Pets Are Good for Your Health!

All that chatter about dogs being man's best friend may be true, but when it comes to improving a pet owner's health, you can add cats, horses, guinea pigs and a whole menagerie of domesticated animals to the list of good-for-you buddies.

Giving a pet the care and attention it deserves can benefit your heart, lower your blood pressure, strengthen bones, boost moods and improve your all-around quality of life, according to a growing body of research on the subject. No wonder hospitals and hospices are turning to Fido and company to ease patients' physical burdens, fears and loneliness.

And veterinarians are big proponents of inviting Lassie -- or a loyal pet just like her -- to come into your home. "Something as simple as coming home from work, slipping your pet in your lap and just petting them can lower your blood pressure tremendously," says Dr. Richard Koven, a Stamford-based veterinarian who, along with his wife, Helen, lives with two dogs. "I find when I just sit with my own pets for even a few minutes; I begin to relax and unwind."

Science supports Koven's personal and professional experiences.

In 1989 University of Buffalo researchers found acquiring cats and dogs helped reduce blood pressure levels in a group of hypertensive male and female New York City stockbrokers. Researchers concluded the main benefit for this group seemed to be the "social support" their pets provided as many of the participants were single professionals with high-pressure jobs and little free time.

Dedicated dog walkers spend more time walking than their urban neighbors without pets, according to a 2006 study conducted by the University of British Columbia. All that weight-bearing exercise, of course, is good for the bones and heart.

Geriatrics researchers at Saint Louis University found that nursing home residents visited by pets reported less loneliness.

One National institutes of Health study looked at data on men and women who had heart attacks and found one year later, dog owners were more likely to be alive.

Another NIH study found dog owners were less likely to be obese.

A recent Tufts University Veterinary Medicine Study found a startling result when a group of children who struggled with reading were paired with a canine pet: Their reading comprehension, fluency and stamina improved. One theory is that the animals calmed children who had reading anxiety.

Researchers at the University of Missouri found participants in a "Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound" program really did lose weight when they volunteered to walk shelter dogs.

While a lot of research has been focused on human-canine interactions, owners of all kinds of domesticated animals have life-affirming anecdotes about their furry, stress-busting friends.

Monica Kincaid, who lives in the Ridgefield area, adopted Muffin, a shelter cat, after she divorced in 2009 and entered into a generous joint custody arrangement with her ex-husband. Her children, now 10 and 12, usually spend three nights a week with their dad and four with her. Happy to keep her kids close to their father; Kincaid had no quibbles with the arrangements. "But those nights when I came home to an empty house were devastating at first," she says.

Her fluffy, friendly cat helped ease the transition. "I work and my kids are so busy I don't have time to walk an animal," she says. "Muffin was the perfect fit for our family and me. When she greets me at the door, I'm just so happy to have someone there. I actually think she helped me get through some of the low-grade depression that came from ending my marriage and, of course, missing the kids when they weren't here."

Dr. Jennifer Brett, a naturopathic physician and the director of the Acupuncture Institute at the University of Bridgeport. possesses a reservoir of clinically studied stress-busting tips, but she says riding and grooming her horse, Sierra, just may be "as effective as meditation."

Besides being excellent aerobic exercise, Brett says riding Sierra is good for strengthening her core and improving her attitude. "For one thing you have to pay attention when you ride," Brett says. "I can't be talking on my cell phone or thinking about grades and reports. I have to be present. I have to be focused. I have to sit straight and pay attention to my posture. It is a bit like yoga in that way. And of course, you can't really lie to a horse. They are intuitive. If you aren't focused when you ride, they'll know. If I'm thinking of super stressor things in my head, she could throw me to the ground. So for the time I'm riding, it's just me and her and not a whole lot of stress."

THE BONDS THAT HEAL

"I have seen with my own eyes just how beneficial a pet can be," says Don Smith, coordinator of the Healing Hounds program at Stamford Hospital.

In 2006, Smith (who is also Darien's Registrar of Voters) lost Bobbi, his wife of 52 years, after a prolonged battle with heart disease. "During that period she had 43 hospitalizations and, as you can imagine, like anyone who's that sick, she got depressed," Smith says.

During her stays, Stamford Hospital's Healing Hounds volunteers would visit Bobbi with their pets. "It changed her. There was a lightness and joy whenever she was around the animals," Smith says. He was so impressed with how the animals impacted his wife's sense of well-being that after her death, he became a Healing Hounds volunteer and eventually, the program's director. In that role Smith makes regular rounds at the hospital with his carefully trained whippets, Brasil and Canus. His experiences with healing canines has been so powerful that he's extended his work to include visiting children in therapeutic crisis programs as well as area students struggling with reading comprehension.

ABC's Diane Sawyer devoted a World News Tonight segment to the positive impact Smith's dogs had on an 8-year-old East Norwalk boy who struggled with halting reading but flourished after spending time with Brasil. "I think there's a simple explanation for why this connection with animals helps," Smith says. "Stroking the dog while he was reading just calmed that little boy down. He didn't have as much anxiety and he also had a friend to read to who wasn't going to embarrass him if he stumbled on a word."

Smith believes the research that suggests human-pet bonding increases levels of feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine in the blood. "I think it's fascinating -- just what happens when I walk down a hallway with the dogs," Smith says. "People smile. And that's enough to make you feel better, but what people really respond to is touch. I think just petting an animal forms a connection that makes people feel instantly better. It could be a dog, a guinea pig, a cat ... I think it's the physical connection that's most beneficial."

And an animal's need for love and attention seems to produce its own physical and psychic fringe benefits. Melissa Dickson, a fitness instructor who teaches classes such as mat Pilates at the Edge, takes vigorous daily walks in her Fairfield neighborhood with her dogs, Clark and Nellie. Although she does most of her cardio and weight training at the gym she says, "I believe you have to move your body every day and the same is true for your pet." Her walks with her animals inevitably do already-fit Dickson some extra good: "The dogs get to see something other than the four walls of the house and I think you could say the same for me." During her dogs' workouts, Dickson says she usually runs into a friend or acquaintance, catches up and it adds a welcome social bonus to her day. "I walk the dogs more for their health than mine, but it ends up benefitting me."

Dickson learned that lesson from her father, a life-long dog owner who lived to age 95. "His last dog died in May and he died in July. I believe the love and care he had for animals was a big part of his longevity."

Joanne Raus of Stamford became a national team leader for Small Paws Rescue, a nonprofit devoted to the rescue of abused, neglected and abandoned bichons, after her family adopted some pups in need and she "fell in love." "After a successful marriage and raising two great kids these dogs grounded me and gave me a new sense of purpose," says Raus. "Every time we help a dog who was a train wreck find a good home or recover from a trauma, I feel a tremendous amount of satisfaction. And they give us is a lot of unconditional love in return."

Of course there's a downside to taking on a pet project. Brett quips that for all the stress-busting good qualities of her horse and adopted shelter cat, "I have a lot of stress when I get my vet bills."

Veterinarian Koven says anyone who wants to bring an animal into their home needs to do a lot of research; approaching pet ownership with thoughtful consideration of their lifestyle, temperament and budget. "I always say God gave us the gift of pets, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone," he says. "You have to have enough disposable income to care for them properly, and enough time to give them love."

Only then, will they be a good investment in your health and well-being. HL