Knowledge on dog and cat populations is important for planning effective control of dog and cat borne zoonosis and population control. In this study, 65.1% of surveyed households owned dogs and 39.2% of them own cats. This finding is a bit different compared to the previous reporting of 33% of urban and 75.5% of the pastoralist households own dogs from eastern Ethiopia [8]. Reports from developing countries show 82% dog and 4.1% cat ownership in Harare, Zimbabwe [20], 63% dog ownership in Kenya [21], and 88.9% dog ownership in Madagascar [22]. A report from Italy showed much lower dog (33.0%) and cat (13.0%) ownership [23] as compared to reports from developing countries. The variation in population size among the reports could be due to sociocultural and economic difference, in Ethiopia majority of the household keep dog for guarding purpose like other developing countries.
In line to the present finding Downes et al. [24] f rom the Island of Ireland reported a clear preference of households for dog ownership (35.6%) over the cat (10.4%). According to these authors, the higher preferences of dogs over cats was explained by the fact that a dog has a greater dependence on, and interaction with, human households than cats, and therefore integrate more readily into the family social network. However, Freiwald et al. [25] from metropolitan Chicago reported findings different from the current study.
The human to pet ratio is often used as an indicator of canine or feline over-population. In the present study, the human to dog ratio was 6.2:1 and the human to cat ratio were 10.1:1. There was variation among the towns and the highest density of dog (4.9:1) and cat (7.9:1) was observed in Bako town. In urban areas of Zambia, De Balogh et al. [26] reported that households kept dogs with a human: dog ratio of 45:1. In the semi-rural areas, households keep dogs with the dog to the human ratio of 6.7:1. Rinzin et al. [27] from Bhutan estimated humans to owned dogs ratio of 10.1: 1, whereas 4.5:1–6.2:1 was reported from urban places of Chile [28]. The variation in the dog and cat population in the different repots could be related to socioeconomic status and cultural differences among the countries.
Generally, there is little attention given for feeding, housing and health care of dogs and cats in Ethiopia; hence the overpopulation of dogs and cats might be associated with high carrier rates of diseases, inadequate veterinary service, poor public awareness, close contact between dog, cat, and people, as well as poor housing, management, and hygienic practices. In the present study, 59.7% (n = 196) of the dogs and almost all the owned cats had outdoor access. This means that because no or little feed is provided, such dogs/cats will wander the whole day searching for their food and come back home during the evening. On the other hand, such dogs and cats are not secured and they have access to other free-roaming dogs, and wild canids such as foxes and hyena during the night. The human to dog ratio reported in this study is for owned dogs; thus, the total dog to human ratio would be higher when un-owned/stray dogs are also considered. Pulczer et al. [29] explained the consequence of dog overpopulation posed to the community like physical risks to people, the transmission of infections to people and scared members of their household, suggesting that the situation in Ethiopia might even worse.
In the present study, the male to female sex ratio for the dog was 2.70:1 while it was 0.68:1, for cats, showing the presence of more male dogs than female and female cats than male. Male dog dominance was also reported in other countries such as 56–84% male dogs in Chile [28], 1.59:1 in Madagascar [22] and 2:1 in Thailand [30]. During the questionnaire, survey participants stated that they prefer males to females for the reason that female dogs have disturbing behavior during breeding periods by groups of male dogs. Besides, people prefer male dogs to avoid unwanted litters as well. Pal [31] described the reason for the dominance of male dogs is due to the high preference for male dogs, the higher mortality rates of female dogs and from the selective removal of females from the population during breeding periods to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Kitala et al. [21] explained that household in Kenya believed that male dogs make better guard dogs and hunters, thus the tendency to provide better husbandry practices for male dogs. In contrary to dogs, the study participants prefer female cat than male. According to the study participants, male cats, once they left home do not come back especially during the mating time, thus they prefer to keep female cats. In addition, the study participants mentioned the presence of higher demand than supply for male dogs and female cats particularly in Bako town.
The estimated life expectancy of owned dogs was 12.26 years and that of cats was 9.24 years in this study. The mean life expectancy of mountain dogs in Switzerland was reported as 8.25 years [32]. According to these authors, generally, the average life expectancy of an animal is determined by genetic makeup, metabolic rate, body size, disease condition, etc. For instance, mountain dogs have a low life expectancy and the life expectancy of free-ranging dogs and outdoor cats is usually short because they are more likely to catch a disease or to suffer from some kind of trauma. In the developed countries, people may have a birth certificate for their dogs and cats, while in our case people simply estimate the age and they do not know the exact age of their pet. Thus, considering the disease burden and inadequate health care system, inadequate feeding and housing of dogs and cats in Ethiopia, the relatively high estimated mean life expectancy of owned dogs and cats in the present study is not to our expectation.
This study showed that the dominant means of acquiring dogs and cats were from neighbors and family free of cost, which is in line with the findings in other countries [27; 28]. Reports from Chicago indicate that the main sources of acquisition of dogs were from a breeder or a shelter while that of cats was from a shelter or strays, and only a few were obtained as a gift from friends/family/neighbors [25]. Slater et al. [23] from Italy reported that the common source of cats was stray, gifts and being born in the household. According to the present study, households used the sex, color, age, and breed of the dogs and cats for selection. Freiwald et al. [25] explained that pet owners want to select them with certain breed characteristics, both physical and behavioral, which is also applicable to the Ethiopian situation. The dominant purpose of dog ownership in the present study was for guarding the household; however, some reported the use of dogs for companionship or love and affection. This is similar to the findings of other researchers [27]. Likewise, most owned cats were used for the protection of property from mice and as companionship. This study revealed that dogs and cats in Ethiopia are primarily kept for guarding property and the house, unlike developed nations where they are primarily companion [33].
In Ethiopia, controlling free-roaming dogs and cat populations is an extremely challenging task. According to the present study, not allowing mating was the common means of controlling the pet population by the households, but a substantial number of households either they do not know or do not need to practice any of the control methods. The newly born puppies and kittens obtained from uncontrolled breeding were either given to someone or thrown away. As an option to control stray dogs and cats, most study participants suggested educating the society, not to release their dogs and cats for stray and kill stray dog and cat. However, in the developed world neutering of female dogs and cats was considered as a major means of pet population control [24]. These authors also reported a 60% female dog and 79% female cat castration rate in Italy, which would suggest a much lower dog and cat population growth in Italy. Nevertheless, it would be likely that the pet population growth will be high in countries like Ethiopia, where sterilization of dogs and cats is less commonly practiced.
The identified reasons for non-ownership of dogs in the present study include fear of zoonosis, hate and lack of time to devote and that of cats include the shortage of cat supply, hate and shortage of finance/feed. Westgarth et al. [33] in the UK reported that the most common reasons for not owning a dog was due to working out all day, not enough time for the dog and do not like dogs. The predominant reasons for abandoning dogs or cats in the current study were the shortage of finance to feed and their bad behaviour. Several factors have been identified as determinants for abandoning dogs in other studies [34; 35]. Weng et al. [36] from Taiwan reported losing a dog due to behavioral problems of dogs such as barking and soiling public areas. The differences in the reasons for non-ownership among the studies might be due to the different study designs and the difference in the socioeconomic status of the studied communities.
Determinants of dog ownership assessed elsewhere [24; 26; 33] might not exactly fit in the Ethiopian context as ownership patterns might differ across countries due to cultural and religious difference. The significant explanatory variables for dog ownership in the final multivariable model were town where the households are residing, community type, owning of other domestic animals, age and gender of the head of the household. A study from the UK identified factors such as ownership of a horse, age distribution groups, number of persons in the household, and the presence of adult females to be associated with dog ownership [33]. The economic situation of households appeared to play a major role in determining whether dogs were kept or not in urban areas [26]. Report from Ireland depicted human factors such as the presence of schoolchildren in the house and the presence of a pet cat in the house and gender and age for dog ownership, and the presence of a dog in the house for cat ownership [37]. This is partially in line with the present study. In the present study, cat ownership was associated with the town where the households are residing, owning other domestic animals, possessing a dog, and the gender of the head of the household, which is also partially in accord with the aforementioned reports. When compared to women the issue of guarding the household property is more likely of men, leading to higher dog ownership in male-led households. Compared with men, women are more likely to feed and care for cats, leading to higher cat ownership in female led households. This study of dog and cat ownership focused on three smaller towns of Ethiopia, so care is required when generalizing the results to other parts of the Ethiopia or other countries because the sociocultural situations might vary even within Ethiopia. The limitations of this study could be selection bias that might have been introduced during door-to-door surveys and difficulties in accessing some of the households. The less number of Muslims and few Amhara and Gurage ethnic groups and higher proportion of non-respondents made the comparison of religion and Ethnic groups less sound.