Blog post #2 Friends with benefits: the real benefits of pet ownership 

In the last blog post we discussed the pet landscape. We covered off some interesting facts such as how many pets there are, what are the different types of pets people have and some other interesting pet ownership statistics. If you haven’t read that post, then jump in and take a look here (link).

The fact that pet ownership is relatively high, certainly in many developed countries around the world, must mean that pets fill a need and serve a purpose in our lives. Pets provide certain benefits that we as humans need. Thats what we will be discussing in this post.

Pet origins

Just how long have pets been around? Well, pets have been around for thousands of years. Depending on which resources you look at, it is evident that dogs and cats have been domesticated as companions for a very long time. Some records even state that dogs began to be domesticated (albeit as wolves back then) as many as 10,000 years ago.

Companion animals are very popular.

Those of you that own pets will agree that the benefits of pet ownership far outweigh the cons and the experience is both incredible and priceless.

So, what are the vital contributions that pets make to our lives daily? There are well documented physical, psychological, and social benefits that arise from owning a pet. All of these areas are interrelated and are obviously not mutually exclusive.

1. Physical Health Benefits

Getting out and about walking your dog is a great incentive to go outside and explore your neighbourhood. This is much easier when the sun is shining however pets can even get us moving when the weather is not that good.

While you don’t find many people taking their feline friends for a walk, chasing the cat around the house or even needing to clean up the litter box, requires us to move our bodies.

Playing with your pets inside your home or outside can be a great source of fun and activity; and can have a positive effect in getting us moving rather than being sedentary. This applies to all family members of all ages, from children to seniors.

Other health benefits include better cardiovascular health, decreased blood pressure, decreased cholesterol levels; and there is some evidence that pets help reduce allergies in children.

All these can be chronic conditions that put strain on the healthcare system.

In the US, chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, cost billions of dollars every year in both in direct costs to the health care system as well as the economic cost of lost productivity.

In Australia, there are similar economic challenges.

Pets help to reduce stress and in doing so help reduce the number of visits to the doctor.

By having a positive impact on a pet owners physical health, it’s quite plausible that pets may help reduce these health system costs and economic burdens.

2. Psychological benefits / Mental and well-being

Pets provide companionship. Having a friend around can reduce feelings of stress, loneliness and depression.

There is nothing quite like coming home from a big day at work, or even being out and about for a few hours, and be greeted by your dog who is ecstatic to see you. Equally, talking to and confiding in your cat who sits there purring as you share about the day you’ve had. Even having a chat with a goldfish can take the edge off and make you feel better.

Solid as a rock

Animals don’t pass criticism, they don’t ask questions, and they don’t judge – that is probably why they make us feel so safe, secure and at peace.

The majority of pet owners regard their pet as being part of the family. Some pet owners regard their companion as being a faithful friend, a rock-solid counterpart that they can always count on. Sometimes these are qualities we can’t always expect of humankind

There is a level of consistency that we get with pet companions that is free from the emotional ups and downs that we find with human interactions. People often crave consistency in their lives, and this may be yet another of the many reasons why there is such a strong bond between us and our pets.

Watching pets can have a significant calming effect, think of the tranquillity you feel just by watching fish in a pond.

Pets can also help fill a void or a vacuum when experiencing loss or disruption. This might be in broken families, single parent families or following the loss of a lifelong partner.

Pets provide a sense of purpose for the day and purpose in life. They help develop a positive outlook. No matter your age, pets provide comfort and companionship. This has especially been true during COVID-19 isolation and lockdowns.

Pets simply bring such joy and inject fun into our lives….and we all need a bit of fun.

Pets help us get through trying times whether those are a personal or individual challenges or challenges facing a whole nation, just as we have had recently.

By alleviating stress and providing companionship, pets have the potential to help children study better and they can benefit education outcomes as well.

3. Social benefits

Having a pet can help you engage with other people; whether it’s in the dog park, at the groomer, or even taking your cat or reptile to the vet. These are all interactions that help get you connecting with other people.

And of course, just look how much traffic and attention there is on the social platforms when it comes to dogs, cats and all things pets.

Pet Proud – this is that sense of pride and satisfaction you get by sharing and watching how your pet blends, moulds and is a part of your life.  A pet parent can have just as much pride about their pet as does a parent have about their child….after all they are also our children!

Pets are not socially demanding, or threatening, again providing a comfortable place to just be who you are – no pressure.

Because pets give us a sense of companionship, they also lift our courage and help us interact when perhaps we normally wouldn’t engage with others.

Our pets are facilitators of social interactions and encourage people to engage with one another. It’s not just the pet owners that benefit from this interaction, pets can also help bridge a gap for non-pet owners too.

In many respects, our pets help us break down invisible barriers…think of how many conversations have been struck up in the park as a result of people commenting about their, or another persons’ pet. Pets are the catalyst for many of these social interactions. Everyone tends to feel more at ease when a pet is in the mix, because the ice is broken, and the attention is on the pet not on the people involved.

It’s also likely that the pets we have growing up as children form deep rooted meanings for us. Just think of the pets you had growing up. You probably can recall countless positive emotions and look back with fond memories.

Having kids grow up with pets helps them develop a sense of responsibility and compassion and empathy for others. All of these life lessons can be transferred to other areas of our lives.

How pets meet our needs

Maslow was a famous psychologist from around the mid 1900’s who developed the theory of human motivation. There are needs that we as humans need to satisfy. Starting with the most basic to the more advanced they are as follows:

• Physiological needs (air water food warmth, sleep, shelter),
• Safety needs (personal emotional and financial security),
• Social belonging needs (love, friendship, intimacy, family),
• then there are the Esteem needs (the need for respect, recognition, attention),
• Self-actualisation needs (parenting, pursuing goals)

In his later work he defined a more pinnacle level which he termed transcendence, an altruistic behaviour where one gives oneself to something beyond oneself.

These needs are often represented as a pyramid with the most basic needs at the base. If you consider this hierarchy of needs, it becomes clear that pets actually satisfy many of our human needs. For example, they may provide warmth, physical and emotional safety, love and belonging, respect, recognition and attention. They fulfil the need for parenting and even at the pinnacle level, altruism. Since they address so many of our needs there is no wonder that they hold a special place in our lives.

Those of you that own a pet will know just how much value they add to your life. You don’t need any data or evidence, you just know. There is such a strong bond that you have with your pet, and I get that, I feel the same way about mine.

Aside from the benefits already stated, there are many other human-animal interactions which create positive impacts like animal assisted therapy, assistance dogs and guide dogs. There are also working dogs such as detector dogs, police dogs and farm dogs.

Benefits far outweigh the costs

In summary, whilst pet ownership involves a great deal of responsibility, there are a multitude of benefits which include physical, mental, and social advantages.

Our pets do so much for us both physically, mentally and socially, let’s make sure we’re returning the favour and caring for them as best we can.

#return the pet favour

Visit TailOvation on FB or IG and share your comments on the benefits you get from pet ownership

Reading  List

• https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/health-benefits/index.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
• https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm
• https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/8f7bd3d6-9e69-40c1-b7a8-40dca09a13bf/4_2-chronic-disease.pdf.aspx
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31390112/ – The economic cost of preventable disease in Australia: A systematic review of estimates and methods. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2019 Oct;43(5):484-495. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12925. Epub 2019 Aug 7
• Pet ownership in Australia. 2013. Animal Health Alliance, https://animalmedicinesaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/AMA-Pet-Ownership-in-Australia-5-AUGUST-2013.pdf
• Assessing the benefits and risks of owning a pet. E. Paul Cherniack MD, Ariella R. Cherniack. CMAJ, July 14, 2015, 187(10)
• Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: The moderating role of pet ownership.By Siegel, Judith M. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 58(6), Jun 1990, 1081-1086
• https://media.petsathome.com/content/images/Seasonal/Pet%20Report/2015PetReport.pdf?_ga=2.174653408.373721444.1590715814-1505797299.1590715814
• Koukourikos, Konstantinos, MSc,PhD.(c), Georgopoulou, A., R.N., Kourkouta, L., PhD., & Tsaloglidou, Areti,M.Sc, PhD. (2019). Benefits of animal assisted therapy in mental health.International Journal of Caring Sciences, 12(3), 1898-1905. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/2363845168?accountid=13902

Blog Post #1 PET DOMINATION! “THE PET LANDSCAPE”

What does the Australian pet landscape look like?

OUR PET POPULATION

Did you know that there are more pets in Australia than people!

Hard to believe I know…Here is the breakdown based on estimates from a survey conducted by Animal Medicines Australia in October 2019¹.

• There are approximately 5.1 million dogs, more than 3.7 million cats, 11.3 million fish, and more than 5.5 million birds.
• There are also many other kinds of Aussie pets like 600 thousand small mammals such as guinea pigs, hamsters, mice; more than 350 thousand reptiles like snakes and lizards and nearly 1.8 million other interesting kinds of pets; like horses and llamas.

That means that there are an estimated 29 million pets in Australia. And with a human population of around 25 million, that means that there are more pets in Australia than there are humans!

PET PREFERENCES

Not everyone has a pet, so who does own all of these pets? Well, if we take a look at the numbers of households that own pets the breakdown is interesting:

• There are more households in Australia with pets than there are households without pets
• 61% of Australian households own a pet compared to 39% of households that do not have pets

So, when you are driving down the street, for every 5 houses that you pass, on average 3 of them will have some sort of pet as part of their family!

It goes to show, here in Australia, we do love our pets because that is a pretty high degree of pet ownership. Whilst there are greater total numbers of fish and birds than dogs, the people who do keep birds and fish tend to keep larger numbers of these pets. For example someone who keeps fish is likely to have a tank or a bowl with a number of fish, and for those that keep birds, perhaps a whole aviary or a cage with more than one bird.

So what is the most popular pet in terms of the number of homes that have that particular pet?

Well its dogs as I’m sure many of you will have guessed. Dogs are the most popular pet (40%) followed by cats (27%), then fish (11%) and birds (9%).

THE GLOBAL PET LANDSCAPE

Let’s have a look at how the numbers play out in some other countries across the globe.  Recent surveys from the USA conducted by the American Pet Products Association suggest that 67% of US households own a pet². The data suggests that 50% of households own a dog, about 34% own a cat, just over 10% own fish, 4.5% own birds, 4% own small mammals and about 3.5% own reptiles. Just over 1% have a horse. So similar to Australia, dogs are the most popular pet followed by cats.

In the UK, the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association found that approximately 41% of UK households have pets³. Although this seems a lot lower than the pet ownership in Australia and the U.S.A., the UK survey didn’t appear to have included fish ownership which may have increased the overall figure somewhat. The UK breakdown shows that 23% of households have a dog, 16% have a cat, approximately 1.5% own birds, just over 1% of households own reptiles and about 3% own small mammals. Once again dogs are the most popular pet, followed by cats.

Remember, if you’re trying to do the maths, some households may own more than one type of pet, so there will be some overlap between the percentage of households owning a certain pet type. For example, one household might own a dog as well as have fish and a bird.

PET POPULARITY

We’ve seen that dogs and cats are the most popular pets, yet there are many different breeds. So which breeds tend to be the most popular?

Popular Dog Breeds

In Australia some of the most popular dog pure breeds are¹:

• Labrador retrievers

• Border Collies
• German Shepard’s
• Staffordshire Bull Terriers
• Chihuahuas
• Golden retrievers

Mixed breeds are also common, and include mixes of¹:

• Kelpie
• Maltese
• Jack Russell
• Staffordshire Bull Terrier
• Cattle Dog
• Shih Tzu
• Labrador Retriever

Then we have the “designer” breeds which have become more popular of late and include mixes of¹:

• Poodle
• Maltese
• Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

• Shih Tzu
• Labrador Retriever

Popular Cat Breeds

As far as cats go, the vast majority of cats owned in Australia are a mix of breeds These cats are commonly referred to as domestic short haired cats.

Those owners that do have pure breeds commonly own¹:

• Ragdoll
• Burmese
• Siamese
• British Shorthair
• Persian
• Bengal
• Russian Blue
• Maine Coon

WHATS YOUR PET PREFERENCE

In a population passionate about pets, how are you contributing to these statistics? And Which pets do you own?

If you were considering getting another pet, would it be the same as what you have now….or would you get something different?

And if you don’t yet own a pet, what kind of pet would you consider getting?

Share your comments and thoughts below or on social; And for more information on the surveys mentioned, check out my blog post which has links to all the statistics.

References:

1. https://animalmedicinesaustralia.org.au/report/pets-in-australia-a-national-survey-of-pets-and-people/, accessed 22 October 2020
2. https://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp, accessed 22 October 2020
3. https://www.pfma.org.uk/pet-population-2020, accessed 22 October 2020