Pet ownership linked to depression

[rooboy]

Older Australians who own a pet are more likely to be depressed and in poorer physical health than people who don't own pets, according to a major new Australian study.

Flying in the face of claims from the pet food industry, and others, the study shows pet ownership confers no health benefits to older people.

Indeed older pet owners are significantly more likely than the pet-free to be aggressive and hostile towards the world - perhaps because they prefer pets to people.

It brings Ruth Parslow, a research fellow at the Centre for Mental Health Research, at ANU, no joy to report her findings.

They are based on a survey of 2551 Australians aged 60-64.

Dr Parslow is devoted to her dog, Tammy, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, which she bring to work twice a week where it sleeps under her desk.

"I would have been happier finding that pets are good for you," she said. "But I wanted to do research that is reliable and statistically sound."

The study found older pet owners, most of them cat and dog owners, were more likely to be depressed, and to take more pain-killers than people who did not own pets; and female pet owners were in worse physical health than their pet-free counterparts.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/23/1082719623493.html

[Robbien]

1. If I didn't have to go walk the dog twice a day

my body would be in much worse shape. This study is nuts.

And that lady is a darn poopyhead. Now get off my lawn.

[rucky]

2. spurious?

could it be that people who are depressed are more likely to own pets? there IS a difference.

[Selwynn]

3. Just goes to show how easily data is misinterpreted....

[camero]

7. or twisted.

Maybe the author just got the results she wanted.

[UTUSN]

4. What?? Any Depression o'Mine Ain't Linked to My Dogs

They are Democrats.

[mouse7]

5. Sensitive people who relate to animals are more likely to be depressed

Sensitive people relate to animals better and are more likely to own animals. Sensitive people are more likely to feel and display depression.

[Nlighten1]

6. Will this bring an end to all the "cat" threads in the lounge?

Probably not.

[Serenity-NOW]

9. Cat threads? Where is the lounge?

I've got some dynamite recipes that really need to be shared.

[TankLV]

8. I've never heard of such crap.

My dogs and cat, plus the ones I've fostered and plan to foster give me countless hours of joy and relaxation.

They are there when I'm suffering from a cold - they help me think outside of myself, and to stop feeling sorry for myself.

They comfort me and my partner when tragedy strikes.

They comfort me when I learn of the latest repuke outrage.

This lady obviously has a defective study.

This flys in the face of every example I have personally witnessed for myself and others.