Walking with a dog, playing with a cat or quietly watching an animal explore can be enjoyable ways to spend time and feel connected to another living creature.
For some people, an animal’s company feels welcome when conversation takes too much effort. You can share an activity or sit nearby without needing to explain how you feel.
Caring for a pet can also give the day a familiar pattern: feeding, cleaning, exercise and play. These are responsibilities as well as possible sources of pleasure and companionship.
You do not have to own a pet to spend time with animals. Helping someone you know care for theirs, or volunteering with an organisation that offers suitable roles, may be options.
The experience needs to suit both you and the animal. Their health, temperament and willingness to interact matter, alongside your time, energy and comfort around them.
Spending time with animals
Start with an animal you know, or an activity supported by someone who understands its care. Choose a manageable way to spend time together and let the animal have space to approach or withdraw.
- Choose an activity that suits you both. Walk a dog along a suitable route, play with a cat using an appropriate toy, or watch an animal explore. Follow advice from its owner or carer about its needs.
- Make room for quiet company. Sit nearby while an animal rests, without needing to stroke or entertain it. Let it choose whether to come closer, and leave it undisturbed if it is sleeping.
- Give everyday care your attention. Feeding, cleaning and exercise can provide regular points in the day. Keep the animal’s needs central, and arrange help when you cannot meet them.
- Arrange contact if you do not have a pet. Ask someone you know whether you could join a walk or help with their animal’s care. For volunteering, check what roles, training and commitments a local organisation offers.
- Let the animal set the pace of contact. Ask before approaching an unfamiliar animal and learn how it shows comfort or discomfort. Pause if it turns away or seems uneasy, and always leave it room to move away.
Time with an animal does not have to involve constant activity or affection. Quiet company can be enjoyable too, provided the animal is comfortable and its care needs are met.
Notice what you value about the experience: being outdoors, playing, following a familiar routine or simply sharing space. There is no particular feeling you need to achieve.
Companionship and wellbeing
Many people describe their animals as important sources of companionship and comfort. Research on whether pet ownership improves mental or physical health is more mixed.
Walking a dog can create opportunities for movement and conversation. Caring for an animal can also give the day regular activities. These possibilities depend on the animal, your circumstances and how you spend time together.
Studies comparing owners with non-owners cannot always separate the effects of having a pet from differences in health, housing, income or lifestyle. Claims that getting a pet will reduce depression or extend your life go beyond what the evidence can establish.
Animal-assisted therapy is a separate, structured approach in which a qualified professional includes an animal in treatment directed towards agreed goals. Ordinary pet companionship does not require that label, and findings from therapy programmes do not automatically apply to pet ownership.
Making room for the animal’s needs
A pet is a living creature with needs of its own. Companionship comes with ongoing care, expense and responsibility, including on days when you feel unwell or busy.
Before taking on an animal, consider housing, food, veterinary costs, exercise and who could help if you were unavailable. Learning about the needs of the particular species and animal is part of that decision.
Caring can also bring worry, interrupted sleep and grief when an animal becomes ill or dies. Enjoying the relationship and finding parts of it difficult can both be true.
If ownership would be too demanding, occasional contact through someone you know or a suitable volunteering role may fit better. You can also build daily structure and nurture close relationships in other ways.
Recommended reading
Meg Daley Olmert’s Made for Each Other explores the biology and history of the human–animal bond. It offers an account of why these relationships can feel important, rather than a practical guide to animal care.
Hal Herzog’s Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat examines the psychology and ethical contradictions of our relationships with animals. It broadens the discussion beyond pets to how we value and treat different species.