HandicappedPets.Net

PLEASE HELP!! I'm desperately seeking some info and/or guidance. I'm a graduate student working on my master's thesis, which centers on special needs pets. I've done a substantial amount of research so far, but despite my many efforts I've been unable to come up with a good estimate as to what percentage of the pet population (dogs in particular) have special needs - to include those who have certain maladies or conditions as well as those pets who are considered geriatric and have conditions related to their age. Would anyone happen to know this percentage? If not, any ideas where I might find it? (I've contacted the Cornell Vet School and they could come up with no particular source that has this kind of information.)

My thesis group-mates and I even put together a survey to attempt to get an estimate, but were unable to get good participation....

Please help!!

Many thanks

that is an interesting question.
i'm trying to think of a good way to collect data to get what coudl be considered a representative pet sample.
I don't know if your average vet is allowed to give you a breakdown of their clients by age and medical condition.

How did you go about trying to collect this data before?
What you might try is talking to a local pet store or stores and seeing if you could have a quick survey (i would put no more than 10 questions) at the counter and a box to drop completed surveys in. Explain this is research for your thesis. Ask basic questions such as how many dogs they have, how many need medication or special diets, how many have partial or complete loss of hearing or sight, how many are missing a limb, how many have some kind of difficulty walking/running.

i would avoid detailed questions like "list all your pets, their ages and any medical conditions they have" because while this is better information for YOU, it is a pain in the tail for the people filling out the form.

a list of questions where people can just fill in numbers for answers is more likely to get participation.

you could try setting up a website with your questionnaire and posting to different forums to see if you can get people to fill out your form that way too.

good luck!

Bendy (whose house would be a giant statistical error for you, as would most on this board

Bendy Kitty wrote:
Bendy (whose house would be a giant statistical error for you, as would most on this board

Ain't that the truth???!!!

Honestly, I don't think a good answer is possible for the question, and probably not even a decent guesstimate. Critter medicine is SO far behind the human kind with regard to disabilities, although it's made notable progress in recent years. Still, many vets give inaccurate info about disabilities and prognosis, so the death rate is, even now, far too high.

Thanks, Bendy and Critters.

Yeah, I've heard several times how animal medicine just does not maintain data on animals like hospitals do on humans. It's a shame!

We've posted the survey in several different forums, but despite our efforts, we haven't received a substantial number of responses. And to your points, Bendy, thank you. We did keep the survey questions to a minimum and included mostly multiple choice/check-in-the-box type of questions. I guess one of the last things people want to do in the summer time is take a VERY brief survey. Sigh.

Thanks again for your input.

To start with, you have to decide what you are including as special needs. At best you are only going to get a very rough estimate, but without a definition you aren't going to get anything even remotely useful.

Very true, Bobbie. But, even if we defined "special needs" only as those pets that require wheelchairs, for instance, there is no data to that effect available (that I know of). Would you happen to know of anything along those lines?

just had an idea.
soemtimes people need some incentive to do anything.
maybe you could say that by answering the questionnaire, they will be entered in some kind of raffle, say for a $25 gift card or a nice set of pet stuff or something.
lots of people like raffles. it wouldn't cost them anything, just a few moments, but would be a little bit of an incentive.

bendy

ooooo
and another idea.
many rescue groups have people fill out applications that have on them a list of their pets. maybe you coudl get some of that data?? i can ask teh people that mom does foster stuff for.

bendy

We were trying to get a handle on the lifespan of the LW and it's impossible because people don't know what they have, so many are destroyed at birth, dogs are euth'd at shelters every day because of special needs and the shelters simply don't ahve the resources to handle special needs when flooded with dogs with n disabilities.

I would suggest contacting your local vets to start. Ask them percentage of nondisableds vs. disabled. Of course dogs seein vets often have SOMEthing wrong with them, unless it's a well-baby check up or annual. I'd start with your local vets ... GREAT THESIS!

Thanks a bunch Bendy and Gabriel -

I appreciate the input!!

pjk

I should mention the LW and any double dilute is 100% preventable ... It's either accidental or intentional breeding dilute to dilute.

KimK wrote an excellent genetics primer for us to use in our education booths and you can read it at:
http://www.handicappedpets.com/Articles ... /index.htm