Hundägares och kattägares relation till sitt djur
The relationship between the pet and it's owner is a very important and interesting
issue. Unfortunately there is not so much research on this and in addition to that
Swedish veterinarian education does not put much emphasis on pet's role in society
or their pattern of behaviour nor treatment. This thesis is based on an opinion poll
that 20 dog owners and 20 cat owners contributed. The main purpose of the thesis
was to compare the relationships that the pet (dog or cat) and its owner can have.
The issues such as the pet owner's attitude to his/her pet, how the pet owner
percieves and interprets the signals from the animal, and what they think about the
natural behaviours and needs that their pets (might) have.
The results show that dog- and cat owners are people who generally love animals,
that they used to have even other animal species in the past, but when it comes to
choice between a new dog or a new cat they choose the one that they previously
have had and that they are used to. Most of a dog owners choose the dog to be their
pet because of the company while the majority of a cat owners choose cat because
cats are independent and they are used to cats. Both dog- and cat owners have a
close and emotional relationship to their pet, but the results show that cat owners
find this issue even more important. Dogs influence their owners rather physically
while in the cats' case, the owners are influenced psychologically. A dog owners'
social life becomes richer since they meet new people thanks to their pet, while
owning a cat can lead both to positive and negative contacts with people.