Measuring attachment to companion animals: a dog is not a cat is not a bird

Although the literature on human-animal interactions has documented the physical, psychological, and social benefits resulting from positive relationships with dogs, cats, and other kinds of companion animals, many attachment instruments include items that pertain to specific kinds of interactions with dogs. For this reason, dog owners attain higher scores on these measures than owners of cats and other types of pets. This study introduces a scale for measuring attachment in terms of the perceived comfort received from a pet. A sample of 87 cat owners and 58 dog owners completed the Comfort from Companion Animals Scale. The results showed that, when two items pertaining to dogs were included, dog owners showed a significantly higher degree of attachment. When only the 11 items pertaining to the emotional nature of the relationship were included, however, there were no differences in the scores of the two groups. The results indicate the importance of clarifying both the commonalities and differences of human interactions with various companion animal species.

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