It is widely known that having a pet is good for your health. A pet improves your quality of life, helps you live long and contributes to both mental and physical health. But how true is this? Can we prove any of these claims?
In May, the American Heart Association (AHA) reported that there is evidence that having a pet, especially a dog, may lower the risk of heart disease. They said, "Studies have shown people who own pets, particularly dogs, have lower blood pressure, increased mood-related brain chemicals, better cholesterol numbers, lower weight and improved stress response."
In other words, pet ownership is associated with a reduction in heart disease factors. Strong claims, but the AHA report also tempered their claims: "it may be simply that healthier people are the ones that have pets, not that having a pet actually leads to or causes reduction in cardiovascular risk."
Whatever the findings on heart disease, we do know that there are benefits to pet ownership. Research has shown pets enhance emotional and psychological well-being. They can contribute to higher self-esteem and pet owners are less likely to be lonely. Pets can also act as a social magnet - have you ever seen the number of people who want to pet a dog and chat with the owner?
Pets bring structure because of the responsibilities built in. Pets need to be fed, cared for, exercised (especially walking the dog, played with and cleaned up after.
We need to consider, though, that studies cannot be entirely clinical; you can't just give a pet to someone, then take it away and measure their health results. Rather, studies compare people with pets with those without but are otherwise similar. Studies may show links or associations, but they cannot show causality. It could be that sick people don't get pets in the first place.
On the other hand, pets can be messy and destructive; barking dogs can cause problems with neighbours; bites are always a concern with dogs, cats other types of pets. What if your cat decides to avoid the litter box or start to spray the furniture? Pets can be a lot of work.
Another concern is the transfer of illness from or to a pet. Although rare, it can happen. Pets can give you a diarrheal illness, toxoplasmosis, ringworm, Salmonella. Or you could infect your pet. There are cases of human-to-animal transfers of influenza and other illnesses.
Pets can offer companionship and add joy to a person's life - they may even provide some health benefits, but pets are not medicine.
