• Question: why did the pets we have today first become pets?

    Asked by eleanorcranch to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 17 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by ameb, halfadog5, pavlovatobago, bethy203, joyburgess, annag123.
    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 17 Jun 2012:

      Nobody really knows the reason why animals became pets and others didn’t but domesticating animals began hundreds of years ago and some species were selected because they met a certain criteria, they would eat most things, grow fast, accept humans as their masters, have a good nature and be calm. Nowadays we have quite a range of exotic pets too

    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      Cats and dogs began their relationships with humans thousands of years ago.

      While there are documented cases of cats being used as companion animals in ancient Egypt or particular horses or dogs gaining favour with owners in Victorian times, these animals were unlikely to be treated as pets are today in the modern era.

      Dogs served as tools during hunts and guarding properties. Cats were more ‘tolerated’ than adopted as working animals as they kept farms and grain stores rodent free

      As such, the keeping of pets, from an evolutionary perspective at least, can be considered a very recent development. D

      Industrialisation in the 19th century seemed to be a starting point of sorts for the transition of work animals to companion animals as shops selling dogs and cats began appearing around this time.

      The keeping of pets became something of a status symbol and reflected the increase in the quality of life the general public was experiencing in an industrialised world. So in a nutshell, our pets became pets as working animals that slowly gained closer relationships with as our thinking and atiitudes to animals changed!

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