Why pets should be included in discussions with your doctor

Nick Dasko says he is a better person when he has a dog by his side.

“I have depression and I find it easier and I’m more relaxed and happier when I have a dog around,” he says about his four-legged companions. “Having a dog around is so helpful in so many ways for anyone with any sort of mental health issues.”

Dasko, who makes his home in Toronto, adopted his first dog in 2010 and soon saw his health change for the better.

“I also have Attention Deficit Disorder and I take Adderall for it, which is a stimulant,” he says explaining that the Adderall increased his blood pressure so much that he had to be put on medication to control it. “Within about eight weeks of getting Sheena [his boxer] I was off the blood pressure medication.”

Dasko is one of the many people who have found pet ownership to be beneficial to overall health. Stories like his are why Dr. Kate Hodgson thinks pets should be included in healthcare conversations family physicians have with their patients.

Dr. Hodgson, a veterinarian and medical educator from the department of family medicine at the University of Toronto, published a paper in The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine entitled ‘Pets Impact on Your Patient’s Health: Leveraging Benefits and Mitigating Risk’ which details the major benefits and risks of pet ownership and how including questions on pets can help family physicians learn more about their patients.

Zooeyia, the technical term for the health benefits of pets, can be broken down into four categories: builders of social capital, motivators of healthy behaviour change, agents of harm reduction, and how pets can participate in a patient’s treatment plan.

“Social capital is probably one of the biggest determinants of health,” says Dr. Hodgson explaining that pets help a lot in this area. “Social capital is the term physicians use to describe the strength of your relationships. Pets provide individual companionship. For a lot of people, especially vulnerable people, a pet can be their most important companion.”

Increasing healthy habits is a major benefit of pet ownership, but being an agent of harm reduction has pets changing lives in lifesaving ways.

“It turns out that many people are more likely to control their smoking to protect their pets from second hand smoke than to protect their spouse,” says Dr. Hodgson, explaining that this may be a significant motivator physicians can use when encouraging their patients to stop smoking.

Including pets in treatment plans is becoming more common with therapy animals. Dr. Hodgson says that especially for issues of stress, anxiety, or people recovering from cardiovascular disease, a pet can be beneficial. Stroking a pet lowers blood pressure and cat ownership in particular reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Dasko and his boxer Sheena volunteered at a retirement home in Vaughan, Ont., prior to her passing away. On their weekly visits, Dasko noticed how Sheena could bring out the best in the residents, especially one woman with Parkinson’s.

“There was one woman who had Parkinson’s and she would barely be able to walk over to me and the dog and after petting Sheena she’d be able to walk fine,” he says. “Just petting the dog helped her enough with the stress and the anxiety issues that make the Parkinson’s worse.”

It’s this kind of affect on patient healthcare that has Dr. Hodgson hoping her paper will encourage family physicians to realize the importance of pets in their patients lives having the potential to change physician-patient conversations in the future.

“When a family physician asks about a pet they’re opening a door to a whole bunch of insights about the patients and their family,” she explains. “First of all you express interest in something the patient cares about, so that’s classic patient-centred communication.”

To people like Dasko, who can’t imagine their lives without an animal companion, pets and healthcare just makes sense.

“Anything that you pet that makes you happy is wonderful,” says Dasko. “I love what petting an animal can do for you and the bond that people have with animals.”