Animals kept by humans for companionship and enjoyment, as opposed to DOMESTIC ANIMALS such as livestock or farm animals, which are kept for economic reasons.
    

concept

When your pet dies : some tips to help you to cope / RSPCA.

Five men sit smoking round a fireplace, another stands with his back to the fire. Mezzotint after A. van Ostade (?).

Pet insurance : This Christmas give your pet a healthy future / Marks & Spencer Financial Services.

An old gentleman visitor offering snuff to an old woman at her fireside. Coloured lithograph by J. J. Chalon, c. 1821, after himself.

Run, Spot, run : the ethics of keeping pets / Jessica Pierce.

In the company of animals : a study of human-animal relationships / James Serpell.

A fashionable middle-aged woman reprimanding a young male relative. Coloured lithograph.

Animals and society : an introduction to human-animal studies / Margo DeMello.

Christmas without cruelty : an idea whose time has come / Animal Aid.

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

Pets

Images

Catalogue

Run, Spot, run : the ethics of keeping pets / Jessica Pierce.

In the company of animals : a study of human-animal relationships / James Serpell.

A fashionable middle-aged woman reprimanding a young male relative. Coloured lithograph.

Animals and society : an introduction to human-animal studies / Margo DeMello.

Christmas without cruelty : an idea whose time has come / Animal Aid.