Policies on pets for healthy cities: a conceptual framework

Drawing on the One Health concept, and integrating a dual

focus on public policy and practices of caring from the

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, we outline a conceptual

framework to help guide the development and assessment

of local governments’ policies on pets. This framework

emphasizes well-being in human populations, while recognizing

that these outcomes relate to the well-being of nonhuman

animals. Five intersecting spheres of activity, each

associated with local governments’ jurisdiction over pets, are

presented: (i) preventing threats and nuisances from pets, (ii)

meeting pets’ emotional and physical needs, (iii) procuring

pets ethically, (iv) providing pets with veterinary services

and (v) licensing and identifying pets. This conceptual

framework acknowledges the tenets of previous health promotion

frameworks, including overlapping and intersecting

influences. At the same time, this framework proposes to

advance our understanding of health promotion and, more

broadly, population health by underscoring interdependence

between people and pets as well as the dynamism of urbanized

ecologies.