Is loving your pets bad for you?

A post from Queensland Health has been ridiculed after for urging people not to kiss their pets or let them sleep in the same bed.

So how do the risks of pet ownership stack up to the presumed benefits of having a furry (feathery or scaly) friend?

Norman and Tegan take a look at the evidence – and some of its flaws – and reignite the age-old cat vs dog debate.

References:

• If you have a pet as a kid, does this lower your risk of asthma and eczema? | WEHI
• Zoonotic diseases and pets | American Veterinary Medical Association 
• Behavioral changes induced by Toxoplasma infection of rodents are highly specific to aversion of cat odors | PNAS
• Pet Ownership and Quality of Life: A Systematic Review of the Literature
• Is Dog Ownership Associated with Mental Health? A Population Study of 68,362 Adults Living in England
• No beneficial associations between living with a pet and mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large UK longitudinal sample - ScienceDirect
• Pet ownership, loneliness, and social isolation: a systematic review | Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
• The Relationship Between Attachment to Pets and Mental Health and Wellbeing: A Systematic Review 
• Pet ownership and maintenance of cognitive function in community-residing older adults: evidence from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) | Scientific Reports
• Dog owners are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than people without a dog: An investigation of the association between dog ownership and physical activity levels in a UK community | Scientific Reports 
• A modest protective association between pet ownership and cardiovascular diseases: A systematic review and meta-analysis | PLOS One
• Dog, cat, bird, fish, and other pet ownership and mortality: Evidence from the HILDA cohort
• Long-term stress levels are synchronized in dogs and their owners | Scientific Reports

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You can listen to more episodes of the What’s That Rash? podcast with presenters Norman Swan and Tegan Taylor on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. We answer your questions on everything from TikTok wellness trends to wonder drugs and diet myths.