Cats and dogs: The role of owner attachment and local cultural values in animal welfare
2026-01-19
Muthoifin, Ishmah Afiyah, Nuha, Yuldarrahman
This study aims to analyze the relationship between pet owner attachment and the welfare of pets (cats and dogs) through the lens of local cultural values and Islamic wisdom. Employing a quantitative approach with a survey method, data were collected from 100 Indonesian pet owners who had kept pets for more than six months. The instruments used included the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS) to measure emotional attachment and the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare framework to assess the actual welfare of the pets. All the items were rated on a 1–4 Likert scale. Owing to the nonnormal distribution of the data, as revealed by the Kolmogorov‒Smirnov test, the Spearman rank correlation was used for statistical analysis. The results revealed a correlation coefficient of -0.015 with a significance value of 0.885, indicating that there was no statistically significant relationship between pet attachment and animal welfare. These findings suggest that emotional closeness does not necessarily lead to better animal welfare outcomes. Owners may anthropomorphize pets, fulfilling their own emotional needs while neglecting the biological and environmental needs of the animals. From a cultural and Islamic ethical perspective, genuine animal welfare involves fulfilling basic rights, such as providing proper nutrition, shelter, freedom from distress, and access to healthcare. The novelty of this study lies in integrating empirical data with cultural and religious values to reinterpret the meaning of animal care. The implications call for more comprehensive public education on responsible pet ownership that balances emotional bonds with practical care. This research is vital for enhancing animal welfare awareness in multicultural and religiously informed societies.