Is my pet happy?

Expert blog: Professor Nat Waran 

As pet owners, we've all wondered: Is my pet truly happy? While the debate surrounding animal emotions has been ongoing for centuries, recent scientific inquiry sheds light on this intriguing topic. 

Most animal owners would agree that there are times when it certainly appears as if their companion animals are happy or content – such as when they are sunning themselves in the favorite place or in the company of their preferred group-mates. 

But how can we really tell? Might we just be applying our human lens of happiness to our pets? 

The debate about whether animals have emotions similar to humans has been topical for centuries, and scientists have traditionally been reluctant to investigate what was thought to be an unscientific area until relatively recently. 

What pet owners think 

In a recent independent survey commissioned by Companion Animals NZ, 81% of dog and cat owners stated that it was important to them that their pet was happy.  

Respondents outlined the common barriers to providing pets with what they might need as work/life commitments, cost of living, not having enough time and lack of information about animal emotions.

Most pet owners felt their pets were quite happy and when asked about what made them happy, top of the list was food, closely followed by being groomed and interacting with their humans.  

---

What makes you happy? 

Before jumping in, there are some big questions asked. What are animal emotions? Do animals experience ‘happiness’ as we do, and if so what makes our animals happiest? How can we provide them with what they need to experience positive emotions? 

Emotions can be broadly defined as innate, intense but short-lived responses to an event that has behavioural, physiological, subjective (sometimes referred to as the ‘feeling’), and cognitive components. Often hard to ‘read’ in animals other than our own species, they are inferred through changes in behaviours and physiology associated with them. 

Starting with humans...In humans, it has proved difficult to measure happiness – just as it has with negative emotions such as pain and sadness too. For most humans, we rely on verbal information; people telling us how they feel. Assessment of happiness is through rating happiness levels on tried and tested scoring scales. In fact, there are often ‘tables’ produced of the happiest places in the world where people have the best quality of life based on people who were surveyed ranking according to standardised criteria.  

Research into positive emotions in humans tells us that there are many different views on the causes of happiness, but most people agree that being happy relates to having pleasurable activities, good social relationships, feeling engaged in life and feeling as if life has meaning or purpose. Happiness is perceived as a positive state of mental wellbeing and is correlated with having a good life. 

What if we can’t say how we feel?  It gets even more challenging when dealing with non-verbal humans (for example babies) and animals. Emotions are elusive and personal and difficult to access, especially in animals.  

We now know that similar central and peripheral neural mechanisms which are involved in emotion in humans are also found in animals, and indeed we know that many animals will actively seek resources and situations which we assume provide them with a pleasurable experience and will avoid situations that might be assumed to be negative.  In short, they want to avoid things that make them feel bad, and are attracted to things that make them feel good -  just like us! 

Seeking positive experiences also offers clear survival advantages. For instance, when animals display behaviors associated with positive emotions, like relaxation or pleasure, during social interactions such as mutual grooming, it signals to others in the group that their actions are favorable. This encouragement can immediately reinforce behaviors that are not only enjoyable but also contribute to long-term health and well-being. 

Whilst it’s true that animals can’t directly tell us what they are feeling, they do express their emotions through their behaviour including choices they make and various postures. It’s important that pet owners are well versed in these species specific behavioural indicators of positive and negative emotion to ensure their animals are enjoying positive welfare. 

---

What science can tell us about animal happiness 

Recent research on animal happiness has identified key behavioral indicators for assessing their quality of life. These include: 

• levels of play behavior 

• social interactions / affiliative behaviours 

• body language cues 

• certain vocalisations.  

By focusing on these indicators, known as animal-based welfare indicators, pet owners can better understand their animal's emotional wellbeing. This allows owners to prioritise the emotional experience of their animal, regardless of the context they are operating in.  

For example, whether a cat is kept indoors or outdoors, owners can assess their pet's happiness by observing behaviors such as a gently waving tail, a relaxed purr, calm demeanor, interest in surroundings, and relaxed grooming. These positive behaviors suggest that the cat is likely experiencing happiness or contentment required to have a Good Life, similar to how humans feel when their needs are met for a fulfilling life. 

A new area of research involves the link between specific neurotransmitters and behavioural indicators of positive emotions in dogs and cats. Various studies have shown that increased oxytocin concentrations normally associated with ‘attachment’ and positive feelings described by humans as ‘love’ or ‘happiness’ are found when animals exhibit highly affiliative behaviour, including ‘gazing’ at their owners, or when animals are reunited with their owners.  

So why is being happy important? Happy pets are healthier pets. 

Many authors writing about happiness in humans argue that positive emotions benefit long-term health and there are biological markers that can be used to show this. For example, in one study1 it was shown that there was an association between human well-being and three biological markers: heart rate, cortisol and plasma fibrinogen levels (hormones used for measuring stress in humans and animals). Interestingly, the people who rated themselves the least happy had cortisol levels that were 48% higher than those who rated themselves as the ‘most happy’.  

While we don’t yet know whether being happy or content leads to the same results in our pets, we do know that being distressed and experiencing high levels of stress hormones or showing lots of stress behaviours are associated with lowered immune defense and consequently a greater incidence of illness. So, keeping our animals happy or in a positive mental state is a good way to keep them both physically and mentally healthy.  

Finally –it’s clear that happy pets make happy animal guardians. Our survey results show that people really care about whether their animals are happy and trying to make them happy, with 36% of owners believing their pets could be happier. People’s plans for improving their pets’ lives included spending more time with them, playing more with them and providing them with greater mental stimulation using toys and enrichment.  

Companion Animals New Zealand is committed to providing owners with the knowledge and tools to enable their pets to live fulfilling lives, addressing challenges associated with recognising emotional expression in animals and harnessing the science of human behaviour change to promote positive welfare outcomes for our pets in New Zealand. 

 
If you want to learn more about our work please have a look at our website: https://www.companionanimals.nz/    

1. SEE Böckerman, P., Bryson, A., Viinikainen, J., Hakulinen, C., Hintsanen, M., Pehkonen, J., Viikari, J. & Raitakari, O. (2017). The biometric antecedents to happiness. PLoS ONE