Advanced Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Care

Health Benefits of Pet Ownership

Many people intuitively believe that they and others derive health benefits from relationships with their animal companions, and numerous scientific studies performed over the past 25 years support this belief. Among other benefits, animals have been demonstrated to improve human cardiovascular health, reduce stress, decrease loneliness and depression, and facilitate social interactions among people who choose to have pets. Additionally, many terminally ill, pregnant, or immunocompromised people are urged to relinquish their animal companions due to concerns about zoonosis (diseases that may be transmitted between humans and non-human animals). Dogs can act as the perfect personal trainer, if only because most of them need to be walked several times a day. To help human health professionals and their patients decide when and in what ways a companion animal may provide assistance, this booklet reviews some important scientific studies that document the positive impacts of the human-animal bond on human health: physiologically, psychologically and socially