Loyalty, warmth and genuineness are invaluable traits in a friend. Through the complexity of human interaction, these feelings of security can seem distant at times. The animals we welcome into our lives as pets not only provide us with these traits consistently but offer a healing presence.
The health benefits of living with a pet have long been assumed, but more recent studies have shed light on just how powerful the unconditional love of a pet can be. The National Institutes of Health funded a recent study that followed adults that had suffered a heart attack.
After a year, those that lived with a dog were significantly more likely to be alive than their pet-less peers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes pet ownership can contribute to reduced blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and feelings of loneliness. Depending upon the animal, pets can also offer us increased opportunities for cardiovascular exercise and social interaction.
Athletic dogs can encourage us to get outside and walk, run, hike and play, while dogs of any size can connect us with new friendships formed at parks and a variety of other public areas.
Caring for a pet during a time of depression or anxiety can also supply us with a sense of purpose, according to WebMD. As our pets depend upon us for their basic and emotional needs, we in turn can come to feel needed and wanted by our furry friends. During these darker periods in our lives, our pets reach us in our most intimate and isolated spaces.
One organization has realized the potential benefits of the human/animal relationship in a powerful way. Pets of the Homeless, a Nevada-based nonprofit, is acutely conscious of the sacrifices those experiencing homelessness make to care for their pets.
Because of the complex variety of issues that often contribute to the end-result of either brief, intermittent or long-term homelessness, pets present the nonjudgmental bond and healing these individuals are in need of. This bond is an essential contributing factor to the individual’s quality of life.
Therefore, by assisting those experiencing homelessness in caring for their beloved pets, Pets of the Homeless is providing indirect yet remarkable healing.
Pets can be a truly incredible presence in our lives. They love us in good times and in bad, and at our lowest moments they are overjoyed to see us. Animals judge us not by our appearances, our substance use issues, our depression or our current poverty, but by the character within us our culture seems so apt to bury.
One could argue that pets are blind in the most fortunate ways, unaffected by prejudice or politics. From this vein, our pets can teach us a thing or two about compassion and the human condition.
sjdickma@indiana.edu
@Samuel_Dickman
