What is Animal Welfare?
Animal welfare refers to the physical and emotional wellbeing of an animal in relation to how well it can cope with its surroundings. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) defines animal welfare as “the physical and mental state of an animal in relation to the conditions in which it lives and dies” (1). Similarly, Broom (2) describes it as “the state of an animal as regards its attempts to cope with its environment.” Both definitions emphasise not just an animal’s physical health, but its mental state and ability to adapt to its living conditions.
For pet owners, ensuring animal welfare means providing far more than the essentials of food, water, and shelter. Pets require mental stimulation and the opportunity to express natural behaviours, such as playing, exploring, or socialising. Understanding how to meet these needs is crucial to promoting both their physical health and emotional contentment.
The Five Freedoms: The Foundation of Animal Welfare
One of the most widely recognised frameworks for understanding animal welfare is the Five Freedoms (3), introduced in 1979 and still commonly used today. These freedoms outline the basic requirements for an animal to avoid suffering and live a healthy life. They are:
- Freedom from Hunger and Thirst – Providing access to fresh water and a balanced diet.
- Freedom from Discomfort – Ensuring animals have appropriate shelter and a comfortable resting area.
- Freedom from Pain, Injury, or Disease – Offering the prevention and treatment of health problems.
- Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour – Allowing enough space and proper conditions to behave naturally.
- Freedom from Fear and Distress – Providing care and conditions that avoid mental anguish.
In the context of pets, these freedoms translate into actions like ensuring your dog gets regular exercise, mental stimulation, and opportunities for social interaction. For cats, it means providing space for climbing, hiding, and engaging in natural hunting-like activities.
The Five Domains: A Holistic Approach to Welfare
While the Five Freedoms provide a good baseline for welfare, they focus heavily on the avoidance of suffering. To go a step further, the Five Domains model (4), originally proposed in 1994, looks at both the physical and mental experiences of animals in more detail. It provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding and evaluating welfare.
The Five Domains are:
- Nutrition – Access to an appropriate diet that meets the animal’s specific needs.
- Environment – A living space that offers comfort, safety, and enrichment.
- Health – The prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of injury or illness.
- Behavioural Interactions – Opportunities for natural behaviours with humans, other animals, and their environment.
- Mental State – The emotional wellbeing of the animal, which is influenced by the first four domains.
Unlike the Five Freedoms, the Five Domains not only focus on preventing negative experiences but also promote positive ones. For instance, providing your dog with toys and activities doesn’t just support physical health—it also enhances mental wellbeing. Cats, too, benefit from mental stimulation and environmental enrichment like scratching posts and interactive play.
How Does This Apply to Pet Welfare?
Understanding these models helps pet owners think more critically about the care they provide. Take dogs, for example: ensuring they are fed a healthy diet (Nutrition), have a safe, comfortable home (Environment), and receive regular vet check-ups (Health) addresses their physical needs. But they also need socialisation, play, and exercise (Behavioural Interactions), which all contribute to a positive mental state (Mental State).
Similarly, cats require not just food and medical care, but enrichment activities like climbing and playtime to ensure they are mentally stimulated. These activities allow them to express natural behaviours, which are vital for their overall wellbeing.
Why Animal Welfare Matters
Incorporating both the Five Freedoms and the Five Domains helps us appreciate the complexities of animal welfare. It’s not just about keeping our pets alive and free from suffering; it’s about allowing them to thrive and experience a fulfilling life. This belief is at the heart of the pet services we provide.
As a welfare-focused business, we make it a priority to understand the unique needs of each pet in our care. This means we never compromise their wellbeing and we do this in a number of ways: not walking in heat above 22c due to the risk of heatstroke, ensuring animals have clean drinking water, providing mental stimulation and focusing on walks that respect their individual comfort and health. Unlike large-scale pack walks, we limit our groups to just three dogs at a time as we believe it is not possible to maintain each animal’s welfare in larger groups. This approach allows us to offer personal attention and maintain control, ensuring each dog feels safe, secure, and positively engaged.
Using positive reinforcement methods, we create an environment where animals can express their natural behaviours, without fear or stress. Every action is grounded in a commitment to welfare, so you can trust that your pet is being cared for with the highest standards in mind.
References
- WOAH (2023), Terrestrial Code. Available from: https://www.woah.org/en/what-we-do/standards/codes-and-manuals/terrestrial-code-online-access/ .
- Broom, D.M, (2008), ‘Welfare Assessment and Relevant Ethical Decisions: Key Concepts’, DOI: 10.5016/1806-8774.2008.v10pT79
- Mellor, D.J. (2016), ‘Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms’ by Updating the “Fie Provisions” and introducing Aligned “Animal Welfare Aims”, DOI: 10.3390/ani6100059
- Mellor, D.J. and Reid, C.S.W. (1994), ‘Concepts of animal well-being and predicting the impact of procedures on experimental animals’, Improving the Well-being of Animals in the Research Environment, pp. 3-18. Available from: https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=exprawel .
