Pets

The Why Factor

• Episode: Pets
• Website: The Why Factor
• Feed URL: https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p00xtky9.rss
• Duration: 00:17:56
• Published: 2013-05-03 19:50

Why do we live with cats and dogs? Mike Williams meets cat and dog owners in Kenya and North Wales to find out what the real nature of the relationship with our furry friends is. Where did they come from? Why do we become so attached to non-humans? Can they love us back?

Mike talks to psychologist Sam Gosling who has studied whether there really are cat and dog people. And he questions whether the relationship is really all about fluffy cuteness – could there be a dark side to our keeping of pets? Human geographer Yi Fu Tuan thinks so.

Produced by Lucy Proctor.

(Image of an owner kissing her pet cat. Credit AFP/Getty Images)