“Whoever takes the dog gets the house”: How older adults negotiate, budget, and deploy resources for multispecies family health and well-being

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics.

Characteristic	% or Mean
Age
65–69 years	30%
70–75 years	37%
76–80 years	13%
81–85 years	20%
Yearly family income
$0–9,999	7%
$10,000–24,999	17%
$25,000–49,999	7%
$50,000–74,999	17%
$75,000–99,999	13%
$100,000–149,999	13%
$150,000 and above	7%
Prefer not to answer	20%
Rent home	17%
Own home	83%
Education
High school or GED	7%
Some college, no degree	7%
Associate’s degree	10%
Bachelor’s degree	23%
Master’s degree	37%
Professional or doctoral degree	17%
Race & ethnicity
White	87%
Black	10%
Latinx	3%
Gender
Women	80%
Men	20%
Marital status
Married or partnered	53%
Widowed	10%
Divorced	27%
Single, never married	10%
Number of pets (range: 1–10+)	3 (Mean)

Table 2. Themes, codes, and example quotations: codes were not mutually exclusive; we note in the table when a quote was double-coded.

Theme & Definition	Code	n	Example quotations [double code]
Negotiations and concessions made within household: used when participants discussed negotiating priorities and making concessions to their own health for the benefit of the multispecies household	Household health budgeting	43	“My budget is so tight that with this increase in [pet] food cost, I’ve just adjusted my own grocery costs … I’ve had to make adjustments so I can afford to buy even the substitute low fat food and the kidney food for the cat.” [financial resources]
	Cause or exacerbate stress	37	“It’s very stressful when your animal becomes ill.”
	Pets promote health	31	“I recently rescued a one-and-a-half-year-old, very active, very athletic dog… this dog got me up off the couch … I have asthma and started walking more because of [the dog]; when I had my exam with my allergist my lung capacity had increased.”
	Pets degrade health	31	“I broke my arm a few years ago by slipping in water by the dog dish.”
	Stress relief	30	“It really calms my nerves when [my dog] is next to me, I feel a lot less stressful.” [pets promote health]
	Mortality	22	“I know someone who has a lot of animals, including a couple animals that are difficult that nobody really wants if something happens to her, and she literally, in her will, put ‘whoever takes this one particular dog gets the house.’” [social support; depending on network for care of pets; workarounds]
Taking account of resources and understanding limitations: used when participants discussed resources or capital they used to manage multispecies household health	Depending on network for care of pets	40	“We’ve made arrangements with our children. If anything happens or when something happens to us, and we’re no longer either able to take care of [our pets], or we’re not here – we’re dead – they will see to the pets’ care.” [mortality; social support]
	Financial resources	37	“[The vet] said my cats needed a dental … but when they’re saying $400 for a dental cleaning, and that’ll be $800 for two cats, I said ‘no, no.’ I don’t have that much extra money laying around.”
	Social support	29	“I have a couple of different friends who have said they would help me out [with my pets] in an emergency.” [depending on network for care of pets]
	Social capital and community resources	28	“Where we live, we have a dog park. Dog owners our age get together and socialize … people socialize and learn about each other and there’s a common interest … they [their dogs] really help with our social life.”
	Negative social interactions	12	“We have people in our neighborhood who have dogs that are not dog-friendly or people-friendly. I think they make it a bit tough on all of us in the neighborhood.”
	Time use	7	“When I’m running late, it’s stressful for me to think of the animals getting fed late and the dog being let out late.” [cause or exacerbate stress]
Enacting agency, resolving barriers: used when participants discussed processes by which they enacted agency to resolve barriers to multispecies household health and well-being related to their social position	Workarounds	37	“ … both of my animals are older, the dog is nine, the cat is 13, and the vet just put them on prescription food – do you guys know how expensive that stuff is? It’s ridiculous! It’s $55 for a small bag of dry food for the cat, and she won’t eat it anyway, but [large pet supply retailer], if your animal won’t eat [the food], they’ll give you a credit and you don’t have to send it back – they say to take it to the shelter. That’s helpful because she’s refused both dry foods. But the dog, especially his foods, I just can’t afford it, so I had to non-comply with the vet … I feel a little guilty, a lot guilty … ” [financial resources]

Note: n = number of times each code was assigned in the data by the researchers. Codes were not mutually exclusive.