Date of Defense
4-16-2024
Date of Graduation
4-2024
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Joshua Naranjo
Second Advisor
Lauren Bessey
Abstract
The pandemic led to many changes in society, changes that may have affected pets either directly or indirectly from the new way people had to live life. The primary variable of investigation is if the changes were significant enough to affect pets enough to see a trend in mortality. This thesis used a survey, sent out to veterinarians for their perspective, to see the effects the pandemic had on the mortality of pets, as well as any secondary variables. This survey had 38 responses, with 34 being eligible to complete the survey. The survey did not obtain the information of the veterinarians, but it did ask for their opinions on questions regarding the pandemic and how it may have affected pets. The survey did ask if participating veterinarians had worked prior to 6 months from the start of the pandemic (February 2020). This was done in order to obtain a more concrete comparison from before to after. This is why 4 were not considered for the survey. The result of the survey is that most agree that the pandemic did not have a significant impact on pet mortality directly, nor on variables that may have affected it such as the euthanasia rate. The most noteworthy differences with area economic status were in canine caseload reasoning, main factors on pet mortality during the pandemic, and the main factors on pet euthanasia during the pandemic. Although this isn’t to say that the pandemic didn’t have an effect in general, as there are more pets being adopted, a greater rate of separation anxiety, as well as the clinics themselves facing multiple hardships. Differences between canines and felines were most apparent in caseload and euthanasia rates. The survey had a small sample size, which made it difficult for nearly all the secondary variables viable for even descriptive analysis.
Recommended Citation
Bainbridge, Jason, "Veterinarian Perception of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Mortality of Pets" (2024). Honors Theses. 3785.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3785
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Open Access
Defense Presentation