Table 3.

Owner beliefs, practices, and perceptions associated with the feed type provided to dogs

	P-value
Demographics of Respondents
Owner gender	0.26
Owner level of education	0.13
Owner income	0.68
Owner age	0.95
Number of children in household	0.62
Owner Beliefs
Raw food is healthy for dogs	< 0.01a
Raw food is hazardous for dogs	< 0.01b
Commercial food is hazardous to dogs	< 0.01
Choice of dog food has environmental impact	0.05
Choice of dog food reflects level of care for pet	0.32
Pet foods should contain only organic ingredients	0.08
Owner Practices
Consumes raw fish	0.03
Consumes pink ground beef	0.81
Consumes undercooked (runny) eggs	0.30
Consumes raw shellfish	0.57
Consumes raw cookie dough	0.28
Consumes raw sprouts	0.23
Increasing frequency of choosing organic foods for self and family	0.01c
Follows a vegetarian lifestyle	0.48
Increasing frequency of recycling of packaging materials	0.61
Dog Management
Prepares dog food at home	< 0.01
Feeds dog cooked table scraps	0.02
Feeds dog dietary supplement	0.04
Dog not vaccinated in last 3 years	0.03
Increasing interval since dogs’ last veterinary examination	0.28
Factors influencing feed selection
Absence of preservatives	< 0.01
Perceived nutritional value	0.01
Presence or absence of specific feed ingredients	0.23
Perceived pet preference	0.49
Perceived ability of feed to cause diseases	0.12
Perceived ability of feed to prevent diseases	< 0.01
Product freshness	0.14
Veterinary consultation	0.16
Feed costs	0.27

^a,cSee Figure 1 for examples of response distribution.

^bAll other variables, except this factor, were more common among raw meat fed dogs and owners of raw meat fed dogs than those animals that did not receive raw meat.