The Benefits of Pets

 

Benefits of Having Pets

Why do people keep pets? Is there any benefit other than entertainment? How do I know when, where, what, and how to keep them? 

From my personal experience, there are a lot of benefits to owning a pet. Not just to have something alive around that you can watch for fun. But to really build a connection with your pets. And that’s what I will discuss today. 

Mental Health Benefits 

It comes as no surprise that animals can have a positive impact on your mental health. I mean, there are animals specifically trained to help you navigate mental illnesses! 

But what might surprise you is just how much of an impact animals can have on a person. 

Nearly 84% of people have an improved cognitive state, when they have a pet. That means that the majority of people around the world feel better when they keep an animal in their homes. 

According to Psychiatry.com, the exact range falls between 62% and 68%. 

This is because of a few key factors.

 

• Pets bring companionship; the human species is one that thrives on relationships. We hate being alone. About 75% of people in the US alone suffer from some kind of mental health issues, depression and anxiety being the most prevalent, and there are studies that show owning a cat or a dog can significantly lower both disorders in people.   

• Pets promote care; when you have a dependent living in your house, even if it’s something small like a mouse, you take care of it. This can bring out healthy caretaking habits not only towards other living things and environments, but for yourself as well. Having a sense of responsibility can give a person a sense of purpose. *Now if you struggle with mental health, like I do, there can be times when this care feels tedious, but it still promotes a healthy routine for you to establish even if you don’t have one in other aspects of your life. 

• They’re fun! One key aspect to how pets improve our lives is that they can be very fun and interesting to interact with and watch. Like I said before, the human species requires relationships to thrive. And one way to build a relationship with your pet is to interact with them. Even if you can’t handle them entirely (like a mourning gecko) most pets are very personable and are fun to engage with. This improves your overall mood and makes you just… a happier person overall. 

  There is an uncountable number of pets a person can have. If you’re allergic to mammals, get a reptile. If you’re scared of reptiles, get a bird. Too lazy or busy for a bird? Get a fish. Are fish too boring? Get a cool bug! There is no excuse not to have a pet! Unless you just don’t want one, which is totally valid too. 

So, as stated, there are many mental benefits to having a pet. But there are also physical benefits to having a pet.    

   

Physical Health Benefits 

Just like with mental health, pets can improve your physical health too. A survey done by the Human-Animal Bond Research Institute shows that 76% of people believe that their pets improve their health. 

But it's not all opinions! 

Being exposed to animals, especially at a young age can build up healthy immune responses to external threats like germs, allergens, and chronic conditions like asthma. Dogs and cats have ways of determining when something is physically wrong with us, just by sniffing us. 

The lives saved by medical service dogs every year is roughly 4,800,000,000, that's a lot of people! 

Service animals can greatly decrease the hardships of several disabilities such as blindness, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, arthritis, and even dementia and Parkinson’s. 

Having a pet means you’re active!

Having a pet means you are active throughout the day or week. You are feeding them, cleaning up after them, playing and interacting with them. This keeps your body moving and actually burns calories! Not a bunch but still (for tips on that see my fitness blog.) 

It's good for your memory, as you have to remember to feed and interact with them. And they can be very good at helping to deal with social anxiety. By building a relationship with an animal, you are learning to make connections with other living things. By extension, this could mean other humans. 

So yes, having a pet has so many benefits to it. Too many for me to write out in a single blog post.                    

In Conclusion

I love animals….

I think it’s safe to say that about 99.9% of people feel the same way at least on some level. When I started this blog, it was hard for me to come up with what kind of animals to write about. 

Do I write about dogs? Cats? Reptiles? Birds? Bugs?? There’s just so many types to choose from. So, I didn’t choose, this blog will cover every animal that you can keep as a pet. 

I will be posting informational blogs, top 11 lists because 10 isn’t good enough, and my experience with my own pets. As I’m writing this, that’s just two dogs and two cats. 

I am super excited for this blog, more than any other blog I am working on (and I have a few). 

I will update this blog every Sunday for the foreseeable future. If that changes, I will announce that, but for now, that’s when I will post, so stay tuned! 

Next post: 8/17/2025