OUR PETS

OUR PETS

Recently a friend of mine queried the need for keeping a pet. This was raised in the context of a parrot dying and the owner feeling very disheartened and dispirited at the passing away of the pet bird. 

My friend queried if the habit of keeping bird pets (or any other for that matter) is healthy at all, as children would feel really blue at the death of pets whom they loved with all their heart.

ORIGIN OF THE WORD:

Since 1530, pet meaning animal companion, it was possibly from Scots and dialectal Northern England.

Did you know that a dog lover is called ‘cynophile’ and a cat lover is called ‘ailurophile’. The term ‘Phile’ means ’like’ as against the more familiar ‘phobe’!

PETS IN CHILDHOOD:

Though we associate pets mainly with children, all sorts of people keep pets. 

We have always had dogs as pets (Cynophile!) as far as I can remember. 

My sister and I, as kids, had a dog in particular - a mixture of cocker spaniel and dachshund - a black friendly being called Gilly . She used to come with us wherever we went, sleep under our beds and patiently wait for dinner time. We used to drop whatever food we disliked and she used to gulp it all from under the table from the prying eyes of my mother! 

I met the owner of the dog 30 years later; Molly's parents gifted Gilly as a pup to us. She recalled the dog after so many years with ease, including the name of the dog!

Keeping up with the tradition, my boys grew up with dogs too! as does my grandson now! My sister somewhere along the line has switched over to cats!

AS PETS:

Cats in fact are more popular than dogs all over the world.

Even in India, the incidence of pets have tremendously increased ass evidenced by a visit to a PET store or a Veterinary doctor. There are plenty of pet lovers with their pets for advice and for seeking help.

Other pets include fish, birds in India. I have heard of even pet leopards, snakes, alligators etc specially from abroad.

ARE PETS GOOD FOR YOU?

Pets afford us comapanisonship. There are studies to show that the physical and mental health of the owner improve. 

Pets also gives the lonely elderly folks the desire to take care of someone, the need to exercise, someone to speak to and to feel the warmth of a living being next to them. 

Pets train the child owners the responsibilities of life - like feeding, taking care when sick, the need for exercise and the general hygiene, socialization and the need to train well.

Pets are known to decrease blood pressure levels, lower stress levels, lower triglyceride levels and even lower the incidence of heart attacks. 

For the blind, seeing eye dogs help to make them live  with independent mobility.

People in hospice and nursing homes too benefit by physical contact with dogs. These therapy dogs may of different types - facility therapy dogs, animal-assisted therapy dogs and therapeutic visitation dogs.

In fact having pets increases your love for any living beings ! Friends of mine Lydia(Mumbai), Tusna (Chennai) collect stray pets and shelter them till suitable families adopt them.

Many of us pet lovers leave food and water outside our homes for the stray animals on the street!

NEGATIVES:

There are negative aspects to keeping pets too - like lung disorders, fractures to the eldery by collision with friendly heavy dogs, bites or nail injuries, parasitic infestation of the pets.

I have in this blog, only covered the pets from the prospective of a companion and not as a working animal. That is very different. 

I do not keep dogs for breeding or for winning prizes at the animal (dog shows) , nor for selling! Many friends do ! 

DOES CAT HAVE NINE LIVES?

The average dog life is like 10-13 years, the smaller ones live longer than the larger breeds. Ours generally live long than this period! 

Cats live 2-16 years! 

And when the dogs pass away, it can be a heart wrenching experience! 

With the passing away of the pets , the child learns to grieve with the family and I guess this helps the child later on to overcome immense sadness, failures and to face such emotions!

Acknowlegements - Pictures taken from internet