Pet policies neglect importance of pets to families’ lives
Pets Are Family. Why Haven't Our Public Policies Caught Up?
The Canine Corner | November 2026
The Human–Animal Bond Is No Longer Just a Personal Matter. It Is a Public Policy Issue.
For millions of Americans, dogs and cats are not simply pets. They are family members, trusted companions, sources of emotional support, and an essential part of everyday life. Yet many of the public systems families depend upon—housing, health care, emergency services, social assistance, and community resources—continue to operate as though these relationships do not exist.
An October 31, 2026, article published by the American Public Health Association (APHA), titled U.S. Systems and Policies Neglect Importance of Pets to Families' Lives, raises an important question: Why do our policies continue to overlook a relationship that so many Americans consider fundamental to their families?
The answer has significant implications for animal welfare, public health, and the stability of American households.
Americans Have Already Redefined What Family Means
According to Pew Research Center findings cited in the APHA article, 97% of American pet owners consider their pets part of their family. More than half—51%—believe their pets are as much a family member as a human relative. These figures reflect something animal advocates have understood for decades: the relationship between people and their companion animals is deeply personal and often inseparable from their emotional and social well-being.
- For an older adult living alone, a dog may provide companionship, routine, and a reason to remain active.
- For a child, a pet may represent security, unconditional affection, and an early understanding of responsibility.
- For families experiencing hardship, a beloved animal may be one of the few sources of stability during an otherwise uncertain period.
Yet despite the importance of these relationships, public policies frequently treat companion animals as an afterthought.
When Public Systems Fail Pets, They Also Fail Families
The APHA article discusses the October 2026 One Health Systems Summit, hosted by the University of Tennessee Center for Pet Family Well-Being. The summit brought together professionals from public health, housing, social services, animal welfare, education, and public policy to examine how existing systems affect families with pets.
One central message emerged: public institutions must recognize that the well-being of people and animals is interconnected.
- Consider what happens when a family faces eviction but cannot find affordable housing that accepts pets.
- Or when someone experiencing homelessness must choose between entering a shelter and remaining with a beloved dog.
- Or when an older adult delays necessary medical treatment because no one is available to care for a companion animal.
These situations demonstrate that animal welfare is not an isolated issue. It intersects directly with housing security, financial stability, access to health care, and human well-being. When policies fail to account for companion animals, they can unintentionally create additional hardship for the very people they are intended to help.
The Financial Barriers to Keeping Families Together
The APHA article highlights another critical issue: the rising cost of veterinary care and the disproportionate burden placed on economically vulnerable households. Veterinary examinations, medications, diagnostic procedures, emergency treatment, and prescription diets can create enormous financial challenges. For families already struggling with housing, food, transportation, or medical expenses, an unexpected veterinary bill can become a crisis.
These difficulties do not necessarily indicate an absence of love or responsibility. A family may be deeply committed to its dog or cat while lacking the financial resources to obtain immediate treatment. The distinction matters.
Rather than assuming that every unmet veterinary need reflects deliberate neglect, public agencies and animal welfare organizations should examine whether accessible assistance could resolve the problem. Low-cost veterinary services, preventive medicine, pet food assistance, temporary foster programs, and emergency financial support can help prevent unnecessary surrender and keep animals safely with their families.
Protecting animals and supporting responsible pet ownership should be complementary goals.
One Health: A More Complete Approach to Public Policy
The One Health approach recognizes that human health, animal health, and the environment are interconnected. Applying that principle to companion animals means looking beyond traditional animal control and shelter operations. It means examining how housing policies affect pet retention, how financial hardship influences veterinary access, and how emergency planning accounts for animals who depend entirely on their families. It also means recognizing the role companion animals play in emotional well-being, social connection, and household stability.
The objective should not be to give animals the same legal status as people. Rather, it should be to recognize that decisions affecting companion animals frequently have direct consequences for the humans who care for them.
What This Means for New Jersey
New Jersey communities have an opportunity to incorporate these principles into municipal animal welfare programs and public services. Animal control agencies, municipal shelters, health departments, social service providers, veterinarians, and nonprofit organizations should work together to develop practical solutions that protect animals while helping families remain together.
Three priorities deserve particular attention.
1. Expand Access to Affordable Veterinary Care
Municipalities and nonprofit organizations should explore partnerships that improve access to preventive medicine, vaccinations, spay-and-neuter services, and treatment for financially vulnerable households. Early intervention can prevent minor medical problems from becoming serious conditions requiring expensive emergency care.
2. Strengthen Programs That Prevent Unnecessary Animal Surrender
Pet food assistance, temporary fostering during hospitalization or housing emergencies, and referrals to veterinary assistance programs can help families navigate temporary hardships without permanently losing their animals. Shelters should serve as resources for their communities, not solely as destinations for surrendered or impounded animals.
3. Integrate Companion Animals Into Public Health and Emergency Planning
Emergency shelters, disaster response plans, housing assistance programs, and community outreach initiatives should consider the needs of families with pets. Public policies should reduce unnecessary barriers to keeping people and their companion animals together whenever doing so is safe and appropriate.
Animal Welfare Is Also About Supporting People
Animal advocacy has traditionally focused on rescuing animals from neglect, cruelty, abandonment, and unsafe conditions. Those responsibilities remain essential. But effective animal welfare policy must also recognize that preventing suffering often begins long before an animal enters a shelter. It begins with access to veterinary care, responsible education, community support, and public systems that understand the importance of the human–animal bond.
- Helping a struggling family obtain veterinary treatment may prevent an unnecessary surrender.
- Providing temporary assistance during a housing crisis may keep an animal out of an already overcrowded shelter.
- Creating partnerships between animal welfare organizations and social service agencies may protect both vulnerable people and their pets.
This is not about excusing neglect or weakening animal protection laws. It is about recognizing that prevention, assistance, and appropriate enforcement each have an important role in protecting animals.
The Canine Corner Perspective: It's Time for Public Policy to Reflect Reality
For most American pet owners, the debate over whether companion animals are family has already been settled.
They are.
What remains unresolved is whether our public institutions are prepared to recognize the practical consequences of that reality. The APHA article highlights an important shift in how public health professionals are beginning to approach the relationship between people, animals, and the communities they share. That shift deserves the attention of lawmakers, municipal officials, animal control agencies, shelter administrators, and animal welfare advocates throughout New Jersey.
We cannot build effective animal welfare systems while ignoring the families to whom these animals belong.
Nor can we claim to prioritize public well-being while overlooking the emotional, financial, and social consequences of separating people from their companion animals. The future of animal welfare should be built on compassion, accountability, accessible services, responsible ownership, and policies that recognize the value of keeping families together. Because protecting companion animals is not only about what happens inside an animal shelter. It is also about what we do to keep them safely out of one.
Source and Further Reading
This article was inspired by the American Public Health Association's Public Health Newswire article, "U.S. Systems and Policies Neglect Importance of Pets to Families' Lives," written by Melanie Padgett Powers and published October 31, 2026.
The original article discusses findings presented at the 2026 One Health Systems Summit and the work of the University of Tennessee Center for Pet Family Well-Being.