On this page you can find out more information about pets and pet owners! Plus, I've included a few links for you to enjoy!
Pets
A pet is an animal kept for companionship and enjoyment. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics. Pets generally seem to provide their owners with non-trivial health benefits; keeping pets has been shown to help remove stress. Walking a dog can also provide its owner (as well as the dog) with exercise, fresh air, and social interaction.
Dogs and cats are the most common types of pets, both having very different character traits. The dog is seen as a loyal companion, who is more amenable to be trained, whereas a cat is more independent, and as such are not generally trained in the way that dogs are. Both can be very intelligent and can form incredibly strong bonds with humans.
People sometimes treat their pets much like children, especially when they do not have children, or their own have left home. Usually when it's just one person living alone they will have a pet so they won't feel lonely.
Popular Pets
Dogs and cats are considered common pets, while animals such as reptiles are typically considered exotic pets. Here is a listing of some of the most popular types of animals kept as pets!
- Dogs
- Cats
- Birds
- Fish
- Horses
- Hamsters
- Guinea pigs
- Mice
- Gerbils
- Chinchillas
- Rats
- Rabbits
- Ferrets
- Hermit Crabs
- Snakes
- Tortoises
- Lizards
- Frogs
- Toads
- Chickens
- Spiders
- Alpacas
- Iguanas
- Hedgehogs
- Pigs
Human / Animal Bonds
The human-animal bond can be defined as a connection between people and animals, domestic or wild; be it a cat as a pet or birds outside one's window. Research into the nature and merit of the human animal bond began in the late 1700s when, in York, England, the Society of Friends established the The Retreat to provide humane treatment for the mentally ill. By having patients care for the many farm animals on the estate, society officials theorized that the combination of animal contact plus productive work would facilitate the patients' rehabilitation. In the 1870s in Paris, a French surgeon had patients with neurological disorders ride horses. The patients were found to have improved their motor control and balance and were less likely to suffer bouts of depression.
In the 19th century, in Bielefeld, Germany, epileptic patients were given the proscription to spend time each day taking care of pets and dogs. The contact with the animals was found to reduce the occurrence of seizures. In 1980, a team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania found that human to animal contact was found to reduce the physiological characteristics of stress; specifically, lowered levels of blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, anxiety, and tension were all found to correlated positively with human pet bonding.
Historically, animals were domesticated for functional use; dogs for herding and tracking, and cats for killing mice or rats. Today their function is primarily a bonding function. For example, current studies show that 60-80 percent of dogs sleep with their owners at night in the bedroom, either in or on the bed. Moreover, in the past the majority of cats were kept outside whereas today most cats are kept indoors and considered part of the family. Presently, in the US, for example, 1.2 billion animals are kept as pets, primarily for bonding purposes. In addition, as of 1995 there were over 30 research institutions looking into the potential benefits of the human animal bond.
Links
- PetFinder.com
- Petster.com
- Fuzzster.com
- Dogster.com
- Catster.com
- HealthyPet.com
- Pets911
- ASPCA.org
- SpayUSA.org
- DogsDeserveBetter.org
- StopBSL.com
