Scientific research shows that people with pets can live healthier, happier lives. This is a sampling of recent research on the human-animal health connection.

 Basic Health Benefits

1. Pet owners feel less afraid of being a victim of crime when walking with a dog or sharing a residence with a dog. (Serpel, 1990)
2. Pet owners have fewer minor health problems (Friedmann, 1990, Serpel, 1990).
3. Pet owners have better psychological well-being (Serpel, 1990).
4. Pets decrease feeling of loneliness and isolation (Kidd, 1994).
5. Pets are a major source of support and increase the perception of the ability to cope. (Siegel, 1999, Carmack, 1991).
6. Pet owners have better physical health due to exercise with their pets. (Serpel, 1990).

Heart Health

1. People with borderline hypertension had lower blood pressure on days they took their dogs to work. (Allen, K. 2001).
2. Pet owners have lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels than non-owners (Anderson, 1992).
3. Having a pet may decrease heart attack mortality by 3%. This translates into 30,000 lives saved annually (Friedman, 1980).

1. Animal Assisted Activity can effectively reduce the loneliness of residents in long-term care facilities. (Banks, 2002).
2. Medication costs dropped from an average of $3.80 per patient per day to just $1.18 per patient per day in new nursing home facilities in New York, Missouri and Texas that have animals and plants as an integral part of the environment. (Montague, 1995).
3. Pets in nursing homes increase social and verbal interactions adjunct to other therapy. (Fick, 1992).
4. Seniors who own pets cope better with stress life events without entering the healthcare system. (Raina, 1998). "Delta Society/Pet Partners® Website Research"