"Cats in Clothes" by Heather Mattoon
By Madeline McCurry-Schmidt / ASAS Scientific Communications Associate
I’m a cat person. But is my cat “a member of my family?”
It took a conversion with a co-worker for me to realize exactly how common it is to anthropomorphize animals.
We were talking about how often we travel, and he mentioned that when he’s out of town, a relative comes by to “give the cat feed.”
The use of the word “feed” seemed weird in a conversation about pets. Sure, cows and pigs get “feed,” but cats get “food.” Right? Traditionally, we use the same term for human and pet “food.” Farm animals don’t qualify for that human term.
This separation between companion animals and farm animals is more than a difference in wording. Animal scientists have actually studied how anthropomorphizing companion animals affects animal care.
At the Joint Annual Meeting this July, one symposium is titled “Impact of Anthropomorphism on Companion and Captive Animal Husbandry.” The symposium include talks titled: “Capitalizing on human health trends to improve feline health and wellbeing” by M. R. Lappin from the Department of Clinical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins; and “Effect of anthropomorphism on companion and captive animal husbandry” from the T. M. Edling Petco Animal Supplies Inc., San Diego, CA.
I think this is a fascinating topic. Not only does anthropomorphizing affect how we view pets and zoo animals, we also see farm animals anthropomorphized in popular culture. Does this change how people view farm animal welfare?
Go to jtmtg.org to register for the Joint Annual Meeting and view other symposia in the the scientific program.
