Pets For People Research Articles

Our Recipe for Good Inclusive Research

Co-researchers with intellectual disabilities and a Ph.D. student formed an inclusive research team. The co-researchers joined the inclusive research team so they could learn more about research and have control over the research. Our team have held regular research skills meetings. The focus of these meetings was getting to know each other and learning what each person brought to the team, as well as learning what inclusive research is and how to conduct research together. Learning these things has helped to design and undertake an inclusive research project about pets for people with intellectual disabilities. In this article, our team shares our experience of conducting inclusive research. We have learnt that each team member brings their own strengths to the team and we have connected and formed friendships. We completed an inclusive research project and found there were some challenges our team had to overcome. We conclude that people with intellectual disabilities are capable of leading research. Being part of an inclusive research team enables co-researchers to show others what they can do. Sharing what our team has found out can help others to conduct inclusive research.

Responsibility-sharing for pets in disasters: lessons for One Health promotion arising from disaster management challenges.

During disasters, the behaviour of pet owners and of pets themselves may compromise the ability of emergency responders to perform their duties safely. Furthermore, pet loss can have deleterious effects on personal and community recovery. To explore these issues and their implications for health promotion and disaster management practice, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 emergency responders in Australia, where disaster policy embraces shared responsibility yet does not acknowledge pets. We found that responders commit to being responsible for protecting human lives, especially members of their teams. Frontline emergency responders did not regard pets as their responsibility, yet decisions made with tragic consequences for pets exacted an emotional toll. Emergency managers consider community education as a pivotal strategy to support building people's capacity to reduce their own risk in disasters. While important, we question whether this is sufficient given that human life is lived in more-than-human contexts. Reformulating the parameters of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion as 'One Health Promotion' may help to account for the intermeshed lives of people and pets, while acknowledging human priority in public policy and programming. To acknowledge the influence of people's pets in disaster responses and recovery, we recommend five overlapping spheres of action: (i) integrate pets into disaster management practice and policy; (ii) create pet-friendly environments and related policies; (iii) engage community action in disaster management planning; (iv) develop personal skills by engaging owners in capacity building and (v) reorient health and emergency services toward a more-than-human approach.

From more-than-human solidarity to multi-species biographical value: insights from a veterinary school about ethical dilemmas in One Health promotion.

This article features a partnership between a veterinary school and a charity that aims to enhance the wellbeing of low-income people. Through this partnership, the charity periodically hosts veterinary clinics for clients and their pets. Even as the veterinarians and veterinary students duly examine people's pets, these pop-up clinics aim to help people and their pets. Hence our analysis revolves around the ethics of 'more-than-human solidarity'. By 'more-than-human solidarity', we mean efforts to help others that either center on or that implicate non-human beings. To delve into the ethical and sociological implications of subsidised veterinary services, and to assist with program planning, we conducted several in-depth interviews with veterinarians. Most substantively, we found that the veterinary school's outreach clinics give rise to multi-species biographical value, which is prized as a pedagogical resource for veterinary students. The veterinarians whom we interviewed felt troubled by the extent to which the pop-up clinics ultimately benefited the veterinary school, but also by the shortage of subsidised veterinary services in the vicinity. Based on these interviews and our own reflections, we invite more scholarship on cultural, economic and political influences that shape the lives of human beings and non-human animals alike.

Working for the PDSA

ABSTRACT:Working for a charity can be a very different experience to that of private practice; and although challenging, it is also extremely rewarding. The PDSA provides care to the sick and injured pets of people in need and promotes responsible pet ownership.

People's Pets as Assets in Diabetes Prevention, Management and Awareness: Novel Insights from Social Research

People's Pets as Assets in Diabetes Prevention, Management and Awareness: Novel Insights from Social Research

Butchery of horse and dog at Witney Palace, Oxfordshire, and the knackering and feeding of meat to hounds during the post-medieval period

Upper levels of deposition associated with Witney manorhouse have yielded dense aggregations of bones which were mainly of horses and dogs. Probably these animals were butchered for their meat and skins. Possibly beginning in the medieval period, the practice reached a peak during the 18th century as occupation of the ruinous large house ceased. Archaeological and historical arguments point to the bones having little connection with normal household consumption of human food and show that horse meat was fed to hunting dogs at kennels kept by wealthy landowners and later to pets of people of various social status.