Environmental issues, health concerns and the increasing empathy for livestock animals are some of the main reasons driving the growing wave of people deciding to modify their dietary regimen towards the restriction (ovo-lacto vegetarianism and vegetarianism) or complete avoidance (veganism) of animal-derived food products (Fox & Ward, 2008). True to their lifestyle choices, many pet-owners struggle with the dilemma of feeding their dogs and cats with diets containing meat and other ingredients of animal origin (Dodd et al., 2019). In a recent internet-based survey, half of the questioned vegan pet-owners were already giving a plantbased diet to their pets, while the other half was ready to do the same if these diets were easier to find on the market (Dodd et al., 2019).Answering the owners call, the pet food industry readily filled this novel market niche with plant-based diets, both for dogs and cats, labelled as balanced and complete (Parr & Remillard, 2014). This situation raises some concerns about whether these pet foods are adequately formulated to satisfy the target species nutritional requirements, knowing how certain nutrients are not abundant in plant sources (Spitze et al., 2003) and also that some species-specific

Aim:Chicken astroviruses (CAstV) are known to cause mild gastroenteritis, growth depression, and even mortality in poultry, especially in chickens, turkeys, and ducks. To the best our knowledge, there is no published information on CAstV in Grenada. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of astrovirus in chickens in Grenada.Materials and Methods:Blood samples from 366 indigenous chickens and 92 commercial chicken layers were collected from all parishes of the island and tested for antibodies against CAstV using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results:The seroprevalence of antibodies against astrovirus was 57.6% (95%, Confidence interval [CI]: 47.4-67.2) in commercial layers and 61.5% (95%, CI: 56.4-66.3) in indigenous chickens. The results show the presence of infection throughout the island.Conclusion:The results show the infection with CAstV in approximately half of the chicken population in Grenada. This is the first report on the prevalence of CAstV in chickens in Grenada and the Caribbean region.