Can pets really cure stress and loneliness?

During the pandemic, many people have decided to adopt a pet, seeing a 50% increase in adoptions according to the site adopt a game . The reasons ? Alleviate certain problems such as stress, loneliness or boredom.

According to a survey of Affinity Foundation (Spain, 2020), 73% of people think living with a dog or cat would help them cope better with the effects of confinement and social distancing, and 71% say being with their dog or cat helps them feel less alone and considered them a pillar within the family.

If you have a pet and feel like you’ve grown closer to your pet during the pandemic, you’re not alone. A recent PLOS ONE study showed that in the United States cat and dog owners gradually grew closer to their pets in the first two years of Covid-19 . But, Did they really cure the stress and loneliness of their humans?

The findings of Niwako Ogata and Hsin-Yi Weng from Purdue University USA, shed new light on the relationship between having a pet, stress and loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The study included a series of surveys that were conducted before the pandemic during the confinement period from April to June 2020, the reopening from September to December 2020 and a recovery period from January to December 2021.

Responses from over 4,200 people were analyzed, which included questions related to participants’ closeness to the animal they felt most attached to, stress and loneliness levels, demographics, housing situation, personality and other potentially relevant factors.

Despite the fact that dog and cat owners grew closer to their pets during the study period because they spend more time at home and isolated from others according to the researchers, the furry friends did not alleviate the general stress or loneliness of their humans.

Although the authors hoped the animals would reduce stress and loneliness, the results showed that thePeople with furry companions had similar, and sometimes even higher, levels of loneliness than those without pets . Cat owners, in particular, reported higher levels of stress and loneliness.

The study authors wrote: “People have felt closer to their pets during the Covid-19 pandemic. although having a pet has not alleviated the stress and loneliness.

However, further analysis showed that people who owned a pet reported less relationship-related loneliness compared to those without animals.

On average, people without pets reported the lowest levels of stress, while cat owners had the highest. Factors such as higher expenses for food, vet, hairdresser, toy, walks etc, particularly during lockdown, may have contributed to pet owners’ stress, the team suggests.

“There are two aspects to having a pet,” Weng says. Although they provide companionship, pets also add additional responsibilities.

The researchers noted that the different results seen for dog and cat owners could be explained by differences in the relationship between pet owners and the two groups. “Having a dog and having a cat affect mental health differently, but the difference between them could be partly explained by the owner-pet relationship” write the authors.

The researchers plan to continue collecting data through 2023 to capture any further changes in relationships with pet owners, stress and loneliness.