Sharing one’s home with a cat or dog may decrease the risk of infectious diseases in children—including ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and gastroenteritis.
Are Cats or Dogs More Protective for Children’s Health?
4.8/5 - (22 votes)
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
To my surprise, “studies of the effects of pets on human health and well-being have [evidently] produced a mishmash of conflicting results.” Some studies show pets lower your blood pressure—in fact, in some cases, more than even drugs do. But, other studies found no effect, or even that pet owners have higher blood pressure.
Does having a pet increase your survival after a heart attack, or decrease your survival after a heart attack? One area where there’s a bit more consistency is children’s health. The presence of furry pets in the home appears to cut the odds of acute respiratory illnesses in half, and may even decrease the risk of getting the common cold.
But, which pets work better? Cats like my Charlotte, Emily, and Ralph, or dogs like my Lilly? Published recently in the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: “Respiratory Tract Illnesses During the First Year of Life: Effect of Dog and Cat Contacts.” “[T]he first study that has evaluated the significance of pet contacts during childhood for the development of respiratory tract [symptoms and] infections,” including ear infections.
They found “dog and cat contacts during early infancy may be associated with less [illness] in general…and…may have a protective effect on respiratory tract symptoms and infections.” But as to which is better, “In comparisons between cat and dog contacts, dog contacts showed a more significant protective role on respiratory infectious disease…” “[C]hildren having a dog at home were significantly healthier, had less frequent [ear infections], and tended to need fewer courses of antibiotics during the study period than children without dog contacts.”
“Cat ownership seemed to also have an overall protective effect, although weaker than dog ownership, on the infectious health of infants.” Though, when it comes to protecting children from tummy aches, both cats and dogs appeared equally effective in reducing the risks of gastroenteritis.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- C. Grüber, T. Keil, M. Kulig, S. Roll, U. Wahn, V. Wahn. History of respiratory infections in the first 12 yr among children from a birth cohort. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2008 19(6):505 - 512
- J. S. Heyworth, H. Cutt, G. Glonek. Does dog or cat ownership lead to increased gastroenteritis in young children in South Australia? Epidemiol. Infect. 2006 134(5):926 - 934
- E. Bergroth, S. Remes, J. Pekkanen, T. Kauppila, G. Büchele, L. Keski-Nisula. Respiratory tract illnesses during the first year of life: Effect of dog and cat contacts. Pediatrics 2012 130(2):211 - 220
- L. K. Koivusilta, A. Ojanlatva. To have or not to have a pet for better health? PLoS ONE 2006 1(NA):e109
- G. B. Parker, A. Gayed, C. A. Owen, M. P. Hyett, T. M. Hilton, G. A. Heruc. Survival following an acute coronary syndrome: A pet theory put to the test. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2010 121(1):65 - 70
- K. Hatakka, L. Piirainen, S. Pohjavuori, T. Poussa, E. Savilahti, R. Korpela. Factors associated with acute respiratory illness in day care children. Scand. J. Infect. Dis. 2010 42(9):704 - 711
- H. Herzog. The Impact of Pets on Human Health and Psychological Well-Being: Fact, Fiction, or Hypothesis? Current Directions in Psychological Science 2011 20(236):NA
- K. Allen, B. E. Shykoff, J. L. Izzo. Pet Ownership, but Not ACE Inhibitor Therapy, Blunts Home Blood Pressure Responses to Mental Stress. Hypertension. 2001 38(NA):815-820
- Straatman, Ilanka; Hanson, Eamonn K.S.; Endenburg, Nienke; Mol, Jan A. The Influence of a Dog on Male Students During a Stressor. Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 10, Number 4, 1997, pp. 191-197(7)
- Wright JC, Moore D. Animal companions and one-year survival of patients after discharge. Public Health Rep. 1982 Jul-Aug;97(4):380-1.
Thanks to all my furry babies—all rescues!
Image thanks to Petteri Sulonen via Wikimedia
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
To my surprise, “studies of the effects of pets on human health and well-being have [evidently] produced a mishmash of conflicting results.” Some studies show pets lower your blood pressure—in fact, in some cases, more than even drugs do. But, other studies found no effect, or even that pet owners have higher blood pressure.
Does having a pet increase your survival after a heart attack, or decrease your survival after a heart attack? One area where there’s a bit more consistency is children’s health. The presence of furry pets in the home appears to cut the odds of acute respiratory illnesses in half, and may even decrease the risk of getting the common cold.
But, which pets work better? Cats like my Charlotte, Emily, and Ralph, or dogs like my Lilly? Published recently in the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: “Respiratory Tract Illnesses During the First Year of Life: Effect of Dog and Cat Contacts.” “[T]he first study that has evaluated the significance of pet contacts during childhood for the development of respiratory tract [symptoms and] infections,” including ear infections.
They found “dog and cat contacts during early infancy may be associated with less [illness] in general…and…may have a protective effect on respiratory tract symptoms and infections.” But as to which is better, “In comparisons between cat and dog contacts, dog contacts showed a more significant protective role on respiratory infectious disease…” “[C]hildren having a dog at home were significantly healthier, had less frequent [ear infections], and tended to need fewer courses of antibiotics during the study period than children without dog contacts.”
“Cat ownership seemed to also have an overall protective effect, although weaker than dog ownership, on the infectious health of infants.” Though, when it comes to protecting children from tummy aches, both cats and dogs appeared equally effective in reducing the risks of gastroenteritis.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- C. Grüber, T. Keil, M. Kulig, S. Roll, U. Wahn, V. Wahn. History of respiratory infections in the first 12 yr among children from a birth cohort. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2008 19(6):505 - 512
- J. S. Heyworth, H. Cutt, G. Glonek. Does dog or cat ownership lead to increased gastroenteritis in young children in South Australia? Epidemiol. Infect. 2006 134(5):926 - 934
- E. Bergroth, S. Remes, J. Pekkanen, T. Kauppila, G. Büchele, L. Keski-Nisula. Respiratory tract illnesses during the first year of life: Effect of dog and cat contacts. Pediatrics 2012 130(2):211 - 220
- L. K. Koivusilta, A. Ojanlatva. To have or not to have a pet for better health? PLoS ONE 2006 1(NA):e109
- G. B. Parker, A. Gayed, C. A. Owen, M. P. Hyett, T. M. Hilton, G. A. Heruc. Survival following an acute coronary syndrome: A pet theory put to the test. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2010 121(1):65 - 70
- K. Hatakka, L. Piirainen, S. Pohjavuori, T. Poussa, E. Savilahti, R. Korpela. Factors associated with acute respiratory illness in day care children. Scand. J. Infect. Dis. 2010 42(9):704 - 711
- H. Herzog. The Impact of Pets on Human Health and Psychological Well-Being: Fact, Fiction, or Hypothesis? Current Directions in Psychological Science 2011 20(236):NA
- K. Allen, B. E. Shykoff, J. L. Izzo. Pet Ownership, but Not ACE Inhibitor Therapy, Blunts Home Blood Pressure Responses to Mental Stress. Hypertension. 2001 38(NA):815-820
- Straatman, Ilanka; Hanson, Eamonn K.S.; Endenburg, Nienke; Mol, Jan A. The Influence of a Dog on Male Students During a Stressor. Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 10, Number 4, 1997, pp. 191-197(7)
- Wright JC, Moore D. Animal companions and one-year survival of patients after discharge. Public Health Rep. 1982 Jul-Aug;97(4):380-1.
Thanks to all my furry babies—all rescues!
Image thanks to Petteri Sulonen via Wikimedia
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Title
Are Cats or Dogs More Protective for Children’s Health?
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
That’s Lilly at the beginning of the video—is she a cutie pie, or what?!
Protection from respiratory infections and tummy ailments is one thing, but what about cancer? See Pets & Human Lymphoma. Of course, it’s best if you don’t eat them—see Foodborne Rabies.
And, be sure to check out my associated blog posts for further context: Which Pets Improve Children’s Health?; Schoolchildren Should Drink More Water; and Probiotics During Cold Season?
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