Is Caring For Pets As Stressful As Raising Kids?

For many people pets are very much a part of the family and many pet owners will even refer to their pets as their 'children'. So, if raising children can provide abundant opportunities for stress to enter your life, can caring for pets do the same thing?

While there will always be times when you will have cause to worry about your pets, especially when they are sick or stray from home, the reality of the situation is that rather than provide a cause for stress, caring for pets has quite the opposite effect.

A number of studies have suggested that having a pet helps patients who are recovering from surgery to heal faster. If the link between infection and stress that some of them show is correct, this shouldn't be surprising. The positive effect on the immune system could account for that.

For many people, owning pets provides an abundance of psychological pluses. For example, a cat appears oblivious to any problems you might have and will happily lie curled up in your lap purring, waking only to let you know that it's time for dinner. And yet the mere fact that your attention is directed towards the cat and away from some problem that might have occurred during the day, such as an unpleasant confrontation with your boss at work, helps to lower stress.

Dogs are also great stress relievers, when they're not digging holes in the garden, chewing on a good pair of shoes or creating a mess on the carpet. Take them out into the garden and have a game of fetch with a ball can and watching their joy in this simple activity soon takes your mind away from the doom and gloom of life.

Man has been keeping dogs for over 10,000 years now and, during that time, they have participated in hundreds of everyday human rituals and activities, many of which act as stress relievers. Fishing, hiking and other activities in themselves provide relief from stress and, when accompanied by a loved and loving dog, the effect is amplified.

Even aquarium fish can provide a source of stress relief. Caring for tropical fish takes a lot of careful planning and execution and focusing your mind on this task helps to keep it off what often amounts to trivial problems. In addition, simply sitting quietly and observing the many interesting behaviors sea creatures exhibit can be very relaxing.

Many pets including birds, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits and others often display behavior which we find humorous and even the most serious of psychotherapists would agree that laughter is an excellent form of medicine when it comes to lowering stress.

Although we don't communicate with animals in the same way that we do with other humans, there is no doubt that an understanding forms between individuals and their pets. That bond is often very strong and results in a feeling of support without the expectation of anything in return other than food and a little of our time and attention.