The Italian market research company Permanent Pet Watch has undertaken a survey of dog (58%) and cat owners (64%) to discover the use of pet food supplements in Italy. According to Permanent Pet Watch, 80% of all respondents were women. The survey showed, that 34 % of dog owners and 26% of cat owners use pet food supplements.
The results illustrated that cat owners mostly fear problems with the urinary tract or kidney (59%) while dog owners had to fight joint problems (41%), dental and oral health issues (42%) or digestive problems (38%).
Dog as well as cat owners (48%) feared gut problems to the same degree. The respondents were less worried about stress (19%) or hairballs (16%).
Half of the pet owners who declared to not feed pet food supplements were convinced that paying attention of a complete and balanced diet with functional ingredients would prevent health issues with their pets.