Risk factors for the spread of parasitic zoonoses among domestic cat owners and their families in rural areas

The close animal – human contacts are risky for people especially in cases of any negligence towards proper veterinary care, deworming and vaccination procedures as well as human and cat hygiene. Among possible risks there are parasitic zoonoses threats.

The study involved 146 cat owners from selected rural areas in Lublin province. Altogether they possessed 309 cats.

A special original inquiry questionnaire was used.

The survey was carried out during the period: January 2011– May 2011. Most of polled (84.9%) have reported deworming procedure negligence, 60.4% of polled have never bathed their cats, only 63.7% of cat owners have declared separations of humans’ and cats’ sleeping places, 65.1% of owners have declared no any restrictions concerning cats’ movement around both wild environment and children’s places for fun and recreation.

Conclusions: In rural areas, hygiene and veterinary cats care negligence as well as animal – human coexistence conditions may increase the risk of zoonotic parasite diseases spreading.