Pet Ownership at FPTU Can Tho Campus
1
Ho N. Ly, 2Mach H. Ngoc, 3Huynh L.M. Thu, 4Pham Y. Thanh, 5Nguyen H. Thang
FPT University – Can Tho Campus
PC15409 – Group 3
1lyhnca150186@fpt.efu.vn
2ngocmhca150077@fpt.edu.vn
3thuhlmcs150744@fpt.edu.vn
4thanhpycs150285@fpt.edu.vn
5thangnhcs150224@fpt.edu.vn
Abstract— This document gives survey results and answers to the
following questions: “Do students at FPT University in Can Tho
like to raise pets? If so, what are they? Why do students like to do
so? How do they take care of the pets?”
Keywords— Pet, Student, Can Tho, FPTU, Dog, Cat.
I. INTRODUCTION
There is no doubt that animals play an important and special role
in people’s lives. More and more students in Vietnam begin to raise
pets. There are many studies which show that pets keep their owners
happier and healthier than who do not have pets. Some of them suggest
that owning a pet can help students enhance their academic
performance and relieve stress.
Whilst searching for information about pet ownership at our
university, we found nothing. That is the reason why we carry out an
investigation about pets and pet ownership within FPTU students.
A.
Common types of pets
Humans and animals have a long-time relationship dating back to
c. 10000 BC. This kind of relationship first began as hunter and prey,
and later become companionship. The most common type of pet in that
time was dog. Originally used for hunting, guarding and herding.[1]
Throughout the middle age, people considered cats as witchcraft,
devil and evil spirits. The purpose of having cats in the house was to
control rodents for humans as humans transitioned from nomadic to
agricultural life.[2] Later 18th century, cats then steadily began to serve
as pets in families, and now they become the second most popular pets
around the world.
In the recent years, the choice of pets has been expanding. Fish,
reptiles, pet rodents, gerbils, pet insects, and many other species have
found their place in people’s houses.
B. Reasons people get a pet
Many pets own attractive looks and unique features. Others may
have lovely natures and costly price. An example is Welsh Corgi dogs.
A Corgi breed puppy’s price can be up to 60 million VND. That
astronomical price is the result of its cuteness and lovely nature.
Pets help people form relationships. They are friends, family
members. Having a pet allows pet owners to connect with other animal
lovers. Beginning a conversation, pet owners usually have many
catchy things to talk to other people. Pet can also be a present. Lovers
give pets to each other as a gift, and they raise them until they get
married.
Past studies proved the benefits of pets to human health. These
studies suggest that pets supply ongoing comfort and reduce sadness,
stress and loneliness. Many animals are also used in therapies such as
speech therapy, physical rehabilitation and help patients recover from
PTSD and various other mental illnesses.[3]
With the explosion of social media, pets become a part of people’s
virtual living. More and more pictures, videos about pets are being
posted on Facebook and YouTube. Some do that for fulfilling their
desire of sharing their moments to the world, others have financial
reasons.
C. Reasons people refuse to have a pet
Although having a pet bring many benefits, not everyone wants
pets in their houses. Below are several common reasons why people
say no to pets.
First, lack of time is considered as the main reasons people do not
want to raise a pet. In this modern era, people are running out of time
to their works, families, social networks and many other things. In the
other hand, raising a pet need a lot of time and patience. So many
people prefer coming to Pet café to play with them rather than having
one at home.
Next, money is also a problem. It’s not easy for everyone to spend
20-30 USD per month for pet food and even much more for their health
checkup, vaccination.
While pets can benefit our health in many ways, they have the
potential to spread infection and cause many human illnesses.[4] Pet’s
furs and feathers can cause allergies and asthma to human. Hygiene
problems can lead to some deceases and dangerous parasites.
Another major reason makes people cannot raise a pet is the denial
from their family members or roommates. Although pets are adorable
and cute, they are not much different from wild animals. They are
surely noisy, destructive and somehow, dirty. Not every neighbors or
landlords are easygoing people and they are not willing to hear woofs
or meows all day long.
D. Things people usually do to take care of their pets
With the information provided in several online articles and our
own observations, we carry out some common ways people do to take
care of their pet: Feed pet with good food, provide good environment,
do health check, sterilize them, etc.
Vet’s centers now provide pet sitting services. People who are
busy with works, study, or going on a vacation can leave their pet at
these centers. Others seek for help from their family members or
friends when the time comes to.
II. METHODS
A.
Participants
The sample consisted of 127 participants (49 males, 75 females, 3
others) mostly between the ages of 18 to 23 and from different majors
were obtained using random sampling as the participants were drawn
from population of students who are attending FPT University Can Tho
Campus. Participation was completely randomly and voluntary.
they go to school or they're not at home for a long time. Most people
usually spend 3 hours a day caring for their pets and play with them.
For the checkboxes question “Which kind of pet are you currently
having?”, “dogs” is the most popular answer 45/61 (73.8%), followed
by “cats” 29/61 (47.5%) and ornamental fish 8/61 (13.1%). Other
answers are not much valuable. The reasons why they began to raise
pets is summarized in Table 2.
TABLE II
B. Materials
REASONS FOR RAISING PET FROM PEOPLE WHO OWN PETS
An online survey was used in order to collect the information
about pet ownership in the school, which comprised of demographic
questions regarding the student personal information, age and if they
own pets or not; further questions about the pets; and scale questions
for reasons why they love or hate pet.
C. Procedures
On 14th January, seeking for participants, we published our survey
hyperlink on Coc K3, Coc K2 and Coc Can. They are three wellknown Facebook groups of FPTU students. We also sent the link to
our friends asking for help. When people click on the link on PC or
smartphones, it takes them to a form on Google Drive, the survey.
On the top of the survey, it was made aware to the participants that
our survey is completely anonymous and all the information they
provide will be using as study materials only. The participants were
asked if they were FPTU student or not. If they are FPTU students,
they can continue to other questions. If not, the survey stops and pops
up a thank you message. Further details about what we asked will be
shown in the appendix.
On 10th February, we decided to stop accepting new response and
we received 135 responses in total. However, we had to remove 8
responses which were not from FPTU students since this survey is
focused on FPTU students only. In the end, we got 127 valuable
responses.
Reasons
Disagreed Neutral Agreed
(%)
(%)
(%)
Pet’s looks and natures
4.7
9.8
85.2
Need a friend
9.8
26.2
64
Influence from other people
88
8.2
3.8
For profit purposes
96.8
1.6
1.6
For posting on SNS
44.3
39.3
16.4
Coincidence
19.7
21.3
59
Some other reasons were recorded and the most representative
one is “The passionate love for animals”.
Of the 61 subjects about how respondents take care of their pets,
we had summarized the results in Table 3.
TABLE III
WAYS TO TAKE CARE OF PETS AND THE RATING
Ways
Rarely
(%)
3.3
8.2
13.1
21,4
21,3
16.4
Feed healthy foods
Clean up pet’s place
Health check, vaccination
Play outdoor
Train new skills
Meet new friends
Sometimes
(%)
26.2
19.7
19.7
31.1
32.8
27.9
Usually
(%)
70.5
72.1
67.2
47.5
45.9
55.7
III. RESULTS
The descriptive analysis of the data we got was conducted
electronically by using Google Form and Microsoft Excel. It can be
seen in Table 1; 127 participants are consisted of 61 with pets (48%)
and 66 with no pets (52%). In 52% no pets, there are 49 students
(38.6%) answered that they will have pet in the future, and 17 students
(13.4%) said no to pet. To present the results, we divided those
participants into three different groups like in the Table 1.
Currently have a pet
Will raise a pet in future
Say no to pets
Total
Of 49 responses from participants who want to raise pet in near
future, over seventy percent people chose to raise a dog, nearly fifty
percent chose to raise a cat, and ten percent chose to raise ornamental
fish. Other kinds of animals did not receive much attention. The
reasons why they want to raise pets is summarized in Table 4.
TABLE IV
TABLE I
REASONS FOR RAISING PET FROM PEOPLE WHO DO NOT OWN PETS
THREE GROUPS OF PARTICIPANTS
Number of
participants
61
49
17
127
B. Group 2: People who are not raising pet now but in the future
they will
Percentage
48%
38.6%
13.4%
100%
Reasons
Pet’s looks and natures
Need a friend
Influence from other people
For profit purposes
For posting on SNS
Coincidence
Disagreed
(%)
2.1
16.3
84
96
36.7
71.4
Neutral
(%)
6.1
18.4
10.2
4
28.6
14.3
Agreed
(%)
91.8
65.3
5.8
0
34.7
14.3
A. Group 1: People who are currently having a pet
Within 61 feedbacks from people who have pets, 37 (61%) of the
respondents said that they have raised pets before. 57 (93.4%)
answered that they would ask other people to look after their pets when
C. Group 3: People say no to pet
There are 17 answers from people who do not want to have pet.
In this research paper, we do not need much information from this
group. In the end, we decided not to summarize their reasons.
IV. DISCUSSIONS
The school has a total of 1700 students at the present, the number
of responses is 127, so the results may not accurately reflect the current
situation in our school. But it is well worth as the reference.
From the results, values which are greater than 50% will be
considered as the answers. Values which are less than 50% will not be
considered and will not be used to answer the topic questions.
As you can see in the Table 2 and Table 4, the results are similar
except the reason “Coincidence”. This big difference may be come
from the second group. Respondents in this group may have already
prepared themselves for having a pet in near future. Maybe they do not
think that they will coincidently take care of any pets from unknow
sources.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, students of FPTU Can Tho Campus do like to raise
pets. There’re only 17 of 127 participants (13,4%) who do not want to
have pet in their houses. That’s mean students of FPTU Can Tho
Campus really like to raise pets. Dog and Cat are two kinds of pet that
most students chose to raise.
For the reasons why they do so, they decide to raise pet because
they like pet’s appearance and nature. Students also need a friend to
talk to when they are bored. It could also be a coincidence, they picked
it up or someone gave them a pet. And most of the students have love
for animals. They raise pets not for profit purpose, and they are not
affected by other people’s influence.
On average, students spend 3 hours a day taking care of their pets.
They often feed them delicious, healthy food. They also create the best
possible habitat for their pets. They have their pets vaccinated. They
will see a vet if their pets have health problem. When they are away or
go to school, they will have someone else help them take care of the
creatures.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Tergel Khashbat, Effect of pet ownership on student’s stress, self-esteem,
self-efficacy and impact on their academic performance, Dublin
Business School, 2017.
Serpell, J., The Domestic Dog, 2017.
Tami Pohnert, The Effects of Pet Ownership on Physical Well-Being in
Older Adults, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010.
Whiteman H., 2010, “Pets: are you aware of the risks to human health?”,
Available: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/292829