Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilken betydelse sällskapsdjur har för den äldre människans livskvalité och omvårdnad. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie med femton studier med kvantitativ ansats. Datainsamlingen gjordes i databasen ELIN och PubMed och genom manuell sökning av tidsskrifter. Huvudresultat: På ett äldreboende visade en studie att kanariefågel ökade livskvalitén, den självupplevda psykiska statusen och känslan av autonomi. Sociala interaktioner ökade i samband med Animal Assisted Activity och gav andra diskussionsämnen än de egna sjukdomarna. Forskare från USA hävdar att interaktionen mellan människa och djur har en social och lugnade effekt hos människor som har diagnosen Alzheimers sjukdom. Besök av en hund på ett äldreboende visade en signifikant förbättring av tillfällig sinnesstämning i interventionsgruppen men minimala förändringar i kontrollgruppen. Studier visade att anspänning, depression, utmattning och förvirring kan minska bland populationen när ett äldreboende har en bofast hund och ge ett förbättrat hälsotillstånd. Ett akvarium på ett demensboende kan ge ett ökat intag av mat och med det en minskning av näringsdrycker och en ökad autonomi. Flera studier visade positiva beteendeförändringar på problembeteenden hos dementa med hjälp av sällskapsdjur. Slutsats: Sällskapsdjur har en positiv effekt hos äldre människor och kan påverka omvårdnaden.

A cross-sectional study investigated the shedding of zoonotic organisms (Campylobacter, Giardia, and Salmonella) and antimicrobial resistant generic E. coli in dogs that visited dog parks in southern Ontario. Logistic regression models were constructed to identify risk factors. Factors for the shedding of Campylobacter spp. included consumption of a commercial dry diet, exposure to compost, and age. Factors for the shedding of C. upsaliensis included outdoor water access and age. A risk factor for ampicillin resistance was attending a dog day care. For resistance to at least one antimicrobial, factors included attending a dog day care, breed size, consumption of a commercial dry diet and consumption of a homemade cooked diet. For multiclass resistance, exposure to compost, breed size, and consumption of a commercial dry diet were identified. Park was not significant in any model. Dogs that visit dog parks shed organisms that may pose a human health risk. / Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Population and Public Health/ Public Health Agency of Canada Applied Public Health Research Chair awarded to J. M. Sargeant; Public Health Agency of Canada; Ontario Veterinary College Pet Trust Fund; and a grant to D. L. Pearl from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund.

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On October 17, 2018, the Canadian Federal government legalized the recreational use of marijuana. This shift in the legal status of recreational drug use is far reaching and is generating interest within the research community. One unanticipated consequence of this new law is its effect on canines. This paper analyzes media coverage of the way in which the legalization of cannabis has newly changed the lives of animals, specifically dogs. Through a content analysis there were two broad themes identified: (1) the reduced opportunities for working dogs; (2) the negative health effects of cannabis on dogs. Using a One Health framework, the analysis discusses the potential policy and program development responses available to address the increasing interaction between humans, animals and legal marijuana. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Humans and animals have a widely varying relationship which has been studied at length. Examining our interactions with animals in negative contexts can help us further understand the factors that’s influence the nature of the human-animal relationship, particularly with our most popular companion animals. This study continues the use of a jury design, previously used in studies regarding animal abuse, to examine responses to a scenario of an altercation resulting in a dog biting a person. In this study, 243 undergraduate students read the scenario presented to them and completed a survey examining their judgements of blame and punishment for the incident. In the interest of examining the effects of different variables, participants were randomly presented with 1 of 18 potential scenarios in which the role of the human in potentially provoking the dog, the breed of the dog involved, and the degree of damage inflicted were manipulated. Results showed an avoidance toward making any judgements on the dog’s disposition, neither positively nor negatively. Additionally, some gender differences were discovered in responses related to euthanasia, blame on the owner, and the promotion of an obedience training program. Surprisingly, degree of damage did not have significant effects on responses, while dog breed differences revealed that participants placed greater blame and responsibility on owners of Pit bulls rather than the dog itself, which is potentially explained by the sample’s age demographics. The manipulation of human provocation of the incident proved to have the most significant effect of participant responses of blame and punishment, affecting perceptions of blame attributed to the dog and the victim, as well as the punishments and protections deemed appropriate. The results suggest an emphasis on human component in the perceptions of the human-animal relationship and provide insight on the variables relevant to the relationship.

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“An Examination of the Death and Dying of Companion Animals” explores the human-animal relationship as enacted in the home by becoming interspecies families. In particular, these relationships are considered when companion animals are dying and in need of special care and attention. This work provides historical and cultural context for how humans attend to animals in death and dying through the history of pet keeping and a complex literature review to explore the intersections of death and dying and religion, and human-animal studies. Specifically, models for companion animal end-of-life care replicate those services for humans by providing palliative care and a myriad of other treatments to attend to the suffering of aging and terminal pets. In addition to examining the creation of companion animal hospice and how it has quickly grown since the early 2000s, this work also confronts questions of euthanasia as a burdensome decision-making process. The decision to euthanize a loved one is fraught with ambiguity, uncertainty, and, at times, guilt. These experiences are idiosyncratic and by creating a discourse and popular platform through which to share these instances of death and dying, this project contributes to the newly established death positivity movement in drawing attention to caring for dead bodies in the home. This project ends by exploring after-death-care for companion animals. Burial and cremation are still, for the most part, how human families dispose of companion animal bodies. In addition to these more traditional forms of disposition, companion humans are also starting to preserve their companion animal bodies through taxidermy and freeze-drying. Though still considered grotesque by many companion humans, companion animal body preservation is just one example of new and reimagined mourning rituals. It is through these rituals and the recognition of this particular grief that the human-animal relationship in the home is seen in a new, complicated, ambiguous and intimate light. / Religion

This study developed and evaluated a 34-item scale designed to measure human and companion animal attachment. A total of 398 individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 87, who have a pet completed the Pet-Attachment Scale (PAS). These individuals also completed the Companion Animal Bonding Scale (CABS), which asks respondents how much caretaking they devote to their pets. The PAS and the CABS were highly correlated, r=-.68 (p<.001), with an overlapping variance of 46%. The inter-item consistency or Chronbach's Alpha of the PAS was .961, compared to a Chronbach's Alpha of .862 for the CABS. The factor analysis of the PAS revealed two factors; Companionship (12 items) and Emotional Fulfillment (7 items). Thus, the PAS can be shortened to 19 items for follow-up research. The factor analysis for the CABS revealed only one factor (i.e., caretaking), and the analysis suggested the scale could be reduced from 8 to 3 items. The strong correlations between the PAS and the CABS suggest concurrent, convergent, and construct validity for the PAS. A stepwise regression for the PAS revealed three significant predictors: 1) responsibility, 2) favorite pet chosen, and 3) gender. Women who were responsible for their pet, and did not select a particular pet as their favorite, scored highest on attachment to their pets. A stepwise regression for the CABS revealed four predictors: 1) responsibility, 2) favorite pet chosen, 3) live with this pet, and 4) gender. These predictors for the CABS were the same as for the PAS, with the addition that those who lived with their pet gave more caretaking than those who did not. Analysis of variance was used to explore the effects of the predictor variables on the PAS and the CABS. These analyses revealed significant effects of gender and age category on both pet attachment (PAS) and pet caretaking (CABS). Women in the middle age category were most attached to their pets (PAS) and gave the most caretaking to their pets (CABS). The unique feature of the PAS, not measured by the CABS, was an Emotional Fulfillment factor. Future research should distinguish between pet attachment as companionship versus emotional fulfillment. / Ph. D.

Since before the Neolithic Revolution, when human civilisation first emerged, humans and canines have lived, and died, together. This Scottish study is conducted in the field of animal-human interaction and, using qualitative methods, applies established insights from the sociology of health (born of human-to-human interaction) to a human-animal relationship. Specifically, this thesis explores death and dying in relations between the companion canines, and the human members, of ten families. Nonhuman illness narratives are found in profusion in this study, and it was also found to be possible to apply biographical disruption to nonhumans, when conceptualised as biographical disruption-by-proxy. Unexpectedly, there emerged from the data support for a four-fold model of canine selfhood, as forged within the family. This is, as far as I am aware, the first modelling of a specific nonhuman consciousness, within the discipline. Suffering was found to exist in both physical and non-physical forms for the companions, and a mutual vulnerability to loneliness, and desire for companionship, appears to be a powerful point of connection between the humans and the canines. Being together emerged as both a practice, and as an ideal, that moulded the human-canine relations, and it was regarded as unfitting for a canine to die alone. Companion canine dying comes forth as a negotiated process, shaped by a divide between gradual and sudden death. This work encountered developed narratives of departure, that seem to structure the experience of losing a companion. In particular the role of the expert is a privileged voice in the negotiations of dying, and the biomedical view is treated as being definitive. The role of the expert is not simply submitted to however, but a range of stances to veterinary authority are displayed, being; acquiescence, resistance and invalidation of the veterinary voice. Ultimately, whilst interplays of wellbeing are present, they are less biophysically grounded, than they are rooted in the everyday routines of life, in the rituals of eating, sleeping, walking, and playing together, that compose the shared world of the human and companion canine.

This master thesis engages in representative social, psychological, economic and environmental aspects of breeding pets in unprofessional homely way in the town of České Budějovice specifically, and in general as well. The sample survey that has been done in the town streets shows that at leasth each household breeds a pet. There was no excessive influence on the number of bred pets had been proved in the field of socio-demographic aspects. People consider their pets to be full family members and are willing to subordinate their lives to them.