Now we want to know how the pets think

We have always loved our pets. But love takes on new expressions. We don’t just want them to be healthy and eat well. Now we want to understand them and make sure they feel good in the soul.

We spend more and more money on our pets and spend on them medical care, special food, courses, toys and clothes. One reason for that is that we simply can afford it. Another is how society develops, says Karim Jebari, researcher in philosophy at the Institute for Future Studies.

Nowadays, animals are also included in what is called “the moral circle”.

– When prosperity grows in a society, we tend to include more and more people, and this is something that has increased over time. In recent years, we have received much greater care for the animals.

Karim Jebari sees a shift in the relationship with pets due to the pandemic as more people started working from home and got pets. People who had not previously had a relationship with an animal got it.

– I think it is a very good type of luxury consumption. Otherwise, when you buy something, it gives short-term satisfaction. Pets are an exception that provide a lasting and real increase in happiness.

Maximum amount of happiness

From a utilitarian point of view, a happy relationship between animals and humans is perfect for maximizing the amount of happiness, he explains.

– An animal that has a happy life makes you happy.

He himself hired a rabbit consultant when his rabbit was to get a new companion and he is not alone in seeking expert help to understand his pet better.

Interest in the inner life and well-being of animals is growing stronger.

Shanna Wacklin, cat nurse at the Anicura regional animal hospital Bagarmossen, has seen a clear change in recent years. Just that there is a cat nurse and that animal hospitals display signs that they are cat-friendly shows that there is now an understanding that different animals have different needs.

– We are different species and communicate differently. Today we have much better knowledge of it. I also think we have become more curious.

Shanna Wacklin points out the close relationship many people have with their pets. Most people see them as family members. For many, it is the only company. That makes understanding between humans and animals important.

Great trauma

It can be a big trauma for a cat to leave home for a vet visit. Something that is stressful for the animal also creates anxiety for the owner. It was situations like this that made Shanna Wacklin further her education.

– I felt so sorry for both cats and owners. Today, I think that if I had only known then what I know today, I could have helped them much more.

In the same way that animal health care has become more advanced in the treatment of diseases and injuries, people today have better knowledge to treat behaviours.

– When I started, the cat owners were not as inclined to deal with the problems. I absolutely believe that many more cats are saved from euthanasia today.

Today, we know that something that is experienced as problem behavior can be typical cat behavior – which we humans have problems with.

Learning to understand animals’ natural behavior, emotional life, cognitive abilities is part of the coveted three-year education in animal psychology at Linköping University.

– When you have that knowledge, you can start from the animals’ needs and give advice in different ways, both when things go wrong in different ways, but also work preventively, says Per Jensen, professor of ethology at Linköping University.

Animals in captivity

The knowledge can be used to adapt animal husbandry for farm animals, but there the demand is not as great as among pet owners. Per Jensen points out that while our commitment to our pets has increased, we are becoming increasingly distant from how the animals we keep in captivity are doing.

– There we have a relationship that has gone in the other direction and it has happened over a fairly short period.

– I think the difference is due to the fact that with animals we have close contact with and live with, we see with our own eyes that they have feelings, experiences and thoughts. But the animals we don’t see, who are trapped on farms in large numbers, we can’t manage to get that relationship with.

Having an intimate relationship with pets is far from new, he explains. This can be seen, for example, in how animals are buried.

– Dogs have been considered family members since domestication began. For example, there is a famous tomb from Israel where a woman is buried with a dog and she is holding the dog – and that was 12,000 years ago.

Just like Karim Jebari, Per Jensen believes that it is our conditions for caring even more about our animals that have changed.

– Maybe it’s the case that the opportunities to spend on our pets increased as we got more money and a different way of life.

Animal psychology is not about giving animals human characteristics, but about understanding the characteristics and peculiarities of animals. And our own. The education at Linköping University is given in collaboration with the psychology department and the students get a good dose of ordinary human psychology.

– If you have to work with questions about animals and animal behavior, it is usually a question of handling a human being. You don’t train a dog, you train a dog owner.

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