Avaliação do conhecimento sobre medicamentos dos proprietários de cães e gatos em Aracaju/SE

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the knowledge that owners of dogs and cats have on the administration of drugs, using a semi structured survey as an instrument of evaluation adapted from the literature. 108 owners were interviewed, of whom 93 (86%) owned dogs and 15 (14%) owned cats. Of the total number of investigations evaluated, the majority of the cases, 75 cases (69.44%), acquired medicines with prescription from the veterinarian, and in 33 cases (30.56%) non-prescribed medications. The therapeutic classes of the drugs answered by the owners were 15 antibiotics (13.89%), 20 endoparasiticides (18.52%), 14 ectoparasiticides (12.96%), 12 vitamin supplements (11.11%) and 7 analgesics (6.48 %). Regarding the knowledge of the therapeutic classes of medicines, 27 respondents (29.16%) were shown to confuse therapeutic classes. The most frequently reported forms of presentation of medications were tablets (47.27%) and solutions (26.36%). When responding about what was done in case the prescribed dosage was different from the concentration in available pharmaceutical form, 41 (37.96%) owners claimed that they divided the tablet, 23 (21.30%) said they did not administer the medication and 22 (20, 37%) did not know or did not respond. The main problem reported by the owners (48%) in this work was related to the behavior of the animal at the time of administration of the drug, followed by the physical form or characteristics of the drug (25%) to be administered.