Fun Friday: How do pets feel about their owners working from home?

Raise your hands if you've ever been on a video call, and spotted someone's pet ever-so-casually walking by in their frame, sometimes more than once in the duration of the call. And if you own a pet, how often have you been in a serious conversation with your team when your pet walks up to you with their toy, demanding your attention instead? 

Simply, has your pet been by your side all the time while you sit through hours of meeting each day?

Chances are, you can relate to these situations or something similar as you worked from home more regularly in the past few months. And for pet owners, how do you think your pets feel about this?

According to a recent survey by Lombardo Homes, a huge majority of respondents (95%) believed their pet has indeed enjoyed having them at home. Six in 10 owners (64%) think this could be because of the extra time they got to bond with their pets, be it to teach them new tricks or take them on more walks. 

At the same time, more than half (53%) say they've even spent more money than usual on their pet in this period, most often on food, treats and toys. 

ALSO READ: The ideal wellness policy? Think catered meals, ergonomic desks, and pets at work

Overall, having their human parents as companions a warm body could have simply presented a nice change to being all by themselves for hours on end each day (as much as cats would hate to admit it as compared to other pets, we're pretty sure they appreciate the company too!).

From the owner's point-of-view, nearly six in 10 (58%) owners said they have been interrupted by a pet while working from home, with close to half (48%) having felt annoyed or frustrated with them while on quarantine.

That said, the survey also revealed that through the tough rollercoaster ride that COVID-19 has brought many people on - be it adjusting to working in isolation, coping with the pandemic's impact on their organisations/livelihood, having a pet around has been a source of emotional support for a large group of respondents, with 94% saying so. 

Photo / 123RF

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