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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fanim.2025.1502724

Owners' perceptions of dog treats management in Western Romania

Provisionally accepted
Sorana Daina Sorana Daina 1Blaga-Petrean Anamaria Blaga-Petrean Anamaria 1*Silvana Popescu Silvana Popescu 1*Pop Ioana Pop Ioana 1Daniel Mierlita Daniel Mierlita 2*Adrian Macri Adrian Macri 1
  • 1 University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • 2 University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Within the broader-than-ever palette of pet foods, dog treats are an assortment sustained by powerful marketing tools and compelling advertising. The wide range and availability of these products often pair with the fondness of owners for their companions, leading to overfeeding them with rewards.This study explored owner treat provision behaviors among 890 voluntarily participating dog owners in Western Romania through an online survey conducted between June and November 2023. The majority of respondents were women (72%) and younger adults aged 18-24 (39%). Emotional attachment was the primary motivation for providing treats (52%), followed by perceived health benefits (35%) and training purposes (25%). However, 84% of respondents did not account for the caloric value of treats in their dogs' daily diet, and only 16% adjusted their dogs' main meals to compensate for treat provision. Preferences leaned toward treats with dental benefits (58%) and biscuits (52%). Many owners reported offering treats multiple times daily, highlighting the role of treats in owner-dog bonding. Chi-square tests of independence, with Bonferroni-adjusted post-hoc pairwise comparisons, revealed significant associations between treat provision frequency, owner demographics, and dog characteristics. Younger owners (18-24 years) were significantly more likely to provide treats at higher frequencies, with 31.8% giving treats 'multiple times daily' compared to 7.1% of older owners (>55 years) (p<0.002). Similarly, single owners provided treats more frequently, with 31.9% giving treats 'once daily' and 42.1% 'multiple times daily', compared to 7.1% and 22.4%,

    Keywords: Pet owners, feeding, nutrition, rewards, dogs Normal, Justified, Indent: First line: 0.5"

    Received: 27 Sep 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Daina, Anamaria, Popescu, Ioana, Mierlita and Macri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Blaga-Petrean Anamaria, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
    Silvana Popescu, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
    Daniel Mierlita, University of Oradea, Oradea, 410100, Romania

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.