Your pet: A help or a hazard?

Your pet: A help or a hazard?

(RNN) - They can provide unconditional love and unbiased companionship, but they are also a gateway for pests and disease.

Long-standing wisdom has maintained owning a pet is beneficial to the owner in numerous ways, from emotional therapy to physical benefits such as lower blood pressure, but those findings are being called in questioned by Western Carolina University psychology professor Harold Herzog in a recent article by Science Daily.

"I'm not trying to denigrate the role of animals in human life, I'm trying to do just the opposite," said Herzog, a pet owner. "It's entirely plausible that our pets really do provide medical and psychological benefits, but we just don't know how strong that effect is, what types of people it works for, and what the underlying biological and psychological mechanisms might be."

He wrote an article in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science saying there is "insufficient evidence" to support claims of increased qualify of life because of the presence of domesticated animals.

A simple Google search for pet owner health reveals multiple results of positive benefits, including one on the Centers for Disease Control website, which says pets can help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, as well provide more opportunities for exercise and socialization.

Stories of animals playing a role in the rescue of humans are commonplace, but stories of animals attacking humans, including their owners, are common as well.

On Aug. 4, KOLD News 13 in Tucson, AZ, reported that Michael Cook, 61, was attacked by his own pet pit bull. A witness said, "it literally looked like (the dog) was eating him." Cook had to have both his arms amputated after the attack, but died from liver failure Aug. 22. The dog was euthanized.

In June, a 5-year-old boy was killed and partially eaten by a dog in his Michigan home. The Associated Press reported in March a man's foot was partially eaten by his dog as he slept. In July, a Canadian a couple was discovered dead in their home, their seven dogs having feasted on their flesh after their deaths.

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But those cases are extreme, and Professor Charles Hendrix of the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine said the most common type of health issue associated with pet ownership is disease contraction, which he says is rare.

"Owning a well-trained dog or cat can be a healthy thing," Hendrix said. "We have seen that dogs are associated with losing weight and lower blood pressure and if you put a child with neurological defects on a horse, it helps to alleviate those things."

Law requires the vaccination of pets to ward off rabies, which Hendrix cited as the most common disease associated with animals, but that even without vaccination, spread of the disease is still less than 1 percent.

Hendrix, who said he often does crossword puzzles while holding his three-legged cat, said he has witnessed the benefits of animals personally and with clients.

"As a veterinarian, I can't prescribe anything for humans, but in some cases I can tell the owner to take the dog on more walks, and the human is a secondary beneficiary," Hendrix said.

In any event, the positive effects of animals on people has been observed as far back as 1859 when nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale wrote, " A small pet is often an excellent companion for the sick, for long chronic cases especially."

Herzog does not dispute the claims of people benefiting from animals, but in a separate article says statistics regarding negative aspects of pet ownership have been largely ignored.

"While the media abounds with stories extolling the health benefits of pets, studies in which pet ownership has been found to have no impact or even negative effects on human physical or mental health rarely make headlines," he said.

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