Man’s Best Friend, Indeed

Researchers have again proved what we already knew – a dog’s a true friend, especially when we’re sick. He can also be a very new friend, as their study showed. And the pup doesn’t have to be one with ‘papers’ – mongrels do just as well.

Over 75 patients hospitalized with heart failure were divided into three groups. The first had well-trained dogs lie on their beds for 12 minutes, where they could be patted and have their ears scratched (the dogs’, that is); the dogs were accompanied by their trainers. The second group of patients was just visited by human volunteers, while the third had no visits.

Anxiety scores in the dog-visited patients dropped an average of 24%, compared with a fall of 10% in the human-visited patients, and a rise of 10% in those with no visitors. Improvements with dog-therapy were also seen in stress hormone (epinephrine) levels, lung small-vessel pressures, and blood pressure readings.

Similar findings have been reported for other conditions, but not in such a well-controlled study. As the main researcher said, “Dogs are a great comfort. They make people happier, calmer, and feel more loved. That is huge when you are scared and not feeling well.”

Comments

[Nancy Hall]

While I can speak from experience that pets can indeed lower blood pressure and give an overall feeling of well-being during stressful times; it should also be noted that that same pet can reek havoc on your blood pressure and emotional and physical state. Consider what happens to a human when their beloved pet is diagnosed with diabetes and you must inject insulin twice daily for years, watch as they become blind due to inoperable cateracts, and eventually lose them during surgery to remove said eye.

Having lost my precious 13-year-old Lacey (Bichon Frise) last month, I have recently noted the changes that occurred in me during her illness. I presume that the stress of having to constantly monitor her food intake, inject needles into her little body, and live for years without ONE night of uninterrupted sleep were certainly factors in a 20 pound weight gain, a diagnosis of high blood pressure, and a general feeling of anxiousness. After her death, I was unable to eat or sleep for three consecutive days and cried for a solid week. However, my blood pressure has returned to normal, I am sleeping throughout the night and my weight is reducing . While our little four legged "children" can certainly be calming and give us so many benefits -- so can they be responsible for devasting health problems.

I would be curious to see a study that shows the results of heart patients that are parted from their pets during hospitalization. Hospitals may be more inclined to allow "pet visitation hours".