Researchers interviewed 26 women who experienced intimate partner violence while living with companion animals. All of them indicated their companion animal had been verbally or physically assaulted by their partner and most indicated they were unwilling to discuss this with the animal’s vet. Of households with multiple animals, all respondents indicated that a specific animal was targeted for the majority of the abuse; the animal was most often a dog. One-quarter of the respondents indicated that their animals died as a result of the abuse and in one-third of the cases, the women were told by the violent partner if she left her companion animal would be harmed or killed.

Article Abstract:

“In total, 26 Australian women reported one or more companion animals in the household being verbally and/or physically abused by their male partner, usually with prolonged effects on animal behaviour; 92% indicated that they had been unwilling to discuss the animal abuse with a veterinarian. Many were unaware of animal accommodation services for people fleeing violence and those who did know about these were unwilling to use them, citing their bond with the animals as the main reason. Animals targeted for abuse were most likely to be dogs and owned by women rather than men, children or both partners.”

“Conclusion Animals can be severely affected by domestic violence situations and many people experiencing violence are unwilling to confide in veterinarians or seek help from animal shelters.”