Evaluation of dog population in an urban area of Southeastern Brazil Avaliação da população canina da zona urbana do Município de Araçatuba, São Paulo, SP, Brasil

Planning control programs, for diseases such as rabies requires information on the size and structure of the dog and cat population. In order to evaluate the dog population of the urban area of Araçatuba city, S. Paulo State, Brazil, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire to interview members of households. Eighty-eight districts were visited (37,778 houses) and the interview was possible at 77.93% of these. Human population size evaluated was 113,157 inhabitants. Houses that owned animals represented 55.2%, 26,926 of the animals concerned were dogs and 5,755 were cats. Of the dogs, 56.64% were 1-4 year olds and males represented 56.2% of the total population. Dog: person ratio was estimated at 2.8 dogs to every 10 persons, almost 3 times the ratio hitherto estimated and used in the planning of rabies vaccination campaigns.O planejamento de programas de controle de zoonoses urbanas como a raiva baseia-se no conhecimento do tamanho e estrutura da população canina e felina. Assim, no período de 21 de junho a 30 de agosto de 1994, foram realizadas visitas, casa a casa, com a finalidade de avaliar, mediante a aplicação de um questionário, o tamanho das populações humana, canina e felina da zona urbana de Araçatuba. A relação média cão/homem observada foi de 2,8:10, ou seja, 2,8 vezes maior que a geralmente utilizada para o planejamento de campanhas de vacinação anti-rábica, de um cão para cada 10 habitantes