Pets and your health
Early man feared wild animals as predators but hunted them for subsistence. As people began to farm, they quickly learned to domesticate animals to share the burden of work and to provide meat, milk, and eggs. But for most modern city dwellers, animals function mainly as pets. About 60% of American households, in fact, have one or more pets. Pets can be lovable, amusing, or maddening — but can they also have an impact on health?
Contact with animals may help reduce the loneliness of life in a long-term care facility. In a 2008 study, researchers in St. Louis evaluated the emotional impact of a live dog and an interactive robotic "dog." Both pets reduced loneliness to the same degree, and the long-term care residents became attached to both. As for the care and feeding…
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