After a long, grueling day at the office, there's nothing better than returning home to a warm welcome. For some that means a freshly cooked meal, for others, a warm hug. For many, though, it's the excited bark of a dog and the affectionate nuzzle of a cat.

No longer automatically relegated to a drafty outdoor kennel or cage, pets these days are often considered an integral part of the family. For many city dwellers, the deep emotional ties they enjoy with their pets help make their isolated urban lives less lonely and stressful.

"Dona is as essential to my life as the air I breathe," says Atsuko Suzuki, 40, an overseas trust-bank employee and owner of an 8-year-old German shepherd. "I wish I could bring her into the office every day."

Suzuki has shared her life with animals ever since she was a child. Her parents were reluctant for her to have pets so she simply smuggled them -- parakeets, rabbits, ducks and cats -- into the house and pleaded with her parents to let her keep them. "Each time my parents grumbled, but they always gave up with a sigh in the end," Suzuki recalls.

She realized her dream of getting a dog at age 18 when she bought Alf, a 3-month-old German shepherd pup, from a pet shop. When Alf died 10 years later, her parents asked her not to buy another dog, but Suzuki eventually bought Dona seven years ago, this time while her parents were away on holiday.

"They were so surprised when they came home and saw Dona inside the house," Suzuki recalls.

After Suzuki married in March, her first task was to find an apartment that permitted residents to keep large dogs. After searching for a month, she finally found one in Tokyo's Yoyogi-Uehara district, walking distance from spacious Yoyogi Park, where owners are allowed to walk their dogs as long as they are leashed.

"We were so lucky because the apartment owner loves dogs," she says. "Now we take turns getting home as early as possible. And on weekends and vacations, the three of us go canoeing and rafting together."

Close to you

According to the Prime Minister's Office, which has conducted public opinion polls on animal welfare every few years since 1974, about 60 percent of the population consistently says it loves pets and some 40 percent reports actually keeping an animal.

In 1979, 46 percent of pet owners kept dogs, 38 percent birds, 27 percent cats and 11 percent fish. Last year, however, the number of dog owners rose to 64 percent, while the number of bird owners dropped to 9 percent.

While about 20 percent of pet owners in 1986 said they kept animals to help them relax, that figure jumped to 46 percent in 2000, according to the survey, indicating the emergence of a deeper psychological bond between owners and their pets.

Research has shown that living with pets can offer a variety of physiological and psychological benefits. In one study of 6,000 people in Australia, for example, pet owners were shown to have significantly lower systolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels than non-pet owners, suggesting pets may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

As the therapeutic role of companion animals gets increasing attention, more and more nursing homes and hospices are keeping or bringing in dogs and cats for emotional support for elderly and terminally ill patients.

Don't fence me in

The changing role of animals in Japanese society has, however, sparked conflict between those who want to take their pets with them wherever they go and those who want pets kept out of public places. "Most parks in Tokyo don't allow dogs even when they're on a leash," Suzuki explains. "There are few places where dogs can run around freely."

Pet owners are also disturbed by the misconceptions many people have about pets, particularly the idea that all animals are dangerous by nature. "I often hear mothers telling kids 'Be careful of the big dog' or trying to frighten them into behaving by saying things like 'That dog will bite you if you don't do as you're told' as they pass by me and Dona. It makes me so sad," Suzuki says.

The counter-argument points the finger at irresponsible owners who don't clean up after their pets, or those who annoy people in parks by letting their animals run around uncontrolled.

As the number of urbanites wishing to live with animals increases, the issue of cohabitation in housing complexes, most of which do not permit residents to keep pets, has come into the spotlight.

"Since 70 percent of city dwellers are living in apartments and condominiums, it's a serious concern," says Kiyomi Hoshikawa, director of the Companion Animal Information and Research Center, a nonprofit organization supported by pet food company Master Food Ltd.

Allowing people to keep pets indoors could contribute to reducing the vast number of dogs and cats killed every year in pounds, she adds.

"If more housing complexes allowed pets, more people would adopt animals from shelters. And if keeping cats inside one's home became a social norm, fewer unwanted kittens would be born because cats would not be out on the street all day," Hoshikawa says.

"After all, it is human beings who domesticated animals. Whether they can live happily and comfortably or not totally depends on us."