Knowledge, attitude and practise towards heartworm disease among dog owners in klang valley

Canine heartworm disease is a relatively common vector-borne disease in Malaysia. Administration of heartworm preventative products works in reducing the risk of infection. Therefore, this study investigated the knowledge, attitude and practice of dogowners in Klang Valley towards heartworm disease that in a way assesses the beliefs and behaviours of the dog owners. 144 dog owners living in Klang Valley had participated in this cross-sectional questionnaire study. The majority of respondents (70.1%) were aware of the presence of heartworm disease in dogs where most of them have good knowledge (54.5%), attitude (68.3%) and practice (80.2%) towards heartworm disease. It was found that the education level of respondents has significant association with the attitude towards heartworm disease. Cost (40.9%) was the main barrier to respondents towards heartworm disease prevention. Unsurprisingly, price (25.1%) is the major factor influencing the respondents in choosing the heartworm prevention products. Veterinarians are the major source of information regarding heartworm disease (42.3%) and heartworm prevention products (50.6%), it is evident that the veterinarians played a significant role in the awareness of heartworm disease in dogs. All in all, most of the respondents are aware and have good knowledge, attitude and practice regarding heartworm disease in dogs but there are still a minor portion of respondents who have not heard about heartworm disease before. Hence, this indicates that further promotion of heartworm disease awareness should be done.

Keywords: Canine, Heartworm, Vector-borne disease, Prevention, Awareness