Italians love pets, they consider them an integral part of their families and they recognize the fundamental role of help and support played during the lockdown imposed by the pandemic by Covid-19. This is what emerged from the survey that Federchimica Aisa (National Association of Animal Health Companies), carried out in collaboration with Swg, to fully understand the nature of the relationship that binds Italians to the 60 million domestic animals in Italy (about one per inhabitant, according to Assalco-Zoomark 2020 data).
The results, presented today during the webinar “From the countryside to the home: the social evolution of the relationship with animals”Revealed that one in two Italians owns a pet and that 67% of the interviewees (sample of 800 people balanced by age, gender, profession and geographical origin, including non-owners of animals) wanted it to keep company, a percentage that rises to 73% if we consider people without children . Therefore, if once upon a time animals were reserved a helping role in the work, today our pet friends have carved out the space of real family members: so, in fact, they are considered by 91% of the interviewed population.
The dog is the most loved pet: 62% of the interviewees chose Fido’s company, 55% opted instead for a cat, while a consistent 27% decided to buy fish, birds, rodents and exotic animals such as snakes and iguanas.
“The human being is born with a strong desire for a relationship with animals – declared the ethologist Roberto Marchesini – just think of the children. Animals appear in comics, fairy tales, toys and as teenagers superheroes again have animal characteristics like Batman or Spiderman. All this makes us understand that the human being is fascinated by the animal world and therefore perhaps in this period there is simply a greater interest in the affective aspect, perhaps we are looking for something in animals that we do not have and that we lack “.
From helping to work in the fields, the pet has turned into an inseparable companion of human beings, as evidenced above all in the hardest period of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which more than 80% of dog and cat owners are he is said to be comforted by their presence, while for 90% living with a pet is an important contribution to psychological health and a support for the development of children.
“Our survey and the comparison with experts reveal how pets are essential for our well-being, not just psychological well-being – he explained Arianna Bolla, president of Federchimica Aisa – they are a help to cope with loneliness and a support to socialization for the little ones. Living with a pet today therefore means being responsible for its health, a health that we must guarantee by referring to veterinarians. A healthy animal equals a healthy owner, this is how we concretely realize the concept of One Health – one health “.