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Article History

Received: 25 July 2025

Accepted: 10 November 2025

First Online: 24 December 2025

Declarations

:

: A. Besegher is currently undertaking a university doctoral research project, including the present study, which is financially supported by the association Agir pour la Vie Animale (AVA, France). T. Bedossa is the founding president of the association Agir pour la Vie Animale (AVA), which financially supports the doctoral project associated with this study. S. Hoummady performs occasional consulting work for various companies in the field of animal health. N. Rebout, P. Anton, M. Robles, and Y. Stephan have no financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper. None of these affiliations or sources of support had any influence on the design, analysis, interpretation, or reporting of the study.

: All procedures complied with relevant national and European regulations. Ethical approval was not required, as the study consisted solely of non-invasive, voluntary questionnaires completed online by dog owners. No clinical or experimental procedures were performed on animals or humans. In accordance with French legislation and European Union law, such non-interventional research does not require approval from an ethics committee (Article L.1121-1 of the French Public Health Code). Participation was entirely voluntary, and respondents provided informed consent by self-enrolling and submitting the completed questionnaire. They were clearly informed that their responses would be used for research purposes. All data were fully anonymized at the time of collection and processed in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

: Informed consent was obtained electronically from all participants during the survey. Participation was entirely voluntary, and respondents were clearly informed about the anonymous nature of the data, the purpose of the research, and their right to withdraw at any time. Participants who wished to be contacted for follow-up explicitly agreed by ticking an optional checkbox at the end of the questionnaire, in accordance with national reglementation.