Health correlates of pet ownership from national surveys.

Abstract

This chapter reviews evidence from nationally representative surveys, including longitudinal panel surveys, about links between dog and cat ownership and adult health, focusing on three specific issues: (a) determining whether the frequently reported link between pet ownership and better health is causal or merely correlational—could it be that the apparent link results from pet owners being healthier in the first place, rather than benefiting from the presence of a pet; (b) obtaining improved estimates of the magnitudes of relationships between pet ownership and better health outcomes; and (c) estimating national health cost savings resulting from pet ownership. (PsycInfo Database Record (c..