BMJ  2005;331:1254-1255 (26 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1254

Commentary

Pets—pleasures and problems

Richard Mayon-White, consultant epidemiologist1

1 Department of Primary Health Care, Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF
richard.mayon-white@dphpc.ox.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Good health is more than the absence of disease, and the review by McNicholas and colleagues makes a strong argument that the companionship of pets contributes to wellbeing.1 People decide to keep pets for reasons that go far beyond health, and there are social benefits when animals promote conversation and friendship. The debate about health effects of pet ownership has focused on the major problems of cardiovascular disease, mental health, and allergy. A point to add to the review is that the benefits partly depend on the type of animal. In a prospective study of one year survival after a myocardial infarct, dog owners were more likely to survive than cat owners and people who did not own pets.2 Although exercise from dog walking might be a factor, the improved survival was related to social support independent of physiological status.

On the fringes of the debate about health and pets . . . [Full text of this article]


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