We are a childless couple who have pets, as with many pet parents, the pets are a primary focus of our lives. When illness or death strikes it can be emotionally devastating.
Emotions are somewhat subjective, and bonds between the lives of any animals (including humans) very across the spectrum. This question is specifically looking for published, peer reviewed, science; comparing the emotional bond of pet parents (no human children) to that of bonds in human to human parentage.
Some research says that at least women may react to dogs in the same way they do with children:
"It has become common for people who have pets to refer to themselves as "pet parents," but how closely does the relationship between people and their non-human companions mirror the parent-child relationship? A small study from a group of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers makes a contribution to answering this complex question by investigating differences in how important brain structures are activated when women view images of their children and of their own dogs. Their report is being published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. "
[...]
"the study enrolled a group of women with at least one child aged 2 to 10 years old and one pet dog that had been in the household for two years or longer. "
[...]
"The second session took place at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at MGH, where functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – which indicates levels of activation in specific brain structures by detecting changes in blood flow and oxygen levels – was performed as participants lay in a scanner and viewed a series of photographs. The photos included images of each participant's own child and own dog alternating with those of an unfamiliar child and dog belonging to another study participant. After the scanning session, each participant completed additional assessments, including an image recognition test to confirm she had paid close attention to photos presented during scanning, and rated several images from each category shown during the session on factors relating to pleasantness and excitement. "
[...]
"The imaging studies revealed both similarities and differences in the way important brain regions reacted to images of a woman's own child and own dog. Areas previously reported as important for functions such as emotion, reward, affiliation, visual processing and social interaction all showed increased activity when participants viewed either their own child or their own dog. A region known to be important to bond formation – the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (SNi/VTA) – was activated only in response to images of a participant's own child. The fusiform gyrus, which is involved in facial recognition and other visual processing functions, actually showed greater response to own-dog images than own-child images."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/mgh-mgs100114.php
