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Article History

Received: 28 November 2019

Accepted: 4 May 2020

First Online: 11 May 2020

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: No ethics approval process by an institutional review board within national or European legal systems was needed for the present procedure as enrolment onto the survey was on a voluntary basis and the participants consented verbally to participate in the anonymous data collection as per Regulation (EU) N. 2016/679 of the European parliament and of the council of 27 April 2016. Data were directly collected from pet owners who were contacted directly by front desk personnel in the pet stores. These personnel explained the aim of the questionnaire and collected the participants’ consent. The interviewees agreed to participate in the study voluntarily by self-enrolling. They were informed that their answers would be published in a study. No animals were involved in the study.

: All participants consented to anonymous data collection as per the Italian Data Protection Code - Legislative Decree N. 196/2003. The interviewees agreed to participate in the study voluntarily by self-enrolling. They were informed that their answers would be published in a study.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.