Lecture 0 – 9 januari 2017 introduction
Households: 26% cats, 18% dogs
Food products: 15€ billion
Accessories: 6.5€ billion
Services: 8.5€ billion
Why keep pets? (They are bad for our health/well-being: zoönoses, fear, injury and death,
sorrow when pet dies. They are also bad for our environment: ecology, resource use).
biophylia: innate tendency of humans: sourced of information on safety and danger
social companionship: active outdoors, companions.
- A rabbit is suited to be housed alone – no
- Syringomyelia in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is caused by inbreeding – true
- Cats are carnivores and can’t digest starch from a dry kibble – false (if they couldn’t, they
would have diarrhea).
- Dogs copy mental states underlying yawning from humans – both
Animal sciences themes Welfare quality principles
Animal health Good health
Animal nutrition Good feeding
Animal welfare Appropriate behavior
Human-animal interaction Good housing
Biodiversity
Lecture 1 – 9 januari pets
Companion animal: a pet or other domestic animal:
- an animal that someone keeps for company and enjoyment.
Pet:
- a domestic or tamed animal or bird kept for companionship or pleasure and treated
with care and affection.
- an animal kept for amusement or companionship
- a pet is an animal kept primarily for a person’s company or protection.
Agricultural revolution ; more domestication of the animals.
Not all animal species are suitable for domestication for example; cheetah is not
domesticated because it didn’t happen in history.