CREATURE COMFORTERS
In the latest feature in our 2020 campaign, we investigate the evidence for pets as a prescription for loneliness in the countryside
How animals can be the ideal antidote to loneliness
Felicity Hansen is lying on the floor, teaching her cat to ring a counter bell. It will be a new trick to tell locals about when she goes to the shop. Rafi the Siamese is a celebrity on the Isle of Mull. Felicity, 76, moved three years ago from the other side of the island. “I felt very isolated and went for days without speaking to anyone,” says the retired stained-glass artist. Then she spotted Rafi on a pet-rescue website. The cat was a seven-hour drive away, so Felicity asked members of a local Facebook group for help and soon had several offers to pick Rafi up. “I hadn’t known anyone, but now everyone knew me,” she says. “People stopped me in the street, asking, ‘Has she arrived? How is she doing?’ Rafi had become a real talking point!”
That animals can soften the pangs of loneliness might not come as a surprise – half of us, after all, own a pet. With a wag of the tail and a flick of the whiskers, pets distract us from our own concerns. They offer an opportunity for affection. They give us a purpose: to feed, to play, to walk, to remove fur from our clothes before we go out. And they might provide the chance to connect with other pet owners, too – we have an immediate topic of conversation. We might feel we know all this anyway – a survey of Country Living readers earlier this year found that 90 per cent reckoned pets could help combat loneliness – but now there’s research to back up our instincts. Pet owners are 60 per cent more likely than non-pet owners to get to know people in their area, according to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. And last year, a poll of 2,000 adults by Mars Petcare UK found that nine out of ten pet owners felt less lonely when they got a cat or dog, while two thirds said they felt a sense of purpose, and more than half found socialising easier.
Rafi has certainly transformed Felicity’s life. When she became ill last winter, her cat was by her side. “It made the world of difference,” she says. While she felt she’d be a burden if she asked neighbours for help, they insisted on checking up on Rafi. Visitors fed the cat, keeping Felicity company, too. And they haven’t stopped coming. “A friend has started to film her tricks, which I’ve put on Youtube. Locals ask how they can train their cat not to jump on the kitchen counter. I don’t know about that, but it opens the way for a conversation.” Read on for more inspirational stories about animals helping their owners overcome loneliness at different stages in their lives.