A recent survey suggests the number of Canadians who adopted a pet last year rose 10 per cent.
Purina Beyond commissioned the survey, which found 3.7-million Canadians adopted, bought, or fostered a cat and dog during the pandemic.
Adoption numbers, especially for dogs, were down at the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society in 2020, but not because demand was low, said Executive Director Melanie Coulter.
"We had fewer dogs available," she said. "Our adoptions, on the whole, were lower than the year before, but that was reflective of the fact we had fewer animals available."
Many years, the shelter will take in dogs from the U.S., but with land borders closed to all but essential traffic, that supply was not available. For the first time in a long time, the humane society also transferred in cats from other shelters.
"Early this year we were actually able to transfer in cats from another shelter that had more than they could handle," explained Coulter. "Cats that normally would normally take quite a long time to get adopted, cats that had challenges, would be getting adopted really quickly."
Coulter believes the reasons for the uptick in demand are varied.
"I think there's a lot of reasons, but people were spending more time at home. I think it was a time everyone was thinking about connections and having that bond with an animal," she said.
According to the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, 35 per cent of Canadian households include a dog, and 38 per cent a cat.