TIME Magazine TIME Pets: Understanding Our Best Friends

Scientists are digging up evidence that animals can help improve mental health, even for people with challenging disorders. Though the studies are small, the findings are impressive enough that clinical settings are opening their doors to animal-assisted interventions—pet therapy, in other words—used alongside conventional medicine. “It used to be one of the great no-no’s to think of an animal in a hospital,” says Alan Beck, director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University, citing the fear of causing infection. “Now, I don’t know of any major children’s hospital that doesn’t have at least some kind of animal program.” The rise of animal therapy is backed by strong scientific results showing that social support—a proven antidote to anxiety and loneliness—can come on four legs, not just two.…

People who are looking to stay well as they age may want to adopt a pet, according to 2019 data from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. For the survey, researchers polled about 2,000 U.S. adults from ages 50 to 80. Fifty-five percent said they owned at least one pet. Dogs were the most common pet, followed by cats and small animals, such as birds and hamsters. But no matter the type of animal, the vast majority of owners said their pets boosted their mental and physical health. Nearly 90% of older pet owners said their animals helped them enjoy life and feel loved; roughly 80% said their pets reduced stress; and almost three-quarters said their furry friends provided a sense of purpose, according to the…

More than 12 million American households have gotten a pet in the time since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, according to the American Pet Products Association. The growth in pandemic-era pet adoption continues the trend of Americans turning to their pets for companionship in tough times. As TIME put it in a 1974 cover story, “During wars, insurrections, and depressions, particularly, pet ownership seems to proliferate. Even in today’s inflation battered economy, when the care and feeding of pets would seem an exorbitant load on the family budget, there are more and more pet owners in the U.S.—deriving, perhaps, psychological sustenance from what English writer Rudyard Kipling called the dog’s ‘love unflinching that cannot lie.’” Though shelters and rescues have been rising in popularity in recent…

> The origin of the word “pet” is thought to have come from the Middle English pety, which means small or minor. > In 2022, 66% of American households had a pet. > Some pets can carry infections or diseases that can make humans sick, even if the pet is healthy. These are called zoonoses. > Reptiles are generally solitary animals, but some lizards and tortoises enjoy being handled from time to time. Although if they try to get away or act out, it’s best to put them back in their cage. > The oldest parrot on record died in 2016 and was at least 82 years and 88 days old. > Guinea pigs are highly social animals, so consider adopting more than one. > Parakeets are monogamous. Once…

The subject line of the email from his employer was enough to whip Gus Azusenis into a frenzy. “UPDATE,” he read, a lump forming in his throat as he noted the urgency in all the capital letters. Then came the word he had been dreading for months: “RETURN.” Even without reading the message, Azusenis knew what it would say—that after more than a year, employees at his Chicago bank would be going back to the office. Anxiety consumed the financial analyst as he tried to imagine how he could properly care for Finley, his pandemic puppy, if he had to leave her alone to work long hours, five days a week. “I went into sheer planning-for-disaster mode,” Azusenis said. Across the room, blissfully unaware, Finley swished her tail back…

Dr. Will Mccauley had just finished his shift at a small Dallas animal clinic when he went home, fed his pet pot-bellied pig and then held a loaded handgun to his head. The then 33-year-old veterinarian was wracked with student debt and worn down by the daily demands at work, which included euthanizing dogs and cats and being vilified by pet owners for not meeting their expectations. “I was tired in this miserable state of mind,” he says. “It just drained me so much.” For reasons he attributes to either fear or hope, McCauley didn’t kill himself that summer day in 2016, and he quit his job later that week and stopped practicing. “I knew I had to make a change,” McCauley says. “I was dead on the inside.” The…