Canada : Saturday, 18 December 2010 (Local Time)
Over half of Canadian pet owners think their animals are more reliable than peoples as nearly all of them talk to their pets on a regular basis, and some even confess their deepest, darkest secrets to their four legged friends.
That was the conclusion of a recent survey conducted by Harris/Decima, Canada’s research firm, on behalf of the pet food company Nestle Purina PetCare into the special bond between Canadian pet owners and their animals.
The study, which surveyed 1,014 Canadians (of which 781 owned or had owned a cat or dog) found that 53 percent of pet owners, and 59 percent of those between the ages of 45 and 54, find their pets more reliable than their partners.
Ninety percent of pet owners talk to their pets, the survey found, and nearly a third of them admitted to confessing their secrets to them.
Thirty-three percent of women were even more likely to confide in their animals than in men. Canadians, it would seem, are head over heels in puppy love.
According to psychotherapist Shiri Joshua, this should come as no surprise.
Joshua is the founder of the Canadian Center for Pet Loss Bereavement and specializes in animal assisted therapy, pet loss grief counseling, and human-animals relations.
Joshua told the reporter that the study revealed in numbers a side of pet-ownership that is often overlooked. The bond between pets and humans is becoming more relevant as the family structure changes in Canada.
Though 67 percent of pet owners agreed that their pet helped keep them more physically active, an even greater number said their furry friends actually kept them happier.
Eighty-six percent of Canadians said that bad moods are lifted by interaction with pets. Women said they feel less lonely knowing that they have a pet to come home to, and retiress feel less alone in their home because of their pet’s companionship.
According to Joshua, this effects is especially relevant in an increasingly digital age, where human connections are rapidly changing. Pets, she said, mean something different for us in the era of computerized communication, than they did in the past.
Joshua said research has shown that petting animals releases endorphins and reduces blodd pressure. She even named her own cat Pfizer, after the pharmaceutical company, claiming pets are Mother Nature’s most natural and most powerful antidepressant.
That is not to say, however, that pet’s are a healthy replacement for human contact, she said. Though pet ownership can be extremely beneficial in many ways, Joshua has seen the pet-owner relationship taken too far, resulting in sever emotional trauma for the owner upon the pet’s death.
The key, she said, is balance, and using our interactions with our furry friends to help us better understand our relationships in the greater human world.
Story and Foto from : www.news.xinhuanet.com (reported by Christine McLaren)
