POWER OF PETS

Nothing compares to the joy of coming home to a loyal companion. The unconditional
love of a pet can do more than keep you company. Pets may also decrease stress,
improve heart health, and even help children with their emotional and social skills.

An estimated 68% of U.S. households have a pet. But who benefits from an animal?
And which type of pet brings health benefits?

Over the past 10 years, NIH has partnered with the Mars Corporation’s WALTHAM
Centre for Pet Nutrition to answer questions like these by funding research studies.

Scientists are looking at what the potential physical and mental health benefits are for
different animals—from fish to guinea pigs to dogs and cats.

Possible Health Effects

Research on human-animal interactions is still relatively new. Some studies have shown
positive health effects, but the results have been mixed.

Interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related
hormone) and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that animals can reduce
loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood.

The NIH/Mars Partnership is funding a range of studies focused on the relationships we

have with animals. For example, researchers are looking into how animals might
influence child development. They’re studying animal interactions with kids who
have autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other conditions.

“There’s not one answer about how a pet can help somebody with a specific condition,”
explains Dr. Layla Esposito, who oversees NIH’s Human-Animal Interaction Research
Program. “Is your goal to increase physical activity? Then you might benefit from
owning a dog. You have to walk a dog several times a day and you’re going to increase
physical activity. If your goal is reducing stress, sometimes watching fish swim can
result in a feeling of calmness. So there’s no one type fits all.”

NIH is funding large-scale surveys to find out the range of pets people live with and how
their relationships with their pets relate to health.

“We’re trying to tap into the subjective quality of the relationship with the animal—that
part of the bond that people feel with animals—and how that translates into some of the
health benefits,” explains Dr. James Griffin, a child development expert at NIH.

Animals Helping People

Animals can serve as a source of comfort and support. Therapy dogs are especially
good at this. They’re sometimes brought into hospitals or nursing homes to help reduce
patients’ stress and anxiety.

“Dogs are very present. If someone is struggling with something, they know how to sit
there and be loving,” says Dr. Ann Berger, a physician and researcher at the NIH
Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. “Their attention is focused on the person all the
time.”

Berger works with people who have cancer and terminal illnesses. She teaches them
about mindfulness to help decrease stress and manage pain.

“The foundations of mindfulness include attention, intention, compassion, and

awareness,” Berger says. “All of those things are things that animals bring to the table.
People kind of have to learn it. Animals do this innately.”

Researchers are studying the safety of bringing animals into hospital settings because
animals may expose people to more germs. A current study is looking at the safety of
bringing dogs to visit children with cancer, Esposito says. Scientists will be testing the
children’s hands to see if there are dangerous levels of germs transferred from the dog
after the visit.

Dogs may also aid in the classroom. One study found that dogs can help children with
ADHD focus their attention. Researchers enrolled two groups of children diagnosed with
ADHD into 12-week group therapy sessions. The first group of kids read to a therapy
dog once a week for 30 minutes. The second group read to puppets that looked like
dogs.

Kids who read to the real animals showed better social skills and more sharing,
cooperation, and volunteering. They also had fewer behavioral problems.

Another study found that children with autism spectrum disorder were calmer while
playing with guinea pigs in the classroom. When the children spent 10 minutes in a
supervised group playtime with guinea pigs, their anxiety levels dropped. The children
also had better social interactions and were more engaged with their peers. The
researchers suggest that the animals offered unconditional acceptance, making them a
calm comfort to the children.

“Animals can become a way of building a bridge for those social interactions,” Griffin
says. He adds that researchers are trying to better understand these effects and who
they might help.

Animals may help you in other unexpected ways. A recent study showed that caring for
fish helped teens with diabetes better manage their disease. Researchers had a group
of teens with type 1 diabetes care for a pet fish twice a day by feeding and checking
water levels. The caretaking routine also included changing the tank water each week.
This was paired with the children reviewing their blood glucose (blood sugar) logs with
parents.

Researchers tracked how consistently these teens checked their blood glucose.
Compared with teens who weren’t given a fish to care for, fish-keeping teens were more
disciplined about checking their own blood glucose levels, which is essential for
maintaining their health.

While pets may bring a wide range of health benefits, an animal may not work for
everyone. Recent studies suggest that early exposure to pets may help protect young
children from developing allergies and asthma. But for people who are allergic to certain
animals, having pets in the home can do more harm than good.

Helping Each Other

Pets also bring new responsibilities. Knowing how to care for and feed an animal is part
of owning a pet. NIH/Mars funds studies looking into the effects of human-animal
interactions for both the pet and the person.

Remember that animals can feel stressed and fatigued, too. It’s important for kids to be
able to recognize signs of stress in their pet and know when not to approach. Animal
bites can cause serious harm.

“Dog bite prevention is certainly an issue parents need to consider, especially for young
children who don’t always know the boundaries of what’s appropriate to do with a dog,”
Esposito explains.