This paper reports on the findings of interviews on attitudes towards
pet care with 241 heads of households in Roseau, the capital of The Commonwealth
of Dominica. Parrots and dogs were the two most preferred animals, and
snakes were least liked; however, few respondents (0.8%) kept parrots as pets.
Dogs were kept in 39% of households and cats in 28%. Over 90% of respondents
thought that Roseau had a “roaming dog problem,” and 71% reported
roaming dogs, amongst other roaming animals, in their neighborhoods. Almost
a third of cats and dogs were untrained and almost 58% of dog carers only took
their pets to the veterinarian when they thought they were sick. It is proposed that
most dog carers are “passive”—have little interaction with their dogs. Most respondents
were ignorant of the laws concerning dog ownership and animal welfare.
Respondents only wanted to adopt dogs with certain characteristics and
most were unwilling to pay for an adopted dog. The findings from this study indicate
that the community needs to be better educated in animal welfare.