# (Self-)caring with companion animals: a qualitative exploration of how companion animals shape everyday practices of rest and relaxation

## TL;DR

This study explores how caring for pets helps people rest, relax, and take better care of themselves through shared activities and emotional support.

## Contribution

The paper introduces companion animals as active participants in shaping human self-care practices through relational and multispecies interactions.

## Key findings

- Caring for pets provides permission and motivation for people to prioritize rest and relaxation.
- Shared activities with pets, like walks or petting, enhance both human and animal well-being.
- Pets help manage time pressures and guilt, enabling rest and stress reduction.

## Abstract

This paper aims to extend and enrich the concept of self-care, through demonstrating how self-care can manifest as both a relational and multispecies endeavour.

We qualitatively examined how people understand their relationships with companion animal(s) as shaping their practices of rest and relaxation. This paper is based on a reflexive thematic analysis of 31in-depth interviews with cat and dog owners across several countries.

Our analysis illustrates how practices of caring for companion animals and the obligations that drive them can also work to promote self-care. We draw out the ways in which obligations to care for companion animals can provide a sense of permission for and prioritisation of moments and activities that are experienced as mutually ‘care-full’. The paper reveals the role of companion animals in daily navigation and negotiation of temporal and normative barriers around rest and relaxation.

This paper emphasises the important role that non-human animals can play in everyday practices and experiences of rest and relaxation.

This study looked at how people’s relationships with their pets affect how they rest, relax, and care for themselves. The researchers did 31 online interviews of people who lived with at least 1 cat or dog: 25 women and 7 men, with 1 interview involving a male and female couple. These people lived in several different countries across the world. The researchers looked for common themes across the interviews. The study found that caring relationships with pets had special, shared benefits for owners’ self-care and wellbeing. Needing to care for their pets gave people permission to take breaks and prioritize activities that benefited their own well-being, such as dog walks and petting. Pets also enjoyed these activities, which in turn enhanced the owners’ enjoyment. The results suggest that caring for their pets can help people to care for themselves through helping to manage time pressures and guilt which can prevent self-care. By enabling them to rest and relax, pets can help their owners to manage everyday stress and create wellbeing.