How do our animal friends improve our wellbeing?

Did you know that about 71% of U.S. households have at least one pet? (APPA, 2025). But clearly, this is not a recent trend. We have always lived alongside animals (the domestication of dogs dates back 30,000 years, and that of cats, about 9,000 years). We likely began befriending animals because their sense of danger helped protect us from predators or enemies, or because they helped control pests and rodents in our food sources. However, the bond we form with animals goes far beyond this functionality. We develop almost familial connections with our animal companions and form deep emotional ties characterized by profound love. In this mini therapy sketch, we will take a closer look at how our relationships with our animal companions may affect our physical and mental well-being.

Why do we bond so strongly with our animal friends?

Research shows that our interactions with animal companions are mutually beneficial, fostering a sense of calm and safety in both and strengthening the connection (Rault et al., 2020). This is maintained in various ways:

Our animal companions and we became familiar with interpreting each other’s facial and bodily cues through our close living, which helps predict behavior, promotes safety and trust, and reduces danger between species.
The way we form attachments to our pets mimics aspects of a human caregiver-child relationship. Their dependence on us for food and protection fosters caregiving responsibilities. Similarly, mutual gazing, which releases oxytocin, makes interactions pleasant and reinforces connection, as it does in humans (Nagasawa et al., 2015).
Besides, our tendency to assign human-like qualities to animals, projecting thoughts, emotions, and motives onto their behaviors (called anthropomorphism), and becoming more responsive when this happens, likely caused our pets to maintain more human-like behaviors to adapt to our lives and survive. For example, cats’ meows might be more human-directed vocalizations tuned to human voices, rather than as frequently used in cat-to-cat interactions. (Prato-Previde et al., 2020)

Animal companions and physical health

The interactions we have with our animal friends have subtle effects that seem to improve our overall physical health. The calming and joyful feelings we experience when interacting with our animal companions appear to create long-term health benefits (Fine, 2018; Rostekova et al., 2025). These include:

Decreased blood pressure and heart rate, and protection against coronary heart disease
Improved cognitive activity and protection against cognitive decline
Hormonal changes that promote better immunity and mood, such as increases in oxytocin and endorphins

Animal companions and mental health

Interacting with our animal companions is not only momentarily rewarding when we are petting them. Instead, we continuously and actively form bonds with them that turn into lasting relationships. The relationships we have with our animal companions have a positive impact on our mental well-being (Brooks et al., 2018), including:

They help alleviate negative symptoms of distress, depression, anxiety, and worry through our shared emotional bonds, petting, associated sense of caregiving, and increased physical activity
They help us cope with feelings of isolation and loneliness by fostering a stronger sense of companionship, belonging, and acceptance.
They increase our sense of meaning in life by increasing our sense of purpose and responsibility.
They create more opportunities for being in the present by engaging us with certain routines, physical activity, and structure

Animal companions and legal status

Beyond being our best friends, our animal companions can also have certain legal statuses to establish the support they provide for our psychological and physical health, including:

Service Animal: This often refers to our animal companions, especially dogs that are trained to assist with specific disabilities, such as providing visual assistance. They typically do not require an official registry.
Emotional Support Animal: Our animal companions may be formally recognized for supporting our mental health, making it easier for them to access certain settings (especially housing) and alleviating barriers to our accommodations. This requires a formal evaluation and a signed letter by our mental health provider.
Therapy Animal: This often refers to animal companions that provide comfort to others, such as in hospitals or schools, and typically require certification.

Takeaways

Our interactions with animal companions are mutually beneficial, fostering a sense of calm and safety in both and strengthening the connection.
Pet ownership positively impacts our physical health. It is associated with lower blood pressure and heart rate, lower risk of heart disease, slower cognitive decline, and improved immunity and mood through hormonal changes.
Pet ownership also improves mental wellbeing. It helps reduce distress, depression, anxiety, and worry through emotional bonds, petting, caregiving, and increased physical activity.
Pet ownership also improves our mental wellbeing by helping us cope with isolation and loneliness, fostering companionship, belonging, and acceptance. It increases a sense of meaning by boosting a sense of purpose and responsibility. It creates opportunities to be present through routines, physical activity, and structure.
At times, our animal companions can have legal statuses, like service animals, emotional support animals, and therapy animals, that recognize and support the psychological and physical benefits they provide to us or others.

References

American Pet Products Association. (2025). 2025-2026 APPA National Pet Owners Survey. americanpetproducts.org

Brooks, H. L., Rushton, K., Lovell, K., Bee, P., Walker, L., Grant, L., & Rogers, A. (2018). The power of support from companion animals for people living with mental health problems: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the evidence. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1613-2

Fine, A. H. (2018). The Human-Animal Bond Over the Lifespan: a primer for mental health professionals. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 1–19). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-812962-3.00001-0

Nagasawa, M., Mitsui, S., En, S., Ohtani, N., Ohta, M., Sakuma, Y., Onaka, T., Mogi, K., & Kikusui, T. (2015). Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds. Science, 348(6232), 333–336. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261022

Prato-Previde, E., Cannas, S., Palestrini, C., Ingraffia, S., Battini, M., Ludovico, L. A., Ntalampiras, S., Presti, G., & Mattiello, S. (2020). What’s in a Meow? A study on human classification and interpretation of domestic cat vocalizations. Animals, 10(12), 2390. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122390

Rault, J., Waiblinger, S., Boivin, X., & Hemsworth, P. (2020). The power of a positive Human–Animal relationship for animal welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7, 590867. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.590867

Rostekova, A., Lampraki, C., Maurer, J., Meier, C., Wieczorek, M., & Ihle, A. (2025). Longitudinal relationships between pet ownership and cognitive functioning in later adulthood across pet types and individuals’ ages. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 19066. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03727-9

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