Here are listed some resources around the topics of pet history and the human-companion animal bond.
Websites
Pets and history
Please note that these are all external links.
Purr ‘n’ Fur
Huge treasure trove of information for cat lovers with everything you wanted to know about our feline friends from famous cats to fun feline games.
Finding Fido project
Through the ‘Finding Fido’ project, researchers at Newcastle University hope to create an online archive of all the headstones, plaques, statues and other memorials dedicated to animals to better understand how the relationship between humans and animals – especially dogs – has changed over time.
Hilda Kean
Hilda is a public and cultural historian. Her website contains many interesting articles on animal-human history and animal rights, amongst other historical topics.
Pet Histories: The AHRC Pets and Family Life Project Blog
This wonderful project looks at the changing position of animals in the home, especially in relation to other shifts in family life. There are many fascinating blog posts on pet history and you can even share your old photos on their Instagram and twitter accounts.
Old Police Cells Museum – the rise of the police dog
The fascinating story behind the use of police dogs in the UK.
Presidential Pets Museum
Almost all of the US president’s have had pets. Find out more about them all here!
The Great Cat
Very comprehensive and beautifully illustrated website with articles on cat history, cats in art etc.
Human-companion animal bond and pet bereavement
This man’s bond with his dog helped him off the streets, Channel 4, 20 December 2017
Incredible video showing the power of dogs for good in our lives. “He loves me unconditionally, I count my blessings every day… This dog saves my life on a daily basis.” The loving bond this man has with his dog helped take him off the streets.
Society for Companion Animal Studies (SCAS)
SCAS was established in 1979 to promote the study of human-companion animal interactions and raise awareness of the importance of pets in society. This man’s bond with his dog helped him off the streets
K9 Memorial
Features a touching roll of honour for fallen police dogs and information on PC Paul Nicholl’s quest to create a much needed national memorial to our PDs, which now stands in Oaklands Park, Chelmsford, Essex.
Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service
This service, run by trained volunteers who have all experienced the loss of a much-loved pet, is intended to help people struggling with saying goodbye to their own pets. The website also includes a memorial wall where you can read the many lovely tributes to departed pets and add your own. Plus, information booklets on euthanasia and pet loss and children.
Association of private pet cemeteries and crematoria
Founded in 1993, this association was founded in order to promote companion animal facilities, to set and maintain a code of conduct to ensure quality of service and to have a voice with regard to legislation being introduced. This site provides a map and directory of services throughout the UK
Why Does Losing a Pet Hurt So Much? – Literary Hub, 20th June 2019
“If you have an animal in your life, you can’t get away from the fact that in almost every case, you will outlive them.”
Scientists explain: The reason losing a dog feels the same as losing a human loved one -Newsner, June 17th 2019
A new study reveals that saying goodbye to a pet can be as painful as losing a human loved one, and here’s why …
Things I Wish I Had Known When My Dog Died – The New York Times, 23rd March 2017
The author lost her pet, which she described as the “metronome” to her life, in January. She has learned a lot about the grieving process.
Just a dog – Noel Fitzpatrick, 5th February 2019
A poem that will resonate with many pet owners
People Need To Be Taken Seriously When They Grieve The Death Of A Pet – Here’s Why – Animal Rescue Site.
One of the most difficult days for any pet owner is the day their pet passes away. That’s because pets are more than just furry creatures that live in our homes — they’re part of our families.
Books on pet history
Alexander, C., 1998, Mrs. Chippy’s Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton’s Polar-Bound Cat, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London
Algeo, M., 2015, Abe and Fido, Chicago Review Press, Chicago
Beach, D., 2013, London Cemeteries, Metro Publications Ltd, London
Bondeson, J., 2011, Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, Cornell University Press, New York
Bondeson, J., Greyfriars Bobby: The Most Faithful Dog in the World, Amberley Publishing, Stroud
Campbell, C., Bonzo’s War: Animals Under Fire 1939-1945, Constable, London
Campbell, C. and C. Campbell, 2015, Dogs of Courage: When Britain’s Pets Went to War 1939-45, Corsair, London
Chittock, L. and A. Schimmel, 2001, Cats of Cairo: Egypt’s Enduring Legacy, Abbeville Press Inc, USA
Clutton-Brock, J., 1999, A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press/The Natural History Museum, London
Clutton-Brock, J., 2012, The British Museum Book of Cats, 2nd edition, The British Museum Press/The Natural History Museum, London
Cooper, J., OBE, 1984, Animals in War, Corgi, London
Coren, S., 2003, The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events, Atria Books
Flinders, M., 1997, Trim: The Story Of A Brave, Seafaring Cat: Being the True Story of a Brave Seafaring Cat
Gardiner, J. 2006, The Animals’ War: Animals in Wartime from the First World War to the Present Day, Portrait, London
Hurley, F. and E.H. Shackleton, 2016, South: The Illustrated Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition 1914-1917, Zenith Press; Ill edition, London
Kalda, S., 2018, Of Cats and Men: Profiles of History’s Great Cat-Loving Artists, Writers, thinkers, and Statesmen, Ten Speed Press, New York
Kean, H., 2017, The Great Cat and Dog Massacre: The Real Story of World War Two’s Unknown Tragedy (Animal Lives), University of Chicago Press, USA
Lambton, L., 2011, Palaces for Pigs: Animal architecture and other beastly buildings, Atlantic Monthly Pr., London
Lambton, L., 1986, Beastly Buildings: The National Trust Book of Architecture for Animals, Historic England Publishing, London
Lambton, L., 1992, Lucinda Lambton’s Magnificent Menagerie: Or, Queer Pets and Their Goings-On by Lucinda Lambton, Harper Collins, London
Le Chene, E., 1997, Silent Heroes: The Bravery and Devotion of Animals in War: An Animals Roll of Honour, Souvenir Press, London
MacDonogh, K., Reigning Cats and Dogs: A History of Pets at Court Since the Renaissance, St Martin’s Press, London
Macgregor, F., Greyfriars Bobby: The Real Story at Last, Steve Savage Publishers Limited, UK
Malek, J., 1993, The Cat in Ancient Egypt, The British Museum Press/The Natural History Museum, London
Mason, P., 1997, The Brown Dog Affair, Two Sevens Publishing, UK
Oldfield Howey, M., 2003, The Cat in Magic and Myth, Dover Publications, UK
Pickens, J.B., 2012, Pets at the White House: 50 Years of Presidents and their Pets
South, M. (ed.), 1981, Topsell’s Histories of Beasts, Nelson-Hall, Chicago
Stall, S., 2011, 100 Cats Who Changed Civilisation: History’s Most Influential Felines, Quirk Books, New York
Stouffer, C. and S. Cubbison, 1998, A Colonel, A Flag, and a Dog, Thomas Publications, USA
Street, P. 2017, Animals in the Second World War, The History Press, Stroud
Street, P. 2016, Animals in the First World War, The History Press, Stroud
Tague, I.H., Animal Companions: Pets and Social Change in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Animalibus: Of Animals and Cultures), Penn State University Press, Pennsylvannia, USA
Terhune, A.P., 2013, A Book of Famous Dogs, Candler Press,
Toms, J., 2006, Animal Graves and Memorials, Shire Publications, Princes Risborough
Van Emden, R., 2011, Tommy’s Ark: Soldiers and their Animals in the Great War, Bloomsbury Paperbacks, London
Velten, H., 2013, Beastly London: A History of Animals in the City, Reaktion Books, UK
Walker-Meikle, K., 2011, Medievil Cats, The British Library Publishing Division, London
Walker-Meikle, K., 2013, Medievil Dogs, The British Library Publishing Division, London
Walker-Meikle, K., 2014, Medievil Pets, The British Library Publishing Division, London
Whitsun, A., and A. Orr, 2009, Sea Dog Bamse: World War II Canine Hero, Birlinn Ltd, Edinburgh
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