Help needed - survey about dog's food and stones

[jaclighter]

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Hiya, I’m a vet student from the University of Edinburgh. I am currently doing a research project on the association of dog’s food and urinary stones. Inputs from all dogs in the UK, with or without urinary stones, are very much appreciated. The survey only takes a few minutes to complete and it’s anonymous.

Here’s the link to my survey: Student research project – Association between dog's food and urinary stones.

Thank you very much for your time . Please let me know if I can provide more information about my project.

 

[JudyN]

Done!

Can I give some (minor) feedback on a few of the questions, please? I appreciate you may not be able to change any of the questions once the survey is under way though.

Q1: Owners of rescue dogs may not know their exact age - ask for approximate age if exact age is unknown?

Q4: Body condition: The image doesn't work for all dogs - my sighthound is closer in build to the very underweight image, but is the ideal weight for him (so I selected 'ideal').

Q5: Whether the diet is exclusively commercial or mixed - I feed exclusively commercial meat, but add homemade veg and other additions. I selected 'exclusively commercial' as this seemed closest.

Q12: (OK, this is me in picky mode) Asking whether the dog's parents or siblings had urinary stones 'as well' - the 'as well' only applies if your dog has had stones, so the 'as well' could be potentially confusing.

 

[excuseme]

As normal, there sounds as if there is no option for raw fed dogs!
I wonder which major commercial food company is backing this survey
.

 

[JudyN]

As normal, there sounds as if there is no option for raw fed dogs!
I wonder which major commercial food company is backing this survey
.

But there is - it specifically asks, and states 'Some of the following questions will ask you about raw versus Heat-processed/ cooked dog food. In the context of our survey, this means the following: “Raw” food will be defined as fresh, freeze-dried or frozen meat or meat products that have not been cooked or otherwise heat-treated before fed. They can be homemade or commercial. “Heat-processed/ cooked” dog food is defined as any dog food that received heat treatment before being fed, which is how nearly all commercial dog food (wet or dry) is processed so that it can be stored at room temperature. However, “heat-processed/ cooked” dog food can also be home-made.'

So a commercial raw diet would be using the likes of Honey's, Albion Foods, etc. as opposed to buying raw meat from supermarkets.

 

[excuseme]

Well that is my fault for not going far enough in the questionaire.
I was just looking through the pages but could only get a short way without answering any questions. Having read your replies/comments I just assumed that there was no option for the raw product.

 

[jaclighter]

Done!

Can I give some (minor) feedback on a few of the questions, please? I appreciate you may not be able to change any of the questions once the survey is under way though.

Q1: Owners of rescue dogs may not know their exact age - ask for approximate age if exact age is unknown?

Q4: Body condition: The image doesn't work for all dogs - my sighthound is closer in build to the very underweight image, but is the ideal weight for him (so I selected 'ideal').

Q5: Whether the diet is exclusively commercial or mixed - I feed exclusively commercial meat, but add homemade veg and other additions. I selected 'exclusively commercial' as this seemed closest.

Q12: (OK, this is me in picky mode) Asking whether the dog's parents or siblings had urinary stones 'as well' - the 'as well' only applies if your dog has had stones, so the 'as well' could be potentially confusing.

Thank you very much for your comments! I really appreciate them. Yea I'm sorry that I could not make any changes to my survey once it was opened (I wish I could). I would take all these into accounts when I am going to do my next research survey. Thank you again and happy new year.

 

[jaclighter]

As normal, there sounds as if there is no option for raw fed dogs!
I wonder which major commercial food company is backing this survey
.

To avoid a large volume of questions appear on the same page, I put the food-related questions in the second page after the owners answered a few basic questions about their dogs. I guess people would be very unhappy if I forgot to put raw feeding options when I am doing a survey about them haha.

 

[SportingLucas]

Cool project, all filled out - good luck