanased at diagnosis; a further median one in 10 within one year because of lack of success or compliance. Perceived most important motivating factors included "presence concurrent disease" (45% respondents); "costs" (44%); "animal age" (37%); "problems obtaining adequate control" (35%); "pet welfare" (35%); and "impact owner's lifestyle" (32%). Cats in Canadian (odds ratio (OR) 2.7), Australian (OR 2.3), rural (OR 1.6) and mixed (OR 1.7) practices were more likely to be euthanased because of DM diagnosis, while cats presented to referral/university were less likely to be euthanased (OR 0.6). Dogs were more likely to be euthanased because of DM in Canadian (OR 1.8), rural (OR 1.8) and mixed (OR 1.6) practices. The survey results suggest that benefit exists in improved DM education with emphasis on offering a choice of treatment styles ranging from intense and expensive to hands-off and cheap.
Author(s): Niessen SJM, Hazuchova K, Powney SL, Guitian J, Niessen APM, Pion PD, Shaw JA, Church DB
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Veterinary Sciences
Year: 2017
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Online publication date: 14/05/2017
Acceptance date: 10/05/2017
Date deposited: 08/06/2018
ISSN (electronic): 2306-7381
Publisher: MDPI AG
URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci4020027
DOI: 10.3390/vetsci4020027
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