Would you like to feel less stressed, to be in great physical
health, to laugh more, and to be loved unconditionally? What I
am prescribing are the benefits of the human-animal bond. We
live in a high tech-low touch society. Our communication is
constant with emails, voice mail, text messaging, and automated
company phones. We are never "not connected" and for some
people, that is a source of stress. However, we can go for
extended periods of time without actually talking to a real
person in our 24/7 world. We need our connections with animals
for many reasons. Bonds can be formed with a wide array of
animals including dogs, cats, horses, birds, or even exotic
animals like snakes. Our pets are with us through life passages
such as marriage, family additions, divorce, loss of jobs, and
death of loved ones. Their influence and impact on us can be
profound.
The American Veterinary Medical Association Census of 2007
reported that 37% of American households have dogs and 32% of
households have cats. However, cats outnumber dogs, 81 million
to 72 million. According to the American Association of
Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians, the human-animal bond is a
mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and
other animals. Founded in 1982, the Center for the Human-Animal
Bond at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine
explores the dynamic relationships between people, animals and
their environment. The Delta Foundation was established in 1977
to understand the quality of the relationship between pet
owners, pets, and care givers, both human and veterinary. Today,
the Delta Society is known for the Human-Animal Health
Connection.
Pets can offer a wide variety of physical and psychological
benefits to adults and children. What are the physical benefits?
Numerous studies have been conducted to research the affects of
pets in our lives. Highlights of a few studies include the
following results. Pet owners have lower blood pressure as well
as lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels than non-owners.
Pet owners have better physical health due to exercise with
their pets. Dog ownership increases the odds for survival in
persons who have had a heart attack from 1 in 15 to 1 in 87.
Heart attack sufferers who own a dog have an eight times better
chance of surviving one year as opposed to non-owners. Seniors
who own dogs go to the doctor less often than those who do not
have dogs. Medication costs dropped from an average of $3.80 per
patient per day to $1.18 per patient per day when nursing homes
in Texas, Missouri, and New York allowed for pets and plants to
be introduced into the patient's environment.
What are the psychological benefits? Pets are stress busters.
"Can you really look at a sleeping cat and be tense?" asks Jane
Pauley. They also help us relax and focus our attention on them
and not our worries and concerns. When I return home from a
challenging work day that was topped off with navigating stop
and go traffic snarls, my cat, Lexie Lee, changes my mood
immediately. I bet my blood pressure drops as well! When we are
with our animals, we can take our masks off and let our guard
down and just be true to ourselves.
My beloved cat, Tatianna, did not care if my hair was unkempt,
my spirits depressed, or my face a fright! She was always by my
side, blue eyes focused, content to sit and purr on my lap. Pets
lift our spirits by decreasing feelings of loneliness and
isolation.
Pets make us laugh. All I have to do is get out Lexie Lee's
feather toy that dangles on a pole, swing it around the room a
few times, and watch her acrobatics in catching the feathers,
and I am laughing. Pets offer us unconditional love.
Just being able to pet them and having something to touch is an
important part of our psychological welfare. When I need a break
from my high tech-low touch work, I know Lexie Lee will eagerly
join me on the couch to be petted or brushed. Pets give us a
safe environment to express our thoughts, fears, and feelings,
and we will not be judged, but supported by their mere presence.
We can rehearse difficult and challenging conversations with
them like asking for a raise or dealing with a family problem. I
have rehearsed public speeches with Lexie Lee, and she never
heckles me! Pets help us feel safer in our homes — especially
when we have dogs to guard us. We feel less likely to be a
victim of crime when we are walking a dog.
Pets teach children to be caregivers, to be empathetic, and to
learn responsibility. Pets can help us adjust to serious illness
or death—especially children who face losing a parent. They can
help all of us learn to love again after devastating personal
losses. I credit Tatianna for standing by me through the
entrance and exit of people and pets in my life including the
deaths of my father and boyfriend as well as the deaths of
beloved cats, Noelle, Taittinger, and Marnie. Tatianna had an
ongoing repertoire of joy to share with me and was destined to
draw on it indefinitely for my benefit and healing.
In nursing homes, residents are more apt to smile, talk, reach
out to people, be attentive, and be alert. They are less
depressed if pets are on the premises. Pets can also give the
elderly person a reason for living and a reason to get out of
bed since the animal needs daily attention. My ninety-year-old
mother's schedule revolves around feeding and caring for her
companion dog, Packer.
When I have been at the computer keyboard for hours, answered
one hundred emails for the day, and attempted to return voice
mail messages, only to leave another voice mail, my bond with
Lexie Lee is a calming and centering force in my life. She is my
stress buster. With her hanging over my lap or sleeping a few
feet from my desk, I am truly connected to love and to life.
About The Author: Linda A. Mohr is the award-winning author of
Tatianna — Tales and Teachings of My Feline Friend and Catnip
Connection blog for Seattle Press-Intelligencer, a professor at
Northwood University, and the co-founder of Pet Apothecary. She
is a member of Cat Writers' Association with human-animal bond
expertise. Visit http://www.lindamohr.net or
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/catnipconnection.
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