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

Understand the Risks and Benefits of Pets

There are many health benefits of owning a pet. They can increase opportunities to exercise, get outside, and socialize. Regular walking or playing with pets can decrease blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets can help manage loneliness and depression by giving us companionship. Most households in the United States have at least one pet.

Studies have shown that the bond between people and their pets is linked to several health benefits, including:

• Decreased blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD.
• Increased opportunities for exercise and outdoor activities; better cognitive function in older adults; and more opportunities to socialize

However, pets can sometimes carry harmful germs that can make us sick even when the pet appears healthy. The diseases people get from animals are called zoonotic (zoe-oh-NOT-ic) diseases. Below are some tips to help you and your family stay healthy while enjoying pets.

Pick the Right Pet

Before adopting a new pet, make sure that it is the right one for you and your family. Do some research beforehand about the specific needs of the animal. Ask yourself these questions before getting a pet:

• How long will this animal live?
• What does the pet eat?
• How much exercise does the pet need?
• How large will it become?
• How much will veterinary care cost?
• Do I have enough time to properly care for and clean up after the pet?
• What type of habitat does this pet need to be healthy?
• What type of exercise does this pet need?
• Are pets allowed in my house, apartment, or condominium?
• Are there young children, older people, or people with weak immune systems who will care for or be around the pet?

Some people are at higher risk for diseases animals can carry

Children younger than 5 years old, people with weakened immune systems, and people 65 years of age and older are more likely to get diseases spread between animals and people (also known as zoonotic diseases). Pregnant women are also at a higher risk for certain animal-related diseases. Before getting a new pet, keep the following in mind:

• Households with children younger than 5 years old should not have pet reptiles (turtles, lizards, snakes), amphibians (frogs, toads), or backyard poultry because of the risk of serious illness from harmful germs spread between these animals and young children.
• People with weakened immune systems should take extra precautions when choosing and handling pets. Talk to your veterinarian for help picking the best pet.
• Pregnant women should avoid adopting a new cat or handling stray cats, especially kittens. Cats can carry a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis—a disease that can cause birth defects. If you are pregnant, you do not need to give up your current cat, but you should avoid handling cat litter.
• Pregnant women should avoid contact with pet rodents to prevent exposure to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, which can cause birth defects. If you’re pregnant and have a pet rodent, avoid direct contact and have someone else clean its habitat.

Ways to Stay Healthy Around Pets

Wash Your Hands

Whether you are playing with, feeding, or cleaning up after your pet, it is important to wash your hands to help reduce the risk of getting sick from germs pets can carry. If you or a family member are concerned about illness, talk to a doctor and mention the animals you’ve had contact with recently.

Always wash hands:

• After touching or playing with your pet
• After feeding your pet or handling pet food
• After handling pet habitats or equipment (cages, tanks, toys, food and water dishes, etc.)
• After cleaning up after pets
• After leaving areas where animals live (coops, barns, stalls, etc.), even if you did not touch an animal
• Before eating and drinking
• Before preparing food or drinks
• After removing soiled clothes or shoes

Running water and soap are best for hand washing, but you can use hand sanitizer until running water and soap are available. Adults should always assist young children with hand washing.

Keep Your Pet Healthy

Whether you have a dog, cat, horse, parakeet, gerbil, bearded dragon, or other fun pet, providing regular, life-long veterinary care is important for keeping your pet and family healthy. Regular veterinary visits are essential to good pet health. Talk to your pet’s veterinarian about how to keep your pet healthy. Provide your pet with a good diet, fresh water, clean bedding, and plenty of exercise. Keep up with your pet’s vaccines, deworming, and flea and tick control. Some pets can carry ticks that can spread serious diseases like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever to people. In areas with plague—including some rural areas in the western US—fleas can be a risk to both animals and their owners.

By keeping your pet healthy, you help to keep yourself and your family healthy. Contact your veterinarian if you have any questions about your pet’s health or if you think your pet may be sick.

Practice Good Pet Hygiene

In addition to hand washing, practicing good pet hygiene can help prevent the spread of germs between pets and people. Keep pets and their supplies out of the kitchen, and disinfect pet habitats and supplies outside the house when possible. Never clean supplies in the kitchen sink, food preparation areas, or the bathroom sink. Pets can contaminate surfaces in your home with germs—you don’t have touch pets to get sick from their germs.

Always remove your dog’s feces (poop) from your yard and public places by using a bag, and dispose of it in proper areas. Dog and cat poop can contain parasites and germs that can be harmful to people. Keep children away from areas that might contain dog or cat poop to prevent them from getting roundworms and hookworms. Cover sand boxes so cats don’t use them as a litter box. Clean the cat’s litter box daily to lower the chances of exposure to harmful parasites. Remember, pregnant women should avoid changing a cat’s litter box if possible.

Teach Children How to Interact with Animals

Pets can teach children compassion and responsibility. However, children younger than 5 years old should be supervised while interacting with animals to ensure the safety of the child and the pet. Teach children to wash their hands right after playing with animals or anything in the animals’ environment (cages, beds, food or water dishes). Don’t let children kiss pets or put their hands or other objects in their mouths after handling animals.

Adults should supervise and be extra cautious when children younger than 5 years old have direct contact with farm animals, including animals at petting zoos and fairs.

Keep Wildlife Wild

Although they may look cute and cuddly, avoid touching wild animals to reduce the risk of illness and injury. Don’t encourage wild animals such as raccoons, prairie dogs, or wild rodents to come into your home by feeding them. You might find a young animal that appears to be abandoned and want to rescue it, but often its parent is close by. If you are concerned about the safety of a wild animal, contact a local wildlife rehabilitation facility

Your 8-year-old chocolate lab is putting on weight, and you know she should probably lose a pound or two. But when she looks at you pleadingly with those big brown eyes, how can you resist handing out just one more treat?

It’s not easy. But it may be important.

“Just as obesity has become a serious problem in people, it’s also a growing problem in pets, one that can seriously harm your pet’s health,” says Carmela Stamper, a veterinarian in the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Among CVM’s responsibilities are making sure that food for animals—which includes animal feed, pet food, and pet treats—is properly labeled with truthful claims, and is safe for animals and the people who handle it.

According to a 2018 survey by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, an estimated 59.5% of cats and 55.8% of dogs in the U.S. are overweight.

“The diseases we see in our overweight pets are strikingly similar to those seen in overweight people,” Stamper says, naming as examples diabetes mellitus (also known as Type 2 Diabetes, in which the body does not use insulin properly), osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, heart and respiratory disease, and kidney disease.

“We want our pets to live happy lives, but we also want them to live long ones,” Stamper says. Obesity in your pet causes chronic inflammation throughout the animal's body, and it can significantly shorten the animal’s life span.

How Fat is Too Fat?

According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, pets that are 10-20% over their ideal body weight are considered overweight, while pets 20% and over are considered obese. But the ideal weight is relative, depending on the animal’s breed, age, body type, and metabolism.

“In dogs, some breeds seem more inclined toward obesity than others,” Stamper notes. Labs and beagles are two examples, as well as long, low dogs such as dachshunds and basset hounds. In contrast, while veterinarians are reporting more overweight and obese felines, no one specific cat breed is prone to obesity.

Neutering can slow down a dog or cat’s metabolism, and so can aging, especially if the animal gets less exercise than when younger. It is important to talk to your veterinarian about how much food your dog or cat should be eating.

Keeping Track: Important Questions to Ask Your Vet

The real expert on the ideal weight for your animal is your vet, who marks changes over time in a way that you—who sees your animal every day—may not.

How does your vet know if a pet’s weight has edged past normal and become unhealthy? Many use body condition scoring systems for both dogs and cats, such as a 1-95 point scale (with a “1” being very skinny, and a “95” being obese.) Where on the scale does your animal fall?

“Ask your vet to explain the scoring system he or she uses,” Stamper says. And ask for specifics about what to look for, such as:

• What are some specific signs that my animal is gaining weight?
• What is a good normal weight for my pet?
• What type of food do you recommend, and how much is a serving? How many times a day should I feed my pet? (Stamper notes that the amount recommended on the side of the food bag may not be right for your particular animal, depending on your pet’s age, activity level, or other factors).
• Does my pet have a health condition (such as arthritis) that makes it advisable to keep weight on the low side?

“There’s a good reason why your animals get weighed at every vet visit,” Stamper says. Pet owners should make it a habit to ask how their animal is doing weight-wise and whether there is cause for concern if their animal is significantly overweight—or underweight.

Being too skinny or weight loss can be the sign of a health problem, too, Stamper adds. In particular, a dog or cat who normally enjoys eating but suddenly shows a lack of appetite can be exhibiting a symptom of a serious health problem that may warrant a visit to the vet to be sure everything’s okay.

Signs to Look For

In the meantime, there are some basic signs to look for to determine whether or not your pet is at a healthy weight.

• Look at your animal from above. Does your pet have a definite waist? “If not, and her back is broad and flat like a footstool, she is likely overweight,” Stamper says.
• Run your hands along your animal’s side. Can you easily feel the ribs, or do you have to push hard to feel them? Are they too prominent?
• Does your animal have a “tucked” abdomen, or a sagging stomach? If you can easily grab a handful of fat, that’s a sign your animal is overweight.

All things in moderation, Stamper says. For most animals, the occasional treat is just fine.

“It’s not unusual for people who are very focused on their own weight to be overly focused on their animals’,” she adds. “The key is to talk to your vet if you’re concerned.”

Your 9-year-old German Shepherd is limping, and you think that arthritis may be setting in. A trip to the veterinarian proves that you’re right—it’s osteoarthritis, a degeneration of the cartilage and bone that affects joints. The veterinarian prescribes a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).

NSAIDs are a class of drugs extensively used in both human and veterinary medicine for their anti-fever, anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, and they are the most commonly prescribed pain relievers for animals. Inflammation—the body’s response to irritation or injury—is characterized by redness, warmth, swelling, and pain. NSAIDs work by blocking the production of chemicals produced by the body that play a role in inflammation.

“Scientists consider NSAIDs the cornerstone of osteoarthritis therapy in dogs,” says Melanie McLean, D.V.M., a veterinarian at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some NSAIDS are also used to manage pain after surgery in both dogs and cats. No NSAID has been approved for long-term use in cats.

NSAIDs carry risks as well as benefits, however, and all dogs and cats should undergo a thorough physical examination by a veterinarian—including a discussion of the pet’s medical history— before beginning NSAID therapy. McLean notes that it’s also important that you talk to your veterinarian about possible side effects, including those that could signal danger.

Risks and Side Effects

NSAIDS are associated with gastrointestinal ulcers/perforations, kidney, and liver toxicity (damage done by exposure to medications or chemicals) and must be used cautiously in animals with pre-existing kidney or liver problems.

Because most liver-associated toxicities occur during the first three weeks, it’s especially important to closely monitor the results of blood tests during the early stages of long-term NSAID treatment in dogs. Also, before starting long-term treatment with NSAIDs in dogs, blood tests should be conducted to establish baseline data and then repeated on a regular basis. McLean recommends that you talk with your veterinarian about how often this blood work should be done.

Some of the most common side effects of NSAIDS in animals reported to FDA are:

• vomiting
• decreased to no appetite
• decreased activity level
• diarrhea

While your animal is taking NSAIDs, continuously monitor the pet for these side effects as well as looking for blood in the feces, tar-like stools, yellowing of the whites of the eyes, or yellowing of the gums. If you see these, call your veterinarian immediately, McLean says. Other reported side effects include stomach and intestinal ulcers, intestinal perforation (a hole in the wall of the intestine), kidney failure, liver failure and death.

Giving two NSAIDs at the same time, or giving an NSAID with a steroid, such as prednisone, can significantly increase the risk and severity of side effects, especially gastrointestinal toxicity.

Risks associated with NSAIDs are detailed on the package inserts and the client information sheets that accompany all FDA-approved veterinary oral NSAIDs.

Are OTC Meds for People Safe for Pets?

McLean says that it’s not unusual for pet owners to want to give their animals NSAIDs or acetaminophen (Tylenol and other brands, which are not NSAIDs) straight from their own medicine cabinets. “Many people don’t realize that a medicine that’s safe for people may not be safe for dogs or cats, or that a dose that is safe for people may not be safe for their pets,” she notes.

In fact, some over-the-counter (OTC) human pain relievers can be toxic, or even deadly, in pets. McLean suggests that you check with your veterinarian first if you want to give your animal OTC human drugs.

“You should always check with your veterinarian first before giving your animal any kind of medication, prescription or over-the-counter,” she notes. Similarly, pet owners should not assume that a medicine that is safe for one animal is necessarily safe for another.

Communication with your veterinarian is essential. Before giving your animal an NSAID:

• Make sure you know what the medication is being prescribed for, how much to give and how long to give it.
• Discuss possible side effects and symptoms, especially those that require an immediate call to the vet.
• Tell your veterinarian if the pet has a history of gastrointestinal problems, such as stomach ulcers, or surgery on the stomach or intestines.
• Tell your veterinarian if your pet is on any other medications or supplements.

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!

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.