Stephanie dresses her cat in skirts and T-shirts. Lisa toilet-trained her rabbits so they could have free range of the house and garden. Is this healthy - for the pet, or the human? Sophie Bond reports.
Lisa McEwan has quirky touches around her Pt Chevalier home: a leopard-print fridge, a pink cast-iron bath and two miniature doorways from the house to the garden. The custom-made entrances are for Ning Ning and Bret, Lisa's house rabbits. They're fully toilet-trained and have free range of the house and the well-fenced garden.
Lisa has something in common with many other Aucklanders; indeed, she's in a global club. She's a pet-lover. Fluffy, scaly, feathered, pampered or scruffy, most of us have had one, most of us have mourned one and - though we may not want to admit it - most of us have used a silly voice to tell a pet how much we wuv them.
For Lisa, cats were always number one. Then, two years ago, baby bunnies Bret and Jemaine turned up, gifts from Lisa's son and his girlfriend. A roomy hutch was built for the new arrivals but, after just one rainy night, Lisa couldn't bear it, and let them into the house.
"People think you have to have rabbits caged, but it didn't feel right. I could never have a rabbit in a hutch. They love to run, and you wouldn't keep a cat in a cage."
When Jemaine died, Lisa says Bret looked so forlorn she quickly "got him a little girlfriend".
During our interview, Ning Ning and Bret are constantly on the move, using their doors to visit the garden, brushing past our ankles and pausing to touch muzzles. It's hard to take your eyes off them, and Lisa clearly is smitten.
"There's something about sitting watching television and having a little animal bouncing by that is so surreal. Now, I think I'll have bunnies forever. They absolutely impact [on] your mood. I consider myself quite happy at the moment and the bunnies are part of that. I adore them. I get moments of joy from them every single day."
Years of academic research reinforce this sense of wellbeing that Lisa attributes to her flop-eared friends. One man fascinated by the relationship between people and domestic animals is James Serpell, professor of humane ethics and animal welfare at the University of Pennsylvania. The Aucklander met him in October when he was keynote speaker at the NZ Companion Animal conference.
Professor Serpell has a PhD in bird behaviour and, when he's not teaching animal ethics, he spends much of his time studying the behaviour of dogs and the nature of human/pet relationships.
He says pet ownership is a growing phenomenon and believes it will become a much-discussed issue in future.
"In the last 40 years there's been a fourfold increase in the cat and dog populations of the United States. Amongst the factors driving this surge is the role of companion animals in providing social support now that most of the traditional human forms of support are in decline. People are having fewer children, marriages are lasting less well and friendships seem more transient.
If pets are buffers, Sheryl Hawkes has chosen sturdy ones. She shares her Waitakere home with Newfoundland dogs Beau and Daisy, and is a regular babysitter for another, Asha. Does she agree there are health benefits for pet owners?
She gives an emphatic "Yes. It's the love they give you. I don't think I could survive long without it. I'll always have Newfies."
Sheryl stands stroking Beau's head, which comes almost to her chest. Beau weighs 84kg and measures 1.8m from nose to outstretched tail. Daisy is a more compact 55kg, but still is heavier than Sheryl, who says walking more than 130kg of dog is a challenge.
She got her first Newfoundland 19 years ago. "I saw them at a dog show and just fell in love with the breed. Really, it is the bigger the better. They're just awe-inspiring."
Dogs this size don't require excessive feeding, exercise or space, she says. "They don't need to eat as much as you'd think. It costs about $25 a week to feed them both. I just take them for a gentle walk and they keep pretty fit playing in the garden."
She describes the breed as loving and gentle. "They are brilliant with children and are very protective. They just want to be with people: not the kind of dog you can stick out in a kennel."
While owning a pet clearly is good for us, Professor Serpell says it's not all good news.
"The arguments about the environmental effects are only just coming out now. There's the issue of the waste material these animals deposit and how to deal with that. In New Zealand, you'll be only too familiar with the impact on wildlife, especially in a place where the wildlife is not really equipped to deal with introduced predators. If we can find ways to make pets have a little less environmental impact then the benefits outweigh the costs."
Human/pet relationships can carry the risk of anthropomorphism, with humans failing to recognise or respect the differences between themselves and animals, he says. Common consequences can be over-feeding, leading to health problems, or reluctance to euthanise a sick animal even when it's in the animal's best interest.
"I think the reason we're anthropomorphic about animals is, we use introspection to infer how others feel about us. We do this with each other but also with animals, especially if it's a mammal with forward-directed eyes. We are naturally anthropomorphic."
Highly anthropomorphic animals - such as pandas and tigers - gain more funds for conservation organisations when used as the key image.
I saw this theory in action when, instead of the usual buckets and fluoro vests, the collectors at the intersection of Queen and Customs streets each had a Newfoundland dog beside them. Never before have I heard such a constant clatter of coins as pedestrians flocked for a cuddle.
As for Professor Serpell, he and his family own a dog, a cat, a lizard, two degus (a small rodent) and innumerable fish. "I grew up with animals so I feel somehow that life is incomplete without them."
The cat's pyjamas?
Stephanie Blithe is immaculately dressed today. So is her cat: Stephanie in grey ruffles and Talouse in polka dots.
No, says the 22-year-old, dressing the cat has nothing to do with seeing it as an accessory or a toy.
"Because she's a white cat she's prone to get sunburned, so she's been wearing T-shirts a bit lately. She doesn't mind, she just goes with it."
Stephanie recalls being at the counter of a kidswear store, wondering aloud if she'd picked the right T-shirt size for Talouse, when the assistant asked,
"How old is she?". "Um, well, um, she's a cat," came the reply.
Talouse was "a bit of compensation" for a dog, but now the Chinchilla Persian has settled right into the Blithe household.
Stephanie says Talouse is great company and a good mood-booster. "Our friends think she's the coolest cat because she's really friendly and placid. I can hold her like a baby and pat her tummy. And she's a lot easier to look after than a dog."
Scratching the surface
Bob Kerridge, chair of the Companion Animal Council, says the organisation aims to achieve harmonious relationships between companion animals, people and the environment.
A lack of figures about New Zealand's pet population has prompted the council to commission a nationwide survey, with results due in April 2011.
"There are no reliable figures. One that seems to be bandied around a lot is 800,000 dogs and five million cats but we don't know for sure.
"The survey is looking at the number of cats and dogs owned, where they came from, the sort of money owners spend on their pets, what people's attitudes to animals are."
It's known pet ownership has increased in recent years and Kerridge hopes regular surveys will illustrate the trend.
"It'll be useful because we'll know what impact animals make on the community both economically and in terms of people's perceptions of them.
"Animals have become much more important to us and that's a good thing.
But we need to provide for them, too."
Animal qualm
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