Is it possible. that a dog leaping and barking with joy when you return home, a cat curled and purring in your lap, or a fish swimming peacefully in a tank can reduce your blood pressure, alter the course of heart disease, and decrease your stress level?"What pill gives so much love, makes its owner feel safe, stimulates laughter, encourages regular exercise, and makes a person feel needed?"
A number of studies suggest that people who own pets are generally in better health than those who do not. These positive effects seem to hold for every kind of pet studied so far, including—but not limited to—dogs, cats, gerbils, parakeets, chickens, fish, mice, rabbits, and iguanas.
Pets can help bring families together by promoting interaction among family members, by relieving the stress of simply being a busy parent or a growing child, and by helping children learn the importance of responsibility and discipline.
The dog who greets us at home or the cat who chases a bit of string or hides in an empty paper bag provides us with an invitation to laugh, relax, and enjoy ourselves. The blood pressures of hypertensive patients have dropped considerably while watching tropical fish. Looking at fish tanks has also helped anxious patients relax before oral surgery.
The task of caring for a pet is often a child's first serious responsibility. Throughout our lives, our pets pull us back into the daily rounds of the natural world with their needs for continuing care.
Feeding the cat, bathing the dog, tending the fish tank, taking the parakeet on your finger-these little acts of caring assure the care giver that he or she is truly needed. Such feelings can at times serve as a true lifeline.
The child who once fed the dog may many years later have little strength or opportunity to help another human being. But he or she can still continue the life-giving rituals of caring by tending a goldfish in a bowl, providing a saucer of milk for a stray cat, or putting out crumbs for the winter birds.
Feeding the cat, bathing the dog, tending the fish tank, taking the parakeet on your finger-these little acts of caring assure the care giver that he or she is truly needed. Such feelings can at times serve as a true lifeline.
The child who once fed the dog may many years later have little strength or opportunity to help another human being. But he or she can still continue the life-giving rituals of caring by tending a goldfish in a bowl, providing a saucer of milk for a stray cat, or putting out crumbs for the winter birds.
Clearly, all of us-young and old-benefit immeasurably from the companionship and love pets give us . . . and allow us to give in return.
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