Companion Animal Ethics

Companion Animal Ethics explores the important ethical questions and problems that arise as a result of humans keeping animals as companions.

    The first comprehensive book dedicated to ethical and welfare concerns surrounding companion animals
    Scholarly but still written in an accessible and engaging style
    Considers the idea of animal companionship and why it should matter ethically
    Explores problems associated with animals sharing human lifestyles and homes, such as obesity, behavior issues, selective breeding, over-treatment, abandonment, euthanasia and environmental impacts
    Offers insights into practical ways of improving ethical standards relating to animal companions

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1. History of Companion Animals and the Companion Animal Sector

Chapter 2. The development and role of the veterinary and other professions in relation to companion animals

Chapter 3. Human Attachment to Companion Animals

Chapter 4. Companion Animal Welfare

Chapter 5. Theories of Companion Animal Ethics

Chapter 6. Breeding and Acquiring Companion Animals

Chapter 7. Selective breeding

Chapter 8: Feeding - and the Problem of Obesity

Chapter 9. Companion Animal Training and Behavioural Problems

Chapter 10. Routine Neutering of Companion Animals

Chapter 11. Performing convenience surgery: tail docking, ear cropping, debarking and declawing

Chapter 12. Treating ill animals, and end-of-life issues

Chapter 13. Unwanted and unowned companion animals

Chapter 14. Ethics and Broader Impacts of Companion Animals

Chapter 15. Other Companions

Chapter 16. Companion animals and the future

Peter Sandøe is Professor of Bioethics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he has been teaching animal ethics to veterinary and animal science students for nearly two decades. He is co-author of Ethics of Animal Use (Wiley Blackwell, 2008) and co-editor of Dilemmas in Animal Welfare (CABI, 2014).

Sandra Corr is Clinical Reader in Small Animal Surgery, at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, UK. She is a European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery, who spends her time teaching veterinary students, and working in referral practice. She has published widely in veterinary and comparative journals.

Clare Palmer is Professor of Philosophy at Texas A & M University, USA. She is the author of Animal Ethics in Context (Columbia University Press, 2010), the editor of Animal Rights in the Ashgate International Library of Essays on Rights (2008) and co-editor of Killing Animals  (Illinois University Press 2006).