In Favor of Pets by Amy Denney

Nearly 45 percent of U.S. households have a dog, and 25 percent have a cat, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Previous studies have found that pets can reduce stress, prevent heart disease, and lower the risk of high blood pressure, depression, asthma, allergies, and obesity. The microbial connection strengthens the argument that animals can be good for human health.

A 2024 review in Research in Veterinary Science noted that our relationship with pets generally causes homeostasis in both human and animal microbial patterns. Microbial homeostasis indicates that the balance of microorganisms living in one’s gut is favorable for preventing an overgrowth of disease-causing bugs.

“As a result of keeping pets, the microbiota of different areas of the human body has changed, which has been associated with a decrease in pathogenic bacteria and an increase in beneficial bacteria,” the study authors concluded.

Possible Explanation

Microbial benefits conferred to humans from their furry companions were discovered in a May study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Researchers were examining possible environmental triggers among 4,289 relatives of patients with Crohn’s disease to see what might make them more or less susceptible to developing the disease themselves. Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that can affect any level of the digestive tract.

What they found was that dog ownership increased the relative abundance and diversity of gut bacteria.

Diverse and abundant microbial communities in the human gut are associated with health benefits, including protection against pathogen-driven illnesses and disease.

“It’s critical to know that [this finding] doesn’t mean dogs will prevent disease,” said William Turpin, co-author of the study that is part of the ongoing genetic and environmental microbial project. “It’s not a cure. It’s just an association. We need more studies to verify whether this is truly a factor.”

Those participants who owned dogs at the time of the study or had dogs early in life also had less inflammation in biomarker testing and tighter intestinal junctions. Loose junctions are associated with altered intestinal permeability and gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses.

Exposure to dogs was found to be protective in all age groups and regardless of how old participants were when they owned the dog. However, the strongest association of reduced exposure was in the 5-to-15 age group.

Having a dog was “the most robust association with the reduction of Crohn’s. We tried to be as broad as possible … and we included many different environmental factors and a lot of different animals,” Turpin told The Epoch Times.

The findings could have implications for other GI conditions, Turpin said, such as irritable bowel syndrome and celiac disease. Both have been associated with similar patterns of low microbial diversity and gut permeability.