Keeping pets helps improve family relationships, a poll shows.
Nearly three out of four people said pets were conducive to harmony in the family, in an online survey by Health Link and My Pet magazine.
The study polled 503 pet owners who lived with family members.
Nearly half the respondents said they had no difficulty raising children and keeping pets at the same time, while one in four said pets were good companions for the elderly.
Seventy-eight per cent said they kept dogs, and 23 per cent kept cats. About one in 10 said they had both dogs and cats at home.
Maggie Ng Miu-man, head of Health Link, said: 'As pet-keeping has become more common, the government should introduce more animal-friendly policies such as allowing tenants of public housing estates to keep pets.'
A quarter of those surveyed said pets could become companions for the elderly, while nearly half said taking dogs for a walk also helped the owners do more exercise.