Dog Rescue

Depression levels were markedly lower among this cohort after a small but interesting study on how people feel day to day over a month. Any guesses….

The answer: dog owners.

At least in terms of a study of 350 dog owners, 350 cat owners, and 350 people without a pet. The 1,050 were selected based on volunteering to be part of a study about how they feel day to day for a month, with results tracked based on their age, gender, work occupation, daily routine, meals, diet restrictions, exercise habits, and the number of stressful events and situations, even crises, that popped up during the 30 day period. One prerequisite of the study was that the individuals had to have felt depressed or moderately depressed at some point in the last 6 months.

A subset of the 1,050 had to deal with the loss of a family member or a serious family crisis, and, in a small number of cases, a health crisis of their own or a job loss. The remaining 992 managed through the 30 days in somewhat uneventful ways. But mood after each day and week and ultimately after the 30 days was markedly different in those who had dogs vs. those who didn’t.

Dog owners had a 2.1 average score out of 10 in terms of depression, where 10=high depression, over the 30 day period, and most interestingly the highest daily number was never above 5. Cat owners had less depression than others, but only by a little 3.9 vs. 4.3, both with highest daily number of 9 or 10.