The Value of Pets: What They Do For Us!

We have been told that pets do us good, but how?  Here is a list of some of the things pets do for us. If you have pets, you are saying DUH!!! If you don't have pets, you may want to think if your life could use some of these benefits.


* Lower blood pressure. A SUNY study discovered that merely owning a pet reduced blood pressure in a group of stock brokers with hypertension.

* Lower cholesterol. A study in Australia found that pet owners had lower cholesterol levels as well as lower blood pressure, which reduces the risk of developing heart disease. Since dogs need to be walked, owners got more exercise so cholesterol and blood pressure went down.

* Higher survival rates after illness. Pet owners are more likely than non-pet owners to live following major medical procedures or health problems. Having a loving pet to take care of can inspire people to fight to go on living.

* Owning a pet reduces loneliness. This one is as obvious as it is beneficial. Not only do people living alone report less loneliness when there's a happy pet waiting for them at home, but they also report that pets serve as an excellent catalyst for conversation with other people. Walking the dog can be a magnet for converstions.

* Owning a pet also reduces depression. For the reasons listed above, pet owners report lower levels of depression than similar non-pet owners. I got our first fish when I was in a bout of depression and the doctor told me I didn't need drugs I needed to spend 30 minutes each day watching fish swim. It worked and we have had fish ever since.

* Owning a pet can help your children develop. Children with pets at home consistently rate higher on evaluations of empathy and cognitive abilities, and tend to have higher self esteem. Who doesn't look back fondly on their childhood pet?

* Owning a pet can help childred develop a imunity against allergies.  Ever wonder why fewer children who life on farms have pet allergies? There imunity systems have been built up.

* Owning a pet can make a family happier. Families with pets report that they believe their pets have a positive influence on their family dynamic. And why wouldn't they, with the lower stress rates and happier children that result from homes with pets?

* Owning a pet is not restriced to cats and dogs. guinnie pigs, farrets, mice, turtles and hampsters all count.

* Owning a pet teaches us all to care for others, to look outward instead of inward and that is just plain a good thing to do so we don't become conceted. 

* Pets are entertaining. Watch a puppy or kitten chase a toy or chew one and you find yourself laughing out loud.  There personalits can fill us with joy and we see the world as a better place.  I have a great memory of our turtle playing with her water filter in her tank. She loved that thing and it was funny to watch.

And she Loved to play Peek-A-Boo

So what pets have you had the prvalidege to share your life with? How have they added value your life?