The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies

Pets

DAVID D. BLOUIN

Indiana University South Bend, USA

DOI: 10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs192

The term“pet” (also “companion animal”) is used to distinguish between different categories of animals (e.g., livestock, wild animals) and different human–animal relations. Although dogs and cats are by far the most prevalent, many other types of animal are kept as pets, including reptiles, birds, and fish. Thomas (1983) claims there are three criteria that differentiate pets from other animals: pets are allowed in homes, they are given names, and they are never eaten. Franklin (1999) asserts that pets are animals that people treat the way they do infants and children. Indeed, many pet owners prefer to adopt baby animals and may be drawn to pets because they elicit parental tendencies (Franklin 1999). Additionally, Serpell and Paul (1994) argue that pets, unlike other domestic animals, are valued for the emotional support they provide, not for their economic utility.

Pet keeping likely began with the domestication of the wolf in the Near East about 12,000 years ago, followed by the domestication of cats 3000 to 4000 years ago in Egypt. Although there are competing explanations for how certain animals were domesticated, the primary account is that early hunter-gatherer societies introduced the infants of wild animals into their societies and selectively and accidentally bred those animals that were best suited for living with people. Over time the domesticated animals began to resemble the ...