Pandemic Pets

Cat got your quarantine? As people are stuck in the coronavirus induced self-quarantine, many pet owners have started noticing a shift in their pet’s behavior. Why are they being weird? They don’t need to worry about paying the bills! Well, we may be the culprits of their peculiarities. Research has found that anxious, aggressive, and fearful cats reflect the personality traits of neurotic owners. Dogs are also more responsive to their owners that are stressed than those that are calm. As we learn to navigate the stressful pandemic, we must remember that our pets are empathetic to our emotions. Next time we notice our pets acting strange, maybe we need to self-reflect!

Written and reported by Bahareh Sorouri.

References:

1. Carballo, F., Dzik, V., Freidin, E. et al. Do dogs rescue their owners from a stressful situation? A behavioral and physiological assessment. Anim Cogn 23, 389–403 (2020).
2. Finka LR, Ward J, Farnworth MJ, Mills DS (2019) Owner personality and the wellbeing of their cats share parallels with the parent-child relationship. PLoS ONE 14(2): e0211862.
3. Waters, Michael. Why your pet is acting like a weirdo during quarantine, explained by animal behaviorists. Vox. April 24, 2020.