Pets in Society

By Roger W Dean

It has long been recognized that increasing economic prosperity is closely related to an increased propensity to pet ownership. Economic development in countries ranging from Brazil to China has been characterized by a rising trend in pet populations. But what other factors may be at work? Are cultural differences important? And how significant are national peculiarities, leading to different choices by countries with broadly similar cultural traditions? Roger Dean has been looking at the available, if sometimes, sparse, data, particularly the established benefits of keeping a dog or a cat.

A valuable source of information, available in a convenient format, is data collected by the specialist pet insurer PetSecure, a company based in Australia.

Although we all hope that our pets will never need the services of a pet veterinarian or other pet professional for anything other than routine care, all responsible pet owners will naturally take steps to ensure that qualified help is swiftly available if the unwelcome need arises. In order to defray the cost of treatment, there is widespread agreement with the view that it is wise to insure pets against illness or injury and this is the business in which PetSecure is involved.

As to pets, what is an appropriate definition? Cats and dogs are immediately in the frame. Dogs, in particular can establish a close relationship with their human keepers, especially if they are involved in a working partnership. Cats keep a more distant relationship but, as all cat keepers know (the author avers that one does not own a cat) felines are also capable of establishing a bond with their human keeper. But what about other species? Most sources of pet statistics increasingly tend to include birds and fish, a tendency that the author would accept as regards the avian population but which he would regard as questionable as regards the piscatorial one!

As regards dogs and cats, the data is readily available and usefully ranked in ‘top twenty’ format. This immediately raises the question of the relationship between the pet population and its human counterpart. As regards the human and dog population in the United States, in 2019 there was a total of 328,200,000 people, as against 69,929,000 dogs, equivalent to 4.69 humans per dog. This suggests that the US cannot really be described as a nation of dog lovers, albeit that it is the country with the single largest population of canines. What about dog species? The Labrador Retriever is still the most popular dog breed in the US, according to the American Kennel Club, occupying top spot for the twenty-ninth year in a row. The German Shepherd is second, followed by the Golden Retriever. The English Foxhound is the least popular breed on the list, coming in at 193 of 193.

A truism, nevertheless, but the fact remains that, nationally and comparatively, pet ownership is, at least in part, linked to economic development. This is readily comprehensible. As individuals’ disposable incomes increase, decisions can be taken about how that disposable element can be spent and one decision may be to acquire a dog. Researchers have suggested a number of reasons which may underlie to decision to acquire a canine and these include the fact that dogs are loyal and they help to keep their owners heathy via the provision of regular walks and a general attribution of improved health via the provision of regular exercise. Dogs are also regarded as giving their owners a sense of purpose and increased confidence and are regarded as potential sources of loyalty in a world where, for whatever reason, loyalty may be in short supply.

Dog owners regard their animals, perhaps idealistically as, according to one source, ‘loyal, protective, and always happy to see you’. The same source points out that the dog has been ‘a human companion for more than 18,000 years, making it one of the first domesticated animals in history’. The journal ‘Society and Animals’ reported in a recent study that scientists have proof that ‘dogs make us laugh more than cats, keep us more active than the average human companion, and even reduce our chances of depression.’ This remarkable conclusion was reached after a research project asked people who owned dogs, cats, both, or neither to record how often they laughed over the course of a day. Those who owned just dogs and both dogs and cats recorded laughing more than the other two groups.

The origin of today’s domesticated house dog may be traced back to between 19,000 and 32,000 years ago, when they evolved from wolves. Wolves are known for living in packs which fosters the development of strong bonds between pack members and it is this pack behaviour that makes today’s dogs so loyal. A researcher at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has explained that dogs see their human owners as ‘fellow members of their pack’ and, therefore, form the same close bond with their owners as they would once have done with their canine brothers and sisters.

Dog owners, it is claimed, are ‘more social’ than non-dog owners. In the UK, a team of scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Bristol found that UK residents with dogs were more likely to encounter other dogs and dog owners than people who did not own a dog. This makes sense, in that dog owners are more likely to head out of the house on walks and run into other dog owners on their own strolls.

Proponents of the canine species also argue that dogs may even ‘protect us from poor health’ in that children born into households with a dog ‘have a lower risk of developing asthma and

allergies’. However, before dismissing this apparently preposterous claim, it should be pointed out that a study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that, when exposed to dust from households where dogs were permitted inside and outside, mice developed ‘an altered community’ of microbes in their gut that protect them against allergens. It was reported that these microbes could be what’s protecting young children from developing allergens in households with dogs.

With growing and major concern about obesity today, the medical profession stresses that it is vitally important to get regular exercise. Researchers at Michigan State University reported in 201 1 that 60 per cent of dog owners who took their pets for regular walks met federal government criteria for ‘regular moderate or vigorous exercise’. Moreover, elderly people who walk their dogs had a more regular exercise routine and were ‘more physically fit’ than the elderly who walk with other people, according to a study published in the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services in 2010. In addition, while dogs are great companions for anyone, they are especially so for the elderly. In a study published in the Journal of Social Psychology, elderly people who owned a dog reported ‘feeling more satisfied’ with their social, physical, and emotional state than those without a dog.

The contention, that ‘dogs save lives’ is, perhaps, one of the most contentious of all the claims made by the canine lobby. Dogs can, so it is claimed, help humans by acting as an early warning

system

for patients who suffer from seizures. Trained dogs can reportedly sense the onset of a seizure up to fifteen minutes before it occurs and will bark when this happens, which then warns the patient to sit so to prevent injury from falling down, for example. The literature admits that how dogs know when a seizure is coming is still unknown but it must be pointed out at this juncture that dogs have been demonstrated to be able to detect diseases in asymptomatic patients. In the current context, the UK Government has awarded a specialist team of researchers almost £500,000 to find out if specially trained bio-detection dogs could be used as a new rapid testing measure for COVID-19.

Medical detection dogs have a successful history catching the presence of malaria and certain types of cancers in humans. Their new mission – to see if they can detect the odour of coronavirus in patients, particularly those not showing any symptoms. The programme is a partnership between the government, the Medical Detection Dogs charity and universities like London’s School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Its head of disease control, Professor James Logan, said that ‘there is a solid scientific basis for using dogs to sniff out the virus’. He said that when one had a disease, whether a virus or a parasite, it changed the body’s odour so ‘you actually smell different’.

Dogs are supposed to provide their owners with additional confidence. In another study, the participants obtained a dog and were assessed after ten months with their new canine companion. In general, the participants reported ‘a higher sense of self-esteem, improved exercise habits, and less fear of crime’. Researchers have also propositioned the idea that ‘just the simple act of making eye contact with your furry friend’ can release a chemical called oxytocin which is associated with what can be described as the feel-good factor. In a study that measured oxytocin levels from two groups of dog owners, the group that was instructed not to look directly at their dog had lower oxytocin levels than the other group that made regular eye contact. Another study found that dog owners who relied on their dogs for social fulfillment reported that ‘they were less depressed, less lonely, had higher self-esteem, were happier, and tended to experience less perceived stress.’

Returning to the numbers game, it has been noted that, in terms of world rankings, the US clearly leads the field with 69.93 million canines. Brazil is reported to come second, followed by Russia with a reported 12.52 million dogs. It may surprise some readers to learn that the UK is well down the world pecking order with nine million dogs, less than Japan, the Philippines or India. As regards cats, the UK has an estimated eight million compared with the US total of 74 million and fewer than either France or Germany. What are the reasons for keeping a cat? Busy people in this frenetic world may feel that they have little or no time or energy to look after a pet but a cat could be an appropriate answer to the problem. As one observer has noted, taking care of a cat ‘requires less responsibility than some other animals’ in that cats are ‘low maintenance and independent’ and can, for the most part, look after themselves while their keeper is busy. A further and associated benefit is the fact that cats keep themselves clean for most if not all the time, obviating the need to take time to perform the somewhat painstaking task of washing and grooming your cat.

A further benefit of cat ‘keepership’ is that cats will keep their keepers dwelling place free from a wide variety of rodents, albeit that they may bring examples of the latter to show you. In a broader ecological sense, for those desiring to live a ‘green’ lifestyle can find it difficult, but a cat, it can be argued is ‘a great choice for potential pet owners looking to stay eco-friendly’. Academic studies have shown that the lifetime resources needed to feed and care for a cat have a smaller carbon footprint than for other animals. It has also been argued that most cats prefer fish to meat which is supposed to be better for the environment.

In addition, and in that modern living contributes frequently to becoming ‘stressed out’, people have many different ways of relieving their stress. Cat owners can reduce their tension by just stroking their cats head. Petting a cat reportedly releases endorphins into the brain, which is the body’s way of improving mood, promoting a sense of happiness.

While the keeping of a dog or a cat has utilitarian benefits such as guarding a property or keeping the property free from other unwelcome visitors such as rodent pests, it is important to keep in mind the benefit accruing to the keeper’s well-being. Dogs and cats may be seen as having advantages for their keeper’s property, there are also advantages on a much more personal level which we do well to keep in mind.