Knowledge of veterinary practitioners of small animals from Baixada Santista on animal welfare / Conhecimento de praticantes veterinários de pequenos animais da Baixada Santista em bem-estar animal

Objective: To evaluate the veterinarian's knowledge of small animals, from Baixada Santista, about animal welfare and if they use animal welfare concepts technically in the appropriate place of care and ethically in the sale of pet shop products. Methods: by means of a questionnaire vets of small animals from Baixada Santista were interviewed about the basic concepts of animal welfare and ethical use of such information. Results: Eighty-six vets were included in the study. Among those interviewed, 53.49% believed they knew animal welfare, but it was noticed that among all of them, 52.33% were not able to define animal welfare, 79.07% were not able to define animal sentience and 80.23% did not know the five freedoms. 69.77% of the professionals interviewed reported they were concerned about using ethically the concepts of AW in 76 to 100% of the times in the professional routine. In general, the most sold products were clothes, toys, beds, food and beauty accessories. However, unfortunately, we identified 77.42% of professionals who, despite declaring to be concerned with the ethics related to AW, sold accessories such as bows and ties, 70.97% shoes and 51.61% perfumes in pet shops of their responsibility. The majority of veterinarians (77.91%) reported not having a physical infrastructure that consider AW and 62.79% reported not adopting any type of positive reinforcement action so that animals are better accommodated at the site of consultation. Conclusions: The veterinarians of Baixada Santista are unaware of basic and important principles of animal welfare and do not technically use animal welfare considering the adaptations in the clinic, nor ethically considering the sale of products in pet shops