From feeding hunting dogs special meals to keeping cats happy and caring for caged birds, medieval writers had plenty of advice on looking after animals. Some of their recommendations might sound surprisingly familiar to pet owners today.
People in the Middle Ages kept dogs, cats, birds and other animals, although their relationships with them were not always the same as those we have today. Dogs guarded homes, helped with hunting and protected livestock, while cats were valued for catching mice and other vermin. Yet these animals could also become much-loved companions, receiving affection, special attention and sometimes even elaborate funerals.
In her book Medieval Pets, historian Kathleen Walker-Meikle examines how people formed relationships with their animal companions. By the later Middle Ages, numerous examples can be found of people keeping animals primarily for companionship. The Italian poet Petrarch owned several dogs, including one he adopted after finding it abandoned at a house where he was staying.
Isabella d’Este (1474–1539), one of the most prominent women of the Italian Renaissance, also kept several cats. When one of them, named Martino, passed away in 1510, it received a proper burial accompanied by a graveside sermon.
Not everyone approved of such attachments. Medieval religious authorities sometimes criticised people for spending too much money and attention on animals when those resources could have helped the poor. Monks and nuns were particularly likely to face restrictions on keeping pets.
The Ancrene Riwle, a thirteenth-century guide for anchoresses, offered this advice:
Unless need compels you, my dear sisters, and your director advises it, you must not keep any animal except a cat…Now if someone needs to keep one, let her see to it that it does not annoy anyone or do any harm to anybody, and that her thoughts are not taken up with it.
Despite such objections, medieval authors left behind a surprising amount of information about feeding, housing, training and caring for animals.
How to Care for Dogs in the Middle Ages
Woman and dog in snow – British Library MS Egerton 1147, fol.6v
Some of the most detailed medieval advice about animal care concerned dogs, particularly those used for hunting.
At the end of the fourteenth century, Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391), wrote the Livre de Chasse, a celebrated hunting manual that included extensive instructions on looking after hounds.
According to Gaston, a proper kennel should be constructed from wood and raised at least a foot above the ground. It should provide shelter from the weather, with a loft where dogs could remain cool in summer and warm in winter. Fresh straw was to be placed on the floor every day, while a door should open into a sunny yard so that:
the houndes may go withoute to play when them liketh for it is grete likyng for the houndes whan thei may goon in and out at their lust.
Caring for these dogs required considerable work. Servants were expected to clean the kennels every morning, provide fresh water twice daily and take the hounds outside for exercise once or twice a day. The animals should also have opportunities to play in a meadow in the sunshine.
Their diet could be equally carefully managed. Along with bran bread, hunting dogs received portions of meat from the animals caught during the hunt. When a dog became ill, it might be given more nourishing foods, including goat’s milk, bean broth, chopped meat or buttered eggs.
Gaston also had strong opinions about training. Dogs should be rewarded for good behaviour and corrected when they made mistakes, but their handlers should always speak truthfully to them. He explained:
I speak to my hounds as I would a man…and they understand me and do as I wish better than any other man can make them do as I do, nor peradventure will anyone do it more when I am dead.
What Medieval Arabic Writers Recommended for Dogs
A depiction of a dog in a 18th-century manuscript of Zakariya al-Qazwini’s Wonders of Creation. Walters Art Museum, MS W.659, fol. 113a.
Medieval Islamic scholars and animal specialists also produced detailed advice on caring for dogs, particularly those employed in hunting.
Although Islamic traditions often placed restrictions on keeping dogs, they remained important for hunting, guarding and herding. Arabic veterinary and hunting texts reveal considerable attention to their health, feeding and behaviour.
Some writers recommended that dogs sleep close to their handlers, although not in the same bed. They believed this would make the animals friendlier, more obedient and even more pleasant-smelling. Dogs should also have their own soft bedding and should not be housed too closely together, in order to reduce the spread of disease.
Feeding practices varied according to the season. During autumn and winter, some authors recommended feeding hunting dogs only once a day, around sunset, believing this would keep them fit for the following morning’s hunt. In the warmer months of spring and summer, smaller meals could be offered several times throughout the day.
Their food often consisted of meat soaked in beef broth, although bread and milk were also used. Meals were supposed to be served cool or lukewarm, since writers believed that food served too hot could cause vomiting.
Physical affection was another important part of caring for dogs. In Mamluks and Animals: Veterinary Medicine in Medieval Islam, Housni Alkhateeb Shehada notes that medieval Islamic writers:
emphasized that the dog is an animal that demands special attention, which includes stroking and combing its fur with pleasant caressing materials such as silk. The authors write that stroking with the hands, scratching, touching and suchlike basic actions that every dog handler has to perform in his daily care of the dog help to ensure the dog’s good health.
These recommendations suggest that medieval dog care was not simply concerned with keeping animals useful. Writers also recognised the importance of cleanliness, comfort and regular human interaction.
What Did Medieval Writers Say About Cats?
St. Gertrude of Nivelles portrayed as a nun, with a spindle and a cat holding wool – British Library MS Stowe 17, fol.34
Cats were familiar inhabitants of medieval homes, monasteries and other buildings, where their ability to control rodents made them especially useful. However, they could also be appreciated for their playful behaviour and companionship.
One medieval scholar who commented on cats was Albertus Magnus, the thirteenth-century philosopher and naturalist. His extensive work On Animals examined the characteristics and behaviour of numerous creatures, including domestic dogs and cats.
Albertus observed that the cat:
loves to be lightly stroked by human hands and is playful, especially when it is young.
He also offered some advice that would seem rather strange today. He recommended clipping cats’ ears to prevent night dew from entering them and claimed that removing their whiskers would cause them to lose their boldness. These are historical beliefs, not practices that should be followed by modern pet owners.
Albertus was equally interested in the behaviour of dogs. He warned against feeding guard dogs directly from the dinner table or petting them too frequently, fearing that excessive affection would distract them from their duties. Otherwise, he cautioned, they would:
keep one eye on the door and one on the generous hand of the master.
His observations illustrate the different expectations medieval people could have of their animals. Affection was recognised and sometimes encouraged, but animals were also expected to perform particular tasks.
How to Look After Pet Birds in the Middle Ages
Blackbird singing in a cage – BNF Fr. 1951, fol. 9r
Dogs and cats were not the only animals kept for companionship. Birds were also popular pets, particularly among wealthier households that could afford cages, aviaries and the time required to maintain them.
As Walker-Meikle explains, the text contains detailed instructions on keeping birds, including how to provide suitable nesting materials and feed young chicks. The author advised that water should be regularly replenished and that wool and feathers should be provided for nesting. He also described the foods suitable for different birds:
Item, let carded wool and feathers be put in the aviary to make their nests. And thus have I see turtle-doves, linnets and goldfinches lay and rear their young. Item, you should also give them caterpillars, worms, flies, spiders, grasshoppers, butterflies, fresh hemp in leaf, moistened and soaked. Item, spiders, caterpillars and such like things which be soft to the little bird’s beak, which is tender.
The instructions demonstrate a practical understanding that different birds required particular foods and that young birds needed softer nourishment.
They also reveal how much attention could be devoted to keeping animals that served little practical purpose beyond providing pleasure and companionship.
Medieval Pets and Their Owners
The surviving evidence reveals that medieval people could devote considerable care and affection to their animals. Hunting dogs might receive specially prepared meals, comfortable kennels and regular exercise. Cats were appreciated for their playful nature, while pet birds were provided with carefully prepared nesting materials and food.
Not all medieval recommendations would be considered sensible today, and many were shaped by the belief that animals existed primarily to serve human needs. Nevertheless, these writings show that concerns about animal health, comfort and behaviour were already familiar centuries before the development of modern pet care.
For medieval people who formed close attachments to their animals, keeping a pet could mean much more than simply having a useful creature around the house.
From feeding hunting dogs special meals to keeping cats happy and caring for caged birds, medieval writers had plenty of advice on looking after animals. Some of their recommendations might sound surprisingly familiar to pet owners today.
People in the Middle Ages kept dogs, cats, birds and other animals, although their relationships with them were not always the same as those we have today. Dogs guarded homes, helped with hunting and protected livestock, while cats were valued for catching mice and other vermin. Yet these animals could also become much-loved companions, receiving affection, special attention and sometimes even elaborate funerals.
In her book Medieval Pets, historian Kathleen Walker-Meikle examines how people formed relationships with their animal companions. By the later Middle Ages, numerous examples can be found of people keeping animals primarily for companionship. The Italian poet Petrarch owned several dogs, including one he adopted after finding it abandoned at a house where he was staying.
Isabella d’Este (1474–1539), one of the most prominent women of the Italian Renaissance, also kept several cats. When one of them, named Martino, passed away in 1510, it received a proper burial accompanied by a graveside sermon.
Not everyone approved of such attachments. Medieval religious authorities sometimes criticised people for spending too much money and attention on animals when those resources could have helped the poor. Monks and nuns were particularly likely to face restrictions on keeping pets.
The Ancrene Riwle, a thirteenth-century guide for anchoresses, offered this advice:
Unless need compels you, my dear sisters, and your director advises it, you must not keep any animal except a cat…Now if someone needs to keep one, let her see to it that it does not annoy anyone or do any harm to anybody, and that her thoughts are not taken up with it.
Despite such objections, medieval authors left behind a surprising amount of information about feeding, housing, training and caring for animals.
How to Care for Dogs in the Middle Ages
Some of the most detailed medieval advice about animal care concerned dogs, particularly those used for hunting.
At the end of the fourteenth century, Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391), wrote the Livre de Chasse, a celebrated hunting manual that included extensive instructions on looking after hounds.
According to Gaston, a proper kennel should be constructed from wood and raised at least a foot above the ground. It should provide shelter from the weather, with a loft where dogs could remain cool in summer and warm in winter. Fresh straw was to be placed on the floor every day, while a door should open into a sunny yard so that:
the houndes may go withoute to play when them liketh for it is grete likyng for the houndes whan thei may goon in and out at their lust.
Caring for these dogs required considerable work. Servants were expected to clean the kennels every morning, provide fresh water twice daily and take the hounds outside for exercise once or twice a day. The animals should also have opportunities to play in a meadow in the sunshine.
Their diet could be equally carefully managed. Along with bran bread, hunting dogs received portions of meat from the animals caught during the hunt. When a dog became ill, it might be given more nourishing foods, including goat’s milk, bean broth, chopped meat or buttered eggs.
Gaston also had strong opinions about training. Dogs should be rewarded for good behaviour and corrected when they made mistakes, but their handlers should always speak truthfully to them. He explained:
I speak to my hounds as I would a man…and they understand me and do as I wish better than any other man can make them do as I do, nor peradventure will anyone do it more when I am dead.
What Medieval Arabic Writers Recommended for Dogs
Medieval Islamic scholars and animal specialists also produced detailed advice on caring for dogs, particularly those employed in hunting.
Although Islamic traditions often placed restrictions on keeping dogs, they remained important for hunting, guarding and herding. Arabic veterinary and hunting texts reveal considerable attention to their health, feeding and behaviour.
Some writers recommended that dogs sleep close to their handlers, although not in the same bed. They believed this would make the animals friendlier, more obedient and even more pleasant-smelling. Dogs should also have their own soft bedding and should not be housed too closely together, in order to reduce the spread of disease.
Feeding practices varied according to the season. During autumn and winter, some authors recommended feeding hunting dogs only once a day, around sunset, believing this would keep them fit for the following morning’s hunt. In the warmer months of spring and summer, smaller meals could be offered several times throughout the day.
Their food often consisted of meat soaked in beef broth, although bread and milk were also used. Meals were supposed to be served cool or lukewarm, since writers believed that food served too hot could cause vomiting.
Physical affection was another important part of caring for dogs. In Mamluks and Animals: Veterinary Medicine in Medieval Islam, Housni Alkhateeb Shehada notes that medieval Islamic writers:
emphasized that the dog is an animal that demands special attention, which includes stroking and combing its fur with pleasant caressing materials such as silk. The authors write that stroking with the hands, scratching, touching and suchlike basic actions that every dog handler has to perform in his daily care of the dog help to ensure the dog’s good health.
These recommendations suggest that medieval dog care was not simply concerned with keeping animals useful. Writers also recognised the importance of cleanliness, comfort and regular human interaction.
What Did Medieval Writers Say About Cats?
Cats were familiar inhabitants of medieval homes, monasteries and other buildings, where their ability to control rodents made them especially useful. However, they could also be appreciated for their playful behaviour and companionship.
One medieval scholar who commented on cats was Albertus Magnus, the thirteenth-century philosopher and naturalist. His extensive work On Animals examined the characteristics and behaviour of numerous creatures, including domestic dogs and cats.
Albertus observed that the cat:
loves to be lightly stroked by human hands and is playful, especially when it is young.
He also offered some advice that would seem rather strange today. He recommended clipping cats’ ears to prevent night dew from entering them and claimed that removing their whiskers would cause them to lose their boldness. These are historical beliefs, not practices that should be followed by modern pet owners.
Albertus was equally interested in the behaviour of dogs. He warned against feeding guard dogs directly from the dinner table or petting them too frequently, fearing that excessive affection would distract them from their duties. Otherwise, he cautioned, they would:
keep one eye on the door and one on the generous hand of the master.
His observations illustrate the different expectations medieval people could have of their animals. Affection was recognised and sometimes encouraged, but animals were also expected to perform particular tasks.
How to Look After Pet Birds in the Middle Ages
Dogs and cats were not the only animals kept for companionship. Birds were also popular pets, particularly among wealthier households that could afford cages, aviaries and the time required to maintain them.
One of the most interesting sources for medieval bird care is Le Ménagier de Paris, a household guide written around 1393 by an elderly Parisian merchant for his young wife.
As Walker-Meikle explains, the text contains detailed instructions on keeping birds, including how to provide suitable nesting materials and feed young chicks. The author advised that water should be regularly replenished and that wool and feathers should be provided for nesting. He also described the foods suitable for different birds:
Item, let carded wool and feathers be put in the aviary to make their nests. And thus have I see turtle-doves, linnets and goldfinches lay and rear their young. Item, you should also give them caterpillars, worms, flies, spiders, grasshoppers, butterflies, fresh hemp in leaf, moistened and soaked. Item, spiders, caterpillars and such like things which be soft to the little bird’s beak, which is tender.
The instructions demonstrate a practical understanding that different birds required particular foods and that young birds needed softer nourishment.
They also reveal how much attention could be devoted to keeping animals that served little practical purpose beyond providing pleasure and companionship.
Medieval Pets and Their Owners
The surviving evidence reveals that medieval people could devote considerable care and affection to their animals. Hunting dogs might receive specially prepared meals, comfortable kennels and regular exercise. Cats were appreciated for their playful nature, while pet birds were provided with carefully prepared nesting materials and food.
Not all medieval recommendations would be considered sensible today, and many were shaped by the belief that animals existed primarily to serve human needs. Nevertheless, these writings show that concerns about animal health, comfort and behaviour were already familiar centuries before the development of modern pet care.
For medieval people who formed close attachments to their animals, keeping a pet could mean much more than simply having a useful creature around the house.
Further Readings:
Kathleen Walker-Meikle, Medieval Pets (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012).
Housni Alkhateeb Shehada, Mamluks and Animals: Veterinary Medicine in Medieval Islam (Leiden: Brill, 2013).
See also: Medieval Pet Names
Top Image: Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764 fol 51r
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