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
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