Hitting two of Gothamist's favorite subjects - animals and depression - the Times examined people's emotional dependence on their pets yesterday, as some co-op boards face more animal-related (like pets going over a certain size) apartment disputes. This seems "to be driven in part by the growing acceptance of depression as a disability, coupled with new scientific evidence linking animals to reductions in stress and in feelings of isolation, and even to an increased likelihood of living longer." One lawyer warns that relying on depression as the medical/scientific reason for having a pet may not be sufficient: "I tell people it should be more than everyday garden-variety walking-around-New York depression."
As Gothamist has mostly garden-variety walking-around-New York depression, not to mention we're responsible, our relationships with actual pets consist of begging dog owners if we can pet their dogs on the street or chasing our friends' cats and thinking they understand it when we say "Look at the camera," we've had to improvise how we get therapeutic benefit from pets. Here is the Gothamist menagerie:
- Maneko Neko
- Tivo
- Panda Transformer
- Hidamari No Tami
- Pigs
