Addressing community issues involving companion animals (Proceedings)

Wherever a veterinary practice may be established, issues concerning animals arise in the community. Inevitably, the veterinarian is the specialist who has the broad knowledge and background to provide a balanced perspective. The opportunity to offer community leadership concerning animals can be pursued and indirectly become a practice builder, while also benefiting the harmony and quality of life in the community (Hart, Hart, and Bain, 2006).

Communities differ in their geography, economic profile, and petkeeping style (Hart, 2006). Even within one county, such as Salt Lake County, zip code areas are microneighborhoods with distinctive patterns of pet ownership and petkeeping practices. Thus, veterinarians have the opportunity to become knowledgeable experts on the specific profiles of neighborhoods within their community, and their particular needs regarding animals.

Pet identification

Positioned near the Western seaboard, disasters are part of life—floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, and firestorms. In the Oakland firestorm, cats with any type of identification were twenty times more likely to be successfully returned to their owners than those without identification (Heath, Kass, Hart, and Zompolis,1998). The goal of getting animals identified has not become visible enough to achieve a reasonable level of compliance. One approach would be to piggyback "identification" on all publicity concerning "spay/neuter" of pets, and publicize it as a package deal to plant the idea in people's minds more widely.

Dog parks

Dogs like walks, and people invariably increase their walking after adopting a dog (Serpell, 1991). Further, elderly people reported spending over an hour a day outdoors with their dogs (Siegel, 1990). During these dog walks people encounter other people, and engage in pleasant socializing (Rogers, Hart, and Boltz, 1993). Well-managed dog parks provide a context that delivers exercise and socialization for the people and dogs. Veterinary expertise can be useful in establishing guidelines that optimize the likelihood of harmony at dogs parks in their communities.

Pets in rental housing

One of the paradoxes of pet ownership is that elderly people are less likely to have pets than those in their middle years, even though elderly people are more likely to be lonely, and presumably might greatly benefit from an animal companion. In the 1980s, legislation assured the right of people in federally-assisted rental housing to keep animal companions. A followup study in California showed that introduction of pets into apartments of elderly people did not increase problems with pets (Hart and Mader, 1986).

Today, legislation for people with disabilities assures their right to keep animals. However, many people, especially the elderly, live in housing where animals are not permitted, and they cannot easily relocate to housing where animals would be allowed. Diplomacy can involve working with landlords to incrementally become more flexible with regard to their pet policy.

Homeless people and their pets

A problem in many communities involves homeless people and their pets. Communities that provide beds for homeless people rarely have accommodations for companion animals. Such people may be repeatedly arrested for illegal camping, even though no acceptable alternative is available to them where there animal would also be safe. Few housing options allow homeless people to retain their companion animal, who may be their only close friend (Singer, Hart, and Zasloff, 1995).

Relinquishment to humane societies and shelters

From the Sacramento Overpopulation Study of 3,900 pet owners, including those relinquishing animals and those with successful relationships, we know that relinquishing owners tend to be younger, poorer, less educated, less attached to their animals, and lacking an understanding of what it really takes to be a pet owner (Kass et al. 2000). They had little knowledge about vaccinations, neutering, animal behavior, and basic training. The dogs and cats that were fearful, hyperactive or noisy, soiled or damaged the house, or escaped frequently were more likely to be relinquished. Purebred and purchased animals were more likely to be kept than those adopted from shelters. Long term and indoor pets were more likely to be kept, though elderly animals had an increased likelihood of relinquishment. With cats, having knowledge of pharmaceutical treatments for inappropriate urination was protective against relinquishment. Adding additional cats increased the risk. Rather than a single problem leading to relinquishment, a complexity of breakdowns in the relationship set the stage for a tipping point toward relinquishment.

Many animals are relinquished due to behavior or aging problems, and would not be suitable for adoption. With aging, problems of house soiling, excessive sleeping, and no longer recognizing family members may challenge the owners, and the animals are likely to experience some arthritis and visual or auditory impairments (Hart, Dorairaj, Camacho, and Hart, 2001).

Adoption from humane societies and shelters

Starting off a new pet relationship at a humane society or shelter rather than with a veterinarian may itself be a risk factor. While this comparison was not made directly, two studies examined the success of adoptions of veterinary clients (Kidd, Kidd, and George, 1992a) and through shelters or humane societies (Kidd, Kidd, and George, 1992b). The people may differ in the two contexts: clients working with veterinarians were more knowledgeable, older, and more successful in relationships with pets than those adopting from humane societies. The animals of veterinary clients also may differ, in starting off younger and with less history and fewer behavior problems.

People are very selective in their choices of animals for adoption. Age, sex, coat color, and reason for relinquishment are major determinants of adoption in both dogs and cats (Lepper, Kass, and Hart, 2002). Breed, purebred status, and injury status are additional determinants for dogs.

Participation in puppy classes soon after adoption seems likely to be helpful. When a follow-up was done on retention of adult dogs that had been adopted as puppies, those that had participated in puppy socialization classes were more likely to be retained (Duxbury, Jackson, Line, and Anderson, 2003). Living in a home with children was a risk factor for relinquishment, suggesting that such adopters may benefit from particular assistance.

More well-informed placement and adoption of animals would be likely to enhance success. Expecting perfection in an animal is not unusual, but is unrealistic. Only 13% of people about to receive a hearing dog anticipated having any behavior problems with the dogs, but among those who already had received them, 50% reported some behavior problems (Hart, Zasloff, and Benfatto, 1995). Humane societies may at times adopt out dogs that are manageable by assertive in-house trainers, but quickly show aggressive with a new owner at home (Nixon, Hart, and Willits, 2001). In this study following up after adoption of dogs from a shelter, half of the relinquishments for behavioral reasons were due to aggression.

Conclusion

Methods of addressing community problems concerning animals remains a topic that has not yet coalesced. The concept of Veterinary Family Practice would provide an umbrella under which this and other topics of companion animal petkeeping would be encompassed. Some resources and search templates that can aid in locating research literature on this topic are available through the UC Davis Program for Companion Animal Behavior: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/CCAB/main.htm

References

Duxbury, M. M., Jackson, J. A., Line, S. W., and Anderson, R. K. 2003. Evaluation of association between retention in the home and attendance at puppy socialization classes. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 223, 6166.

Hart, B. L., Hart, L. A., and Bain, M. J. 2006. Canine and Feline Behavior Therapy, 2nd ed. Ames, Iowa: Blackwell Publishing.

Hart, L. A. 2006. Community context and psychosocial benefits of animal companionship. In: Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy: Theoretical Foundations and Guidelines for Practice, 2nd ed. (A. Fine, ed.), pp. 73-94. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Hart, L., Dorairaj, K,. Camacho, S., and Hart, B. L. 2001. Nurturing older dogs: Attitudes and experiences of caregivers. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association 37, 307-310.

Hart, L. A., Zasloff, R. L., and Benfatto, A.-M. 1995. The pleasures and problems of hearing dog ownership. Psychological Reports 77, 969-970.

Heath, S.E., Kass, P., Hart, L., and Zompolis, G. 1998. Epidemiologic study of cats and dogs affected by the 1991 Oakland fire. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 212, 504511.

Kass, P. H., Hart, L. A., New, J. G., Jr., and Salman, M. D. 2000. Determinants of relinquishment to animal shelters in Sacramento County, California: A case-control study. Proceedings of the 9th Symposium of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics.

Kidd, A. H., Kidd, R. M., and George, C. 1992a. Veterinarians and successful pet adoptions. Psychological Reports 71, 551-557.

Kidd, A. H., Kidd, R. M., and George, C. 1992b. Successful and unsuccessful pet adoptions. Psychological Reports 70, 547-561.

Lepper, M., Kass, P. H., and Hart, L. A. 2002. Prediction of adoption versus euthanasia among dogs and cats in a California animal shelter. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 5, 29-42.

Hart, L. A., and Mader, B. 1986. The successful introduction of pets into California public housing for the elderly. California Veterinarian 40, 17-21, 27.

Nixon, A., Hart, L., and Willits, N. 2001. Successful dog adoptions: Influences of dog behavior on retention and relinquishment. Human-Animal Conflict: Exploring the Relationships with Conflict between Humans and Other Animals. ISAZ Conference, University of California, Davis, August 2-4.

Rogers, J., Hart, L. A., and Boltz, R. P. 1993. The role of pet dogs in casual conversations of elderly adults. Journal of Social Psychology 133, 265-277.

Serpell, J. 1991. Beneficial effects of pet ownership on some aspects of human health and behavior. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 84, 717-720.

Siegel J. 1990. Stressful life events and use of physician services among the elderly: The moderating role of pet ownership. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58, 1081-1086.

Singer, R.S., Hart, L. A., and Zasloff, R. L. 1995. Dilemmas associated with rehousing homeless people who have companion animals. Psychological Reports 77, 851857.