Pets can add fun, companionship and a feeling of safety to your life. Before getting a pet, think carefully about which animal is best for your family. What is each family member looking for in a pet? Who will take care of it? Does anyone have pet allergies? What type of animal suits your lifestyle and budget?

Once you own a pet, keep it healthy. Know the signs of medical problems. Take your pet to the veterinarian if you notice:

• Loss of appetite
• Drinking a lot of water
• Gaining or losing a lot of weight quickly
• Strange behavior
• Being sluggish and tired
• Trouble getting up or down
• Strange lumps

Nothing compares to the joy of coming home to a loyal companion. The unconditional love of a pet can do more than keep you company. Pets may also decrease stress, improve heart health, and even help children with their emotional and social skills.

An estimated 68% of U.S. households have a pet. But who benefits from an animal? And which type of pet brings health benefits?

Over the past 10 years, NIH has partnered with the Mars Corporation’s WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition to answer questions like these by funding research studies.

Scientists are looking at what the potential physical and mental health benefits are for different animals—from fish to guinea pigs to dogs and cats.

Research on human-animal interactions is still relatively new. Some studies have shown positive health effects, but the results have been mixed.

Interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood.

The NIH/Mars Partnership is funding a range of studies focused on the relationships we have with animals. For example, researchers are looking into how animals might influence child development. They’re studying animal interactions with kids who have autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other conditions.

“There’s not one answer about how a pet can help somebody with a specific condition,” explains Dr. Layla Esposito, who oversees NIH’s Human-Animal Interaction Research Program. “Is your goal to increase physical activity? Then you might benefit from owning a dog. You have to walk a dog several times a day and you’re going to increase physical activity. If your goal is reducing stress, sometimes watching fish swim can result in a feeling of calmness. So there’s no one type fits all.”

NIH is funding large-scale surveys to find out the range of pets people live with and how their relationships with their pets relate to health.

“We’re trying to tap into the subjective quality of the relationship with the animal—that part of the bond that people feel with animals—and how that translates into some of the health benefits,” explains Dr. James Griffin, a child development expert at NIH.

Animals can serve as a source of comfort and support. Therapy dogs are especially good at this. They’re sometimes brought into hospitals or nursing homes to help reduce patients’ stress and anxiety.

“Dogs are very present. If someone is struggling with something, they know how to sit there and be loving,” says Dr. Ann Berger, a physician and researcher at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. “Their attention is focused on the person all the time.”

Berger works with people who have cancer and terminal illnesses. She teaches them about mindfulness to help decrease stress and manage pain.

“The foundations of mindfulness include attention, intention, compassion, and awareness,” Berger says. “All of those things are things that animals bring to the table. People kind of have to learn it. Animals do this innately.”

Researchers are studying the safety of bringing animals into hospital settings because animals may expose people to more germs. A current study is looking at the safety of bringing dogs to visit children with cancer, Esposito says. Scientists will be testing the children’s hands to see if there are dangerous levels of germs transferred from the dog after the visit.

Dogs may also aid in the classroom. One study found that dogs can help children with ADHD focus their attention. Researchers enrolled two groups of children diagnosed with ADHD into 12-week group therapy sessions. The first group of kids read to a therapy dog once a week for 30 minutes. The second group read to puppets that looked like dogs.

Kids who read to the real animals showed better social skills and more sharing, cooperation, and volunteering. They also had fewer behavioral problems.

Another study found that children with autism spectrum disorder were calmer while playing with guinea pigs in the classroom. When the children spent 10 minutes in a supervised group playtime with guinea pigs, their anxiety levels dropped. The children also had better social interactions and were more engaged with their peers. The researchers suggest that the animals offered unconditional acceptance, making them a calm comfort to the children.

“Animals can become a way of building a bridge for those social interactions,” Griffin says. He adds that researchers are trying to better understand these effects and who they might help.

Animals may help you in other unexpected ways. A recent study showed that caring for fish helped teens with diabetes better manage their disease. Researchers had a group of teens with type 1 diabetes care for a pet fish twice a day by feeding and checking water levels. The caretaking routine also included changing the tank water each week. This was paired with the children reviewing their blood glucose (blood sugar) logs with parents.

Researchers tracked how consistently these teens checked their blood glucose. Compared with teens who weren’t given a fish to care for, fish-keeping teens were more disciplined about checking their own blood glucose levels, which is essential for maintaining their health.

While pets may bring a wide range of health benefits, an animal may not work for everyone. Recent studies suggest that early exposure to pets may help protect young children from developing allergies and asthma. But for people who are allergic to certain animals, having pets in the home can do more harm than good.

Pets also bring new responsibilities. Knowing how to care for and feed an animal is part of owning a pet. NIH/Mars funds studies looking into the effects of human-animal interactions for both the pet and the person.

Remember that animals can feel stressed and fatigued, too. It’s important for kids to be able to recognize signs of stress in their pet and know when not to approach. Animal bites can cause serious harm.

“Dog bite prevention is certainly an issue parents need to consider, especially for young children who don’t always know the boundaries of what’s appropriate to do with a dog,” Esposito explains.

Researchers will continue to explore the many health effects of having a pet. “We’re trying to find out what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s safe—for both the humans and the animals,” Esposito says.

Health Risks from Your Pet

Kids, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems are at greater risk for getting sick from animals. Take these steps to reduce your risk:

• Wash your hands thoroughly after contact with animals.
• Keep your pet clean and healthy, and keep vaccinations up to date.
• Supervise children when they’re interacting with animals.
• Prevent kids from kissing their pets or putting their hands or other objects in their mouths after touching animals.
• Avoid changing litter boxes during pregnancy. Problems with pregnancy may occur from exposure to toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease spread through the feces of infected cats.

Studies have shown that the bond between people and their pets can increase fitness, lower stress, and bring happiness to their owners. But there’s something else you should know.

Pets sometimes carry germs that can make people sick. The diseases people get from animals are known as zoonotic (zoe-oh-NOT-ic) diseases.

Antibiotics save lives, but anytime they are used, they can lead to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is when germs like bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. It means the germs are not killed and continue to grow. Antibiotic resistance can affect the health of both people and animals. Resistant germs can spread between people, animals, and the environment. Everyone can help improve antibiotic prescribing and use. This will help keep us healthy now, fight antibiotic resistance, and ensure that these lifesaving antibiotics will be available for future generations.

How pet owners can help use antibiotics responsibly

• Ask your veterinarian:
  • About preventing common infections with good hygiene, nutrition, vaccinations, and proper pet care.
  • If tests have been done to make sure the right drug is chosen for your pet.
• Use antibiotics only when needed, and follow your veterinarian’s directions.
• Store antibiotics safely in your home, so that children and pets do not accidentally take medicine not meant for them.
• Dispose of antibiotics properly, do not flush them. Medicine take-back programs are a good way to safely dispose of most types of unneeded or expired drugs. Experts are working to better understand antibiotic resistance in the environment (e.g., water, soil) and its possible impact on people.
• Talk with your veterinarian about using antibiotics responsibly to keep people and pets healthy.

What to know when your veterinarian diagnoses your pet with an infection, including antibiotic-resistant infections

• Your veterinarian might need to perform additional tests to be sure the correct drug is chosen to treat your pet.
• Resistant infections may take longer to treat and can be more expensive.
• Talk to your veterinarian about preventing germs from spreading to other pets or people in your home.

Regularly wash your hands when handling, caring for, and cleaning up after animals or their supplies (food dishes, toys, beds) to help prevent germs from spreading to you and others.

The bad news: Heartworm disease can be fatal to dogs, cats, and ferrets. 
The good news: You can protect your pet from this disease.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Heartworms can infect your pet year-round and preventing them is much easier, and healthier, for your pet than getting heartworms in the first place or treating heartworm disease afterward. Year-round prevention is key to keeping your pet heartworm free. 

What are heartworms and how do pets get them

Heartworms are parasitic worms spread by infected mosquitoes. The parasites can cause severe disease and even death in dogs, cats, and other species of mammals, including ferrets. 

The heartworm larvae enter the pet’s body through the mosquito bite and then move into the bloodstream, eventually infecting the animal’s heart and lung arteries and growing up to 12-inches long.

The disease is not contagious from one pet to another, and heartworms in people are very rare.

Early signs of heartworm disease in pets are subtle and can be missed. As the disease progresses, pets may have a persistent cough, tiredness after mild to moderate activity, trouble breathing, and a decreased appetite. If left untreated, heartworm disease will damage the animal’s heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys, eventually causing death.

Use heartworm prevention medication year-round

Although there are fewer mosquitoes in the winter, there is still a risk that your pet could get heartworms if you stop giving heartworm prevention medication during this season. That’s one reason veterinarians strongly recommend pets receive heartworm prevention medication year-round. 

Veterinarians have reported heartworm disease in pets in all 50 states. Living in a state with a colder climate doesn’t mean that your pet is safe. Pets must have the proper amount of heartworm prevention medication in their blood for it to work correctly. If mosquitoes emerge early in the year, pets that haven’t received heartworm prevention medication during the winter run the risk of getting heartworms.

Depending on the animal species, heartworm prevention medications may come as oral, injectable, or topical products. However, they all only target heartworm larvae, not adults.

Dogs: Testing for heartworms is important

Be sure to ask your veterinarian to test your dog before starting or restarting a heartworm prevention medication. Dogs that have heartworms may not show symptoms right away, and your veterinarian can test your dog with a simple blood test.

And even if you’ve kept your dog on a steady regimen of heartworm prevention medication, yearly testing for the parasites is still recommended. No drug is 100% effective, and you want to make sure the drug is working. And sometimes life gets busy, and you may forget to give the heartworm prevention medication for too long, leaving your pet vulnerable to heartworms. 

Keeping your dog on heartworm prevention medication year-round, combined with annual testing, helps ensure any infection is caught promptly, thus minimizing harm to your dog from the infection.

If your dog becomes infected when he or she is not on a heartworm prevention medication and you later resume giving the medication without first testing your dog for heartworms, you may be putting him or her in danger.

Also, heartworm prevention medication will not kill adult heartworms, which will continue to reproduce. When a non-infected mosquito bites a heartworm-infected dog, the can mosquito become infected and can pass on heartworm larvae when it bites another unprotected dog, continuing the heartworm disease cycle. The goal of heartworm prevention medication is to kill heartworms at a very early stage inside the dog before they become adults and begin reproducing. Once a dog has adult heartworms, the worms have to be killed using an FDA-approved arsenic-containing drug, a potentially dangerous treatment process.

Cats and Ferrets: Indoor pets also need heartworm prevention medication

Mosquitoes can easily get into your home through open doors and windows. Even if your cat or ferret rarely or never goes outside, heartworm prevention medication is important. 

Heartworms don’t survive as well in cats as they do in dogs, but cats are still at risk for heartworm disease. However, diagnosing heartworms in cats is not as easy, and testing is not as simple, or accurate, as in dogs. In addition to blood work, testing in cats can include X-rays and ultrasounds.

Unlike for heartworm disease in dogs, there is no FDA-approved treatment for killing adult heartworms in cats. Because of the additional complications associated with diagnosing and treating cats, prevention becomes the best weapon against heartworms in cats. It’s best to place both indoor and outdoor cats on a year-round, FDA-approved medication to prevent heartworms.

Testing for heartworms in ferrets is also not as easy, simple, or reliable as in dogs. There is no FDA-approved treatment for killing adult heartworms in ferrets either, so prevention is critical.

Useful tips

• Talk to your veterinarian about when and how often to test your pet for heartworms.
• Talk to your veterinarian about which type of heartworm prevention medication is best for your pet. For example, if you have young children, be careful when using topical treatments, which are applied to the skin, and follow the directions carefully to minimize your child’s exposure.
• Heartworm prevention medications are prescription only—so beware of internet sites or stores that will sell you these medications without a prescription.
• The FDA monitors approved heartworm prevention medications for problems that may occur in pets, such as unexpected side effects. The FDA encourages you to work with your veterinarian to report any side effects to the drug company that manufactured the heartworm prevention medication. 

Dogs are very susceptible to tick bites and tickborne diseases. Vaccines are not available for most of the tickborne diseases that dogs can get, and they don’t keep the dogs from bringing ticks into your home. For these reasons, it’s important to use a tick preventive product on your dog.

Tick bites on dogs may be hard to detect. Signs of tickborne disease may not appear for 7-21 days or longer after a tick bite, so watch your dog closely for changes in behavior or appetite if you suspect that your pet has been bitten by a tick.

Talk to your veterinarian about:

• The best tick prevention products for your dog
• Tickborne diseases in your area

To further reduce the chances that a tick bite will make your dog sick:

• Check your pets for ticks daily, especially after they spend time outdoors.
• If you find a tick on your pet, remove it right away.
• Reduce tick habitat in your yard.

Note: Cats are extremely sensitive to a variety of chemicals. Do not apply any tick prevention products to your cats without first asking your veterinarian!

Preventing injuries from pets can help you both stay safe

Any pet can bite or scratch – even the most gentle, trusted pets. Pets can bite or scratch when they’re scared, sick, defending food or toys, or startled – accidents happen! Scratches and bites from pets can cause injury and they can spread germs that lead to infection, even if the wound doesn’t seem serious. Children are the most common victims of pet scratches and bites, especially from dogs.

Use the tips below to learn how to keep everyone safe.

Be a responsible pet owner

Understanding your pet and researching the best ways to care for them can help keep you both safe. For example:

• Give your pet proper veterinary care, attention, and plenty of food, water, exercise, and training if needed.
• Know the right way to hold small pets like hamsters and rabbits without scaring or hurting them.
• Socialize dogs to help them safely interact with people and other animals, and keep them on leash when in public.
• Handle pets often so they become used to being held.
• Feed snakes with tongs to reduce the risk of bites.

Ways to prevent pet bites and scratches

• Don’t approach unfamiliar animals, no matter how friendly they look.
• If an animal is with its owner, ask before touching it.
• Pay attention to body language and look for cues that a pet is scared, hurt, or defensive before handling them.
• Don’t play rough with pets or encourage play biting.
• Don’t disturb animals when they are eating, sleeping, or caring for babies.
• Don’t kiss or hold small animals near your face (like reptiles and small mammals).
• Make sure an animal can see you before you touch it or pick it up. Surprised animals can bite out of fear.
• Always supervise children when they are around animals, and teach kids how to properly interact with animals.

What to do if a pet scratches or bites

If you’re bitten or scratched by an animal:

• Wash wounds with warm, soapy water right away.
• For minor wounds, cover with a clean bandage.
• For deeper wounds, apply pressure until bleeding stops. Get medical care if you have a serious, deep wound or a wound that won’t stop bleeding or becomes red, painful, warm, or swollen.
• Get medical care if you don’t know whether the animal is vaccinated against rabies or if it’s been more than 5 years since your last tetanus shot.

Introduction

Millions of Americans live with pets despite being allergic to them. Any furry animal, most commonly cats and dogs, may trigger allergy symptoms like sneezing or red, itchy eyes. Pet allergies can also make asthma harder to control.

You may think animal allergies are caused by fur, but that fuzz and fluff is merely a carrier for allergens.¹ Pet dander, the source of allergens, is composed of tiny, even microscopic, proteins from flecks of skin shed by pets.

• Cat allergens are found in cat saliva, which sticks to fur when cats lick themselves. They are also released by glands in the skin and shed as dander or secreted in the urine of male cats. The allergens are buoyant, which means they easily remain airborne.
• Dog allergens are also present in dander, as well as saliva, urine, and blood. Although allergen levels can differ among breeds,² all breeds, even hairless dogs, can trigger allergies.

Pet allergens are easily spread. They can circulate in air and remain on carpets and furniture for months. These small particles may also be carried on clothing into areas where there are no pets.

Preventive Strategies

If you suspect you or a loved one is allergic to a pet, you can get tested.

There are many options for reducing exposure to pet-related allergens, and the following may help:

• Keep pets out of the bedroom where an allergic person sleeps
• Encase mattresses and pillows in special allergen-proof fabric covers
• Remove or replace carpets
• Vacuum regularly, but when the person with allergies is not present, using a cleaner with a HEPA filter (high-efficiency particulate air, which is a type of mechanical air filter) or a double-layered micro filter bag
• Use a portable air cleaner with a HEPA filter for the allergic person's bedroom
• Avoid certain ionic air cleaners that can generate harmful ozone
• Keep pets off furniture and out of cars
• Bathe dogs, which may decrease allergens if done at least twice a week for effectiveness
• After playing with your pet, wash your hands and clothes to remove pet allergens
• Avoid contact with soiled litter
• Dust often with a damp cloth

Asthma and Its Environmental Triggers

What Is NIEHS Doing?

Pet allergens in homes – Scientists at NIEHS found that more than 50% of households have a dog, cat, or both. Nationwide studies showed dog and cat allergens were present in almost all U.S. homes, even those without pets.

Endotoxins and pets – NIEHS scientists determined that people who have more contact with house-dust endotoxins, particles created when bacteria die and disintegrate, may wheeze more. These people are more likely to be younger, have lower family income and Hispanic ethnicity, live with dogs, cats, or smokers, and have cockroaches and carpeted floors in the home. Another NIEHS study showed that pet allergens along with endotoxins in a home could make wheezing and asthma worse.

Age and allergens – The effects of allergens on children may depend on age. NIEHS-funded researchers found that inner-city children who had more contact with specific allergens and bacteria before age 1 were less likely to have wheezing and allergy symptoms when they were older. This finding suggests such early-life exposure may help build a defense in the body against developing wheezing and allergic diseases.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, we’ve learned a lot about how the virus that causes COVID-19 can affect animals. Animals around the world have been infected with the virus, including pets (cats, dogs, ferrets), captive animals in zoos and aquariums (big cats, gorillas, otters, a coatimundi, a fishing cat, hyenas), farmed animals (mink), and wild animals (white-tailed deer). Although the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is low, pet owners can spread the virus to their pets. Read below to learn how to protect your pets.

Most pets get infected through close contact with a person

More than 200 pets (cats, dogs, and a ferret) are known to have been infected in the United States, but the number is likely much higher. We know that most pets become infected after close contact with an owner or another household member with COVID-19. Close contact can mean petting, licking, kissing, snuggling, sharing food, and sleeping in the same bed.

How to protect your pets

Avoid contact with pets and other animals if you have COVID-19, just like you would with people.

• When possible, have another member of your household care for your pets while you have COVID-19.
• If you must care for your pet or be around animals while you have COVID-19, wear a well-fitting mask and wash your hands before and after you interact with them.

What to do if you think your pet has COVID-19

Pets infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 may or may not get sick. Of the pets that have gotten sick, most only had mild illness and fully recovered. Serious illness in pets is extremely rare but has happened. Pets with the virus may have fever, coughing, difficulty breathing, lack of energy, sneezing, runny nose, eye discharge, vomiting, or diarrhea

If your pet is sick and you think it might be from COVID-19, talk to your veterinarian.

President John F. Kennedy once said, “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” Yes, it is important to thank those who impact our lives in a positive way. Whether it’s your parents, teachers, doctors, police, or firemen, they all deserve our gratitude. Let’s also remember the veterinarians who make our world a safer and healthier place.

The next time you’re playing with your dog Jazz, think about the small animal veterinarian who keeps Jazz healthy and active. When you take Jazz to the animal hospital for his vaccines or because he has diarrhea from worms, remember to say, “Thank you!” to your veterinarian. Every day, veterinarians work hard to prevent and treat diseases in our pets. Some diseases, including some worm infections, can be passed from pets to people. By sending you home with a medicine for Jazz to get rid of his worms, your veterinarian is protecting both your dog and you.

The next time you drink a big glass of cold milk, think about the large animal veterinarian who keeps Buttercup healthy so she produces nutritious milk. When your class takes a field trip to the local dairy farm, remember to say, “Thank you!” to the farm’s veterinarian. Every day, veterinarians work hard to protect the health of dairy cows, pigs, and other animals that give us food. Some diseases in people, called foodborne diseases, are caused by eating or drinking food that contains harmful germs that can make you sick. By keeping Buttercup and the rest of the herd healthy, the farm’s veterinarian is protecting both the dairy cows and the milk you drink.

We should also say, “Thank you!” to the many veterinarians who work in the federal government. These veterinarians may not be so easy to pick out. They usually don’t wear white lab coats or mucky coveralls with stethoscopes hanging around their necks. They usually don’t work in animal hospitals or on farms. Most federal veterinarians wear typical “going-to-the-office” clothes and work in office buildings. Every day, they work behind the scenes to protect our health and the health of our animals.

Federal veterinarians who work at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have many important jobs. They make sure the medicines we give our animals are safe and do what they’re supposed to do. They also keep the food we eat and the food we feed our animals safe.

When you give Jazz his worm medicine, thank federal veterinarians for making sure it is safe and works. When you bake a cake for your mother’s birthday, also thank federal veterinarians for making sure the milk and eggs you use are safe.

So, let’s join together to thank veterinarians for all they do!