In our society we often need the companionship of other animals, so a pet is a natural part of many households. People love to have one or more birds at their homes; children and adults keep rabbits, white mice, fish or more unusual pets such as snakes. Also more than 1.5 million dogs and well over 1.5 million cats are kept as pets. The main reason given by 60% of pet owners for owning the pet was ‘companionship’. Perhaps some of the reasons for human attachment to pet dogs may be related to two prominent qualities of many dogs:
· Their ability to offer love and tactile reassurance without criticism.
· Their dependence, which may stimulate our natural tendency to offer support and protection
Importance of Pets to Children
The child’s pet is an aid to the child’s physical, social and emotional development. Owning a pet can help the child face and meet many situations throughout his/her childhood. A pet provides company to children and develops a sense of caring and responsibility to another animal. Pets also teach sharing, and communication. Children may learn to love by cuddling an animal. So for children, pets may aid their emotional and social development, provide a companion, friend and confidant. They can also introduce a child to the more adult emotions concerned with love, separation and death.
Importance of Pets to Elderly
The elderly often find it difficult to keep up with inflation and the rate of change in the urban environment. Often a pet will be their only security and emotional buffer, as everything around them changes. So their pets fill needs for esteem, social needs and often safety needs. The loss of a pet can be a serious upset and in many cases old people die soon after losing a pet.
Importance of Pets to Family Life
Interviews with sociologists, social workers, and pet owners suggest that in our modern, high-pressure society, pets are important in a family for companionship, protection, strengthening group identification or as a substitute for unfulfilling interpersonal relationships. Pets may help keep a family together either as a safe topic of conversation or as something several family members can work on without dispute. This can often apply to an elderly person or a person within a family that fails to meet their basic emotional needs. In a childless household pet may be a child substitute.

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Molly’s Pet Boutique is an Irish owned web-based boutique offering a wide and varied selection of pet clothing and lifestyle accessories. For more information or pet shopping, please visit: http://www.mollys.ie.

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