The influence of dogs and cats on the mental health and emotional wellbeing of their owners in the Netherlands (2025)

“I Can’t Give Up When I Have Them to Care for”: People’s Experiences of Pets and Their Mental Health

Anthrozoös

Contact with animals has been increasingly recognized as being beneficial to mental health and wellbeing due to their therapeutic function, with "animal-assisted therapies" gaining in popularity. There is less research exploring how companion animals within the home impact upon mental health and wellbeing. This qualitative study explores people's experiences of the role of their pets in reducing or exacerbating their mental health symptomology and general wellbeing. One hundred and nineteen adults, 41 with a diagnosed mental health condition, and 70 recently struggling with their mental health, completed an online survey with open and closed questions to explore their experiences of their pets and mental health. Through thematic analysis, seven key themes were identified. Six themes encompassed benefits of pets; increased hedonic tone; increased motivation and behavioral activation; reduced anxiety symptoms and panic attacks; increased social connections and reduced loneliness; reduced risk behaviors; and coping and aiding the recovery process. One theme encompassed negative impacts: increased negative feelings and emotional strain. Notably, pets reduced urges of self-harm, and prevented onsets of panic attacks and suicide attempts. Both direct mechanisms (e.g., lowering physiological anxiety through physical touch) and indirect mechanisms (e.g., elevating mood through humor, increased mindfulness and disrupting rumination) were identified. These findings encapsulate the complex roles that pets can play in people's mental health and wellbeing, and highlights that even when the human-pet relationship is regarded positively, pets cannot "treat" mental health difficulties, and should not be viewed as such. Mental health practitioners should be aware and considerate of the importance of pets in people's lives as well as individual differences in the potential capability of pets to both reduce or exacerbate mental health symptomology and overall wellbeing. KEYWORDS Anxiety; depression; humananimal interaction; mental health; pets Mental health problems are common in the general population with an estimated one in six people in any past week experiencing a common mental health difficulty (McManus et al., 2016). Poor mental health is the main cause of the overall disease burden

Own a Pet – Stay well and Happy : an exploratory study

Indian Journal of Mental Health(IJMH), 2017

Background: Pets seem like perfect companions providing unconditional love without any expectation from owner. Pets can be seen as stress reducer and being looked upon as companions and members of the family. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of pet ownership on happiness, psychological well-being in pet owners and non-pet owners. Methodology: Data was collected from 100 participants. Data was gathered by means of questionnaires that assessed happiness, psychological well-being. The Ryff scale of psychological well-being and subjective happiness scale have been employed. The data were analyzed by employing mean, SD and t-tests. Results: Results of this study showed that there is significant difference in levels of happiness and psychological well-being experienced by pet owners and non-pet owners.

Pets and Happiness: Examining the Association between Pet Ownership and Wellbeing

Anthrozoös, 2016

Are pets associated with happiness in their owners? Some research has demonstrated positive connections between pets and the physical health of their owners, and more recently, research has shown the beneficial effects of pets on the negative aspects of mental health as well. However, much less research has focused on the relation between pets and the positive aspects of mental health, such as happiness. In the current study, 263 American adults completed an online survey using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results indicate that pet owners were more satisfied with their lives than non-owners, but did not differ on other wellbeing measures, personality measures, emotion regulation, or need satisfaction. Dog owners scored higher on all aspects of wellbeing compared with cat owners, and differed on a number of other measures, including the Big Five personality traits, emotion regulation strategies, and need satisfaction. The relationship between type of pet owned and wellbeing was mediated by the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, specifically), emotion regulation strategy, and need satisfaction. In addition, self-identified "dog people," relative to "cat people," showed similar patterns to those of dog owners, but the effects were often smaller and non-significant. Although there may not be many differences between those who own pets and those who do not, clearly owning a dog is associated with beneficial outcomes. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Emotional Benefits of Dog Ownership

Cat and Dog Companionship and Well-being: A Systematic Review

Existing literature on pet-human relationships reports mixed evidence indicating both positive and negative impacts of pet possession. Based on specific inclusion criteria, including only considering pet ownership in terms of cats and dogs, this paper reviewed 11 empirical studies published in eight journal articles to explore whether pet possession has any impact on owner's health and well-being. Results of this review failed to demonstrate a clear relationship between pet possession and owner's well-being. Few studies report, that having a cat or dog promotes physical activity and overall fitness of the owners. Additionally, few studies claim pet-owner companionship impacts positively on the owner's psychological well-being in terms of decreased depression, anxiety and loneliness. No other areas within the general health of the owner were noted to benefit from cat or dog ownership. However, these findings need to be considered very cautiously because of the methodologi...

The Pet-Effect in Daily Life: An Experience Sampling Study on Emotional Wellbeing in Pet Owners

Anthrozoös, 2020

The relationship between companion animal ownership and wellbeing has received an increasing amount of scientific attention over the last few decades. Although the general assumption is that individuals benefit from the presence of companion animals (termed the "pet-effect"), recent evidence suggests that the nature of this association is diverse and complex and that many of the studies performed so far are subject to methodological constraints. This study therefore aimed to investigate the pet-effect in the natural setting of pet-owners' daily life. Using the Experience Sampling Method (a signal contingent ecological assessment technique), 55 dog or cat owners reported for five consecutive days, at ten random time-points each day, in the moment whether a pet was present and to what extent they interacted with it. In addition, at each measurement moment they reported on their current positive and negative affect, using 11 mood-related adjectives derived from the Positive And Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Multilevel regression analyses showed that negative affect was relatively lower at moments when the companion animal was present (vs. absent) (B =-0.09, p = 0.02, 95%CI =-0.16;-0.02). In addition, the level of interaction with a companion animal was positively associated with positive affect (B = 0.04, p < 0.001, 95%CI = 0.01; 0.07). These results are in line with the pet-effect hypothesis in suggesting that the presence of and interaction with companion animals is associated with aspects of emotional wellbeing. More specifically, the presence of a companion animal may buffer against negative feelings, while interacting with a companion animal may generate positive feelings. This differential effect on positive versus negative affect also shows that the pet-effect is not an unequivocal effect. Different aspects of the human-animal relationship may influence different aspects of wellbeing.

A Comparative Study of Pet Owners and Non-Pet Owners to find out the Difference between their Physical, Mental, and Social Well-Being

Annals of Community Health, 2017

Introduction: The human-animal bond is a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that influence the health and well-being of both. While many of us intuitively understand the benefits of positive interactions with animals in our lives, an emerging body of research is recognizing the impact the human-animal bond can have on individual and community health. Objective: The objective of this study was to study the effects of keeping pets on the physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being of participants. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was done on predecided sample of 120, i.e., 60 pet owners and 60 non-pet owners randomly selected from residential areas of Indore city, to compare the effects of keeping pets on the physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being of participants using appropriate scales for various parameters. Results: About 63.33% of pet owners were found physically healthy, while only 20% of non-owners were physically heal...

Beneficial effects of pet ownership on some aspects of human health and behaviour

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1991

A 10-month prospective study was carried out which examined changes in behaviour and health status in 71 adult subjects following the acquisition of a new pet (either dogs or cats). A group of 26 subjects without pets served as a comparison over the same period. Both pet-owning groups reported a highly significant reduction in minor health problems during the first month following pet acquisition, and this effect was sustained in dog owners through to 10 months. The pet-acquiring groups also showed improvements in their scores on the 30-item General Health Questionnaire over the first 6 months and, in dog owners, this improvement was maintained until 10 months. In addition, dog owners took considerably more physical exercise while walking their dogs than the other two groups, and this effect continued throughout the period of study. The group without pets exhibited no statistically significant changes in health or behaviour, apart from a small increase in recreational walking. The r...

Effect of Pet Interaction on Stress Reduction and Positive Mood Enhancement among Pet-Owners and Non-Owners.

Human Animal Interaction Bulletin, 2019

The present study investigated the effect of pet interaction on stress reduction and positive mood enhancement among pet-owners and non-owners. Sample of pet-owners (n = 90) and non-owners (n = 90) was taken from University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. Both, male and female participants were included in the sample. The instruments used were Short Stress State Questionnaire (Helton, 2004), Brief Mood Introspection Scale (Mayer & Gaschke, 1988) and Pet Interaction Observation Checklist. Data was statistically analyzed by one way Analysis of Variance and Independent Sample t-test. Reduction in stress and increase in positive mood were found for both pet-owners and non-owners for the pet interaction groups as compared to control groups. However, no significant differences were found between the dog interaction group and cat interaction group for both pet owners and non-owners. Moreover, pet-owners had lower scores on stress and higher scores on positive mood after pet interaction as compared to non-owners. Lastly, it was shown that individuals who interacted with pets for more than five minutes had lower scores on stress and higher scores on positive mood as compared to those who interacted for five minutes or less.

Friends with benefits: On the positive consequences of pet ownership

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011

Social support is critical for psychological and physical well-being, reflecting the centrality of belongingness in our lives. Human interactions often provide people with considerable social support, but can pets also fulfill one's social needs? Although there is correlational evidence that pets may help individuals facing significant life stressors, little is known about the well-being benefits of pets for everyday people. Study 1 found in a community sample that pet owners fared better on several well-being (e.g., greater self-esteem, more exercise) and individual-difference (e.g., greater conscientiousness, less fearful attachment) measures. Study 2 assessed a different community sample and found that owners enjoyed better well-being when their pets fulfilled social needs better, and the support that pets provided complemented rather than competed with human sources. Finally, Study 3 brought pet owners into the laboratory and experimentally demonstrated the ability of pets to stave off negativity caused by social rejection. In summary, pets can serve as important sources of social support, providing many positive psychological and physical benefits for their owners.