Pets, Our Idols

 

By Yin Nwe Ko

For centuries, man has been associating with ani­mals for either companions or food. I would not like to men­tion the second purpose here as I cannot help suffering from their pain on behalf of them when man tries to use them for their food. Then, the companions of man, yes, indeed. I agree with the opinion. Animals are the companions of mankind. Although they do not possess the intellect and are illiter­ate like men, they have got loyalty to their owners who always nur­ture and look after them. There­fore, countless stories of animal companions or pets and man have existed in human history. Moreo­ver, many people could not know how pets provide human lives in the following ways.

Keeping one active

If you have a dog, chances are you are walking it at least 30 minutes a day, and likely more— an activity that goes a long way towards keeping you fit. In reali­ty, a British study of dog owners found that, on average, walking a pup added an extra 2,700 steps to their daily total, about 20 more minutes of physical activity per day than non-dog owners get. What is more, most of that walking was done at a “moderate cadence” — enough to get your heart pumping but still carry on a conversation — the minimum intensity Health Canada recommends adults get for 2.5 hours a week.

Walking your pooch for that amount of time benefits your quali­ty of life and could prolong your life. Getting 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week reduces your risk of heart disease by up to 15 per cent, cuts your chances of devel­oping breast, stomach, kidney, and other cancers by up to 20 per cent, and helps prevent and manage diabetes.

In addition, as a bonus, more exercise during the day also seems to set the stage for better nights. According to a survey of 6,500 re­tired London civil servants, dog owners were more likely to report having an easier time falling asleep at night than non-dog owners. (Un­fortunately, perhaps thanks to their nocturnal hijinks, cats seemed to have the opposite effect.)

Boosting one’s immune sys­tem

According to the so-called hy­giene hypothesis, identified in the late 1980s, growing up indoors in disinfected spaces later causes our bodies to overreact to harmless substances, making us more prone to allergies and asthma. Dogs and cats, with their muddy paws, co­pious dander, and propensity for licking us, introduce more micro­bial diversity that habituates our immune systems. Research shows that children who live with pets from birth have lower rates of al­lergies and asthma, and the more animals in the house, the greater the protection. Kids with four or more cats or dogs had half the rate of allergies as non-pet owners.

Even in adulthood, there’s new evidence to suggest pets may have a notably positive effect on our guts—with links to both men­tal and physical health. One pair of researchers at the University of Arizona are studying whether the sharing of bacteria between dogs and their owners can alter our microbiome — the communi­ty of microorganisms that dwell inside our bodies — in a way that changes our brain chemistry, al­leviating major depression. “We were intrigued by previous re­search that found that dogs and humans share gut bacteria just by living in the same home, and you get the same amount from your dog as you do from your spouse,” says Dieter Steklis, co-director of the Human-Animal Interaction Research Initiative.

Lowering one’s risk of a fatal heart attack

Researchers at the University of Minnesota tracked 4,000 people — most of them for over a decade — and found that cat owners had a 30 per cent lower risk of dying of a heart attack. Given you don’t need to take a cat for walks, what accounts for the lower risk? The researchers hypothesized — and most cat owners would agree — that cats’ inherently unbothered nature has a calming effect. And research has shown that, like ex­ercise, spending time with a pet — any pet — lowers stress, an impor­tant contributor to heart disease. In fact, Washington State Univer­sity students showed significantly lower cortisol levels in their saliva after spending just 10 minutes pet­ting a cat or dog. Other studies have shown that human-animal interaction lowers blood pressure and releases the bonding hormone oxytocin, which reduces anxiety and pain and improves cardiovas­cular function.

Aiding one manage a chronic condition

With their clockwork expecta­tions for feeding, walks, affection, and play, animals do not cut their owners much slack — and that can be a good thing for chronic disease sufferers of all types. The benefits of animals in health care were first noted by Florence Nightingale in 1860 when she wrote that a pet tortoise named Jimmy provided great comfort to wounded soldiers hospitalized during the Crimean War. In the 1960s, child psycholo­gist Boris Levinson observed that a withdrawn, non-verbal child sud­denly began communicating when Levinson’s dog, Jingles, was in the room. The field of “pet therapy” was born, and visits from trained therapy animals are now com­monplace in hospitals and nursing homes.

But outside of institutional set­tings, pets can also help people on a more ongoing basis with the daily management of long-term health conditions. According to Universi­ty of Michigan research scientist Mary Janevic, this is especially true of chronic pain sufferers looking for non-pharmacological interventions.

In 2019, Janevic led a small study of older adults with arthritis, lower back pain, and other con­ditions, and found that pets not only helped improve mood but compelled their owners to stick to behavioural routines that im­proved their pain in the long run. These included daily walks, feed­ing, cleaning, affection, and play. “When it hurts, you don’t feel like getting up and doing anything, but it’s a use-it-or-lose-it situation,” Janevic says. “When your body becomes deconditioned, weaker muscles lead to more pain.”

In addition to all that, Janevic also points out that pets’ greatest superpower against chronic suf­fering is their talent for drawing all the attention and focus. “If you’re distracted from the pain, you per­ceive less pain, and therefore you are in less pain,” she explains.

Kelly Redmon, a Virgin­ia-based therapist who suffers from complex regional pain syn­drome, says fostering guinea pigs for a local rescue group has helped her cope with an often excruciating condition. “When I care for my an­imals, I have to stay present even through a flare-up,” she says. “I can’t get caught in a spiral of won­dering, ‘Will the pain last forever?’”

Sometimes, Redmon adds, her pets provide vicarious joy. “When I watch my guinea pigs run around their little playpen through all the tunnels, I can see that it makes them happy, and that makes me happy, too.”

Reducing inflammation

Inflammation is how your body responds to a perceived injury or infection, and normally it’s a good thing — when a cut becomes red and swollen, for example, it’s be­cause an army of white blood cells is swarming in to fight off harmful bacteria. But sometimes your im­mune system does not switch off after the fight is over, and when inflammation becomes chronic, it can silently lay the groundwork for killer diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In a small preliminary trial, re­searchers at the University of Wis­consin–Madison assigned foster dogs from a local humane society to a group of volunteers aged 50 to 80. After three months with a dog, some blood tests showed a drop of up to 30 per cent in markers of inflammation, including interleu­kin-6 (IL-6), which has been linked to many inflammatory diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid ar­thritis, dementia, heart disease, and cancer.

“Some of the subjects also re­ported that they felt an increase in their sense of well-being and improved social function,” says psychiatrist and study director Charles Raison. “We don’t know for sure whether there was an as­sociation between IL-6 levels and mental health, but it may work as a virtuous cycle — having a dog makes you feel better, which makes inflammation drop, and low­er levels of inflammation make you happier.

Improving one’s mental health

When Sharmeen Abeysinghe, 40, left her Toronto job as an early childhood educator in 2019, she was suffering from depression and burnout. “There were some days when I’d just forget to eat,” she says.

Her doctor prescribed anti­depressants, and she began to feel functional again. Then came the pandemic and multiple lockdowns, causing more stress. Fortunately, Abeysinghe and her husband, who have two children, also decided to adopt a nine-month-old terrier-lab mix named Suki.

“We thought having a dog would give us something to do while we’re at home, and she has just transformed our lives,” Abeysinghe says. “I feel so lifted by her joy, energy, and unconditional love. I’ve even told my doctor I don’t think I need my medication anymore.”

Several studies have shown that pet ownership benefits people with depression, anxiety, PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), schizophrenia, and other long-term mental health conditions. Pet owners themselves report that their animal pals provide uncon­ditional emotional support, foster self-acceptance, help them form social bonds, and serve as distrac­tions from upsetting symptoms or episodes.

Your pet might even be a val­uable mindfulness coach. “If I’m awake with insomnia at night, my bunny Gus will sit by me and let me stroke him,” says Hina Low, a 30-year-old banking assistant in Toronto who suffers from bipolar disorder. “It’s like a meditation ex­ercise. I focus on his soft fur, the warmth of his body, and the feeling of his breathing.”

All in All, to support pets, veterinary medicines and care are the most crucial elements for veterinarians. It helps pet owners in keeping their animals healthy and free from diseases. The med­icines help in lowering the pain of suffering animals and therefore treat the animals from sickness or illness. Now that you know more about the magic of shelter pets, go forth and adopt! Not only is it a great choice for you and your new furry friend, but adopting also helps nationwide. Together, the organizations like Greater Good Charities and other Animal Health Care Centers that are now present across the world are working to provide emergency relief grants to shelters for foster recruitment, temporary staffing, medical sup­port, and more so they can keep their doors open and save the lives in their care.

Reference: Reader’s Digest (Canada) July & Aug 2022