Dog husbandry practices and associated public health consequences in Ambo town, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Dog owning is a common practice in Ethiopia, including Ambo town. Information on dog population and husbandry practices is essential to access poor husbandry practices that could increase the risk of dogborne diseases in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the husbandry practices of dog owners, dog population characteristics and associated public health consequences in Ambo town. Two hundred dog-owning households were randomly selected and interviewed face-to-face. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on household and dog demographic characteristics and husbandry practices. The collected data was analysed using STATA version 14 and logistic regression was used to assess the risk factors. Out of the 200 households, 83% keep local breeds of dogs, and of the 277 owned dogs, 74% were male. The primary purpose of keeping dogs is for security reasons (83.5%), and about 73% of the households keep only one dog, and the maximum number is five per household with an average number of 1.4. In 62% of the interviewed households, dogs have free access to the outdoor environment. Dogs don't have separate houses in 54.5% of the households, and most of those who have doghouse clean it less frequently or not at all. The most common means of dog feces disposal was into an open hole (47.5%) and thrown into the environment (23.0%). About 66% of households had never dewormed their dogs, and around 69% had never vaccinated their dogs. The overall result of the dog husbandry practice evaluation showed that about 63% of the dog-owning households had poor dog handling practices. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the elementary educational level of the householders, female sex, and local breed of owned dogs are associated with poor dog husbandry practice. The current dog husbandry practices in Ambo town had a public health risk related to dog-borne zoonosis. Therefore, awareness regarding responsible dog ownership and improving dog husbandry practices are needed to intervene in dog-related zoonotic diseases for the community owning dogs.