A Pet Can Save Your Life

By CNCA on Oct 14 2009 | Comments |

There's a growing body of evidence demonstrating how pets save our health and our lives, sometimes through special training and occasionally by their heroic deeds, but more often than not, just by being their finicky, attention-starved selves.

With pets living in at least 60 percent of all American homes, it's no wonder pet ownership has been linked to improved health, especially among seniors and patients recovering from major illnesses, as far back as a 2005 study in the British Medical Journal.

In fact, a more recent study of some 3,300 patients in southeastern Michigan demonstrated how smokers are more inclined to kick the habit to protect the lives of their pets than to improve their own health. Moreover, nearly 30 percent of the smokers polled vowed to give up smoking, and some 23 percent more said they would asked their living partners to give up smoking or ask them to smoke outdoors.

So much so, the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Medicine Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction is jointly sponsoring a conference later this month in Kansas City that will explore the human-animal bond and how it affects the health and lives of both for the good.

With that in mind, you'll want to watch this heart-warming video about a Katrina volunteer who survived all the rigors associated with breast cancer -- not to mention a broken neck -- thanks to her love for protecting animals and one particular dog she "couldn't imagine leaving behind."