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- MacBookForMe, on 10/18/2008, -0/+27That's quite easy to understand...having a pet gives another purpose and responsibility of caring for alive creature/being/pet, and that care is very interactive and full of every day's little pleasures and feelings that the pet likes you and needs you...
- LeepII, on 10/18/2008, -1/+24A person in love will live, a person without love will die.
- ScottMcIntyre, on 10/18/2008, -0/+22A fascinating article. I'm always amazed when I hear how having a pet really improves the lives of elderly folk. I also think that there are great benefits to the schemes where pets visit people in hospital- they get a great boost, especially the kids.
QFA: "And let's not forget the benefits for the elderly. For example, one study observed neural activity in seniors while they walked or interacted with a dog [source: Motooka]. It turned out that walking with a dog gave seniors a boost in parasympathetic nervous system activity, which is good because the parasympathetic nervous system helps calm and rest the body." - lucy22, on 10/18/2008, -0/+20I love my pets and cannot imagine my life without them. It is kinda nice to know they are adding years to my life. But I would still keep them even if they didn't.
- Jeffler, on 10/18/2008, -1/+21Not if its a cat and you're a nerd, you'll die trying to make it do stupid poses.
- divinediva, on 10/18/2008, -1/+20Yes, The parasympathetic nervous system helps calm and rest the body.
- scully32, on 10/18/2008, -2/+19Except in prison.
- flamesoftheend, on 10/18/2008, -0/+15I saw the oldest dude ever biking, with the oldest dog ever running beside him. It was pretty funny/calming at the same time. It gave me a sense that they had companionship and even though they are old and worn down, they are loving life.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -0/+13I have anger issues and about the only thing that can calm me down when I'm really upset are my cats. I have 5 of them and they always make my day better when I see them. Just having their little furry bodies cuddle up at night next to you makes you feel loved and wanted. There's one sleeping in my lap right now and I wouldn't trade that in for the world. Animals are healthy, they give you a sense of love and care, they make you feel wanted and the thing is, if you treat them right they adore you forever and that in itself is healthy. Plus petting an animal lowers blood pressure.
- sooska, on 10/18/2008, -0/+13It works!I have a pet monkey, and whenever I feel down I spank him, and I immediately feel better!
- PovRayMan, on 10/18/2008, -2/+15I dunno, I own a couple dozen World of Warcraft pets and I don't feel so good..
- freetyme, on 10/18/2008, -2/+13No one said it was necessary-- but it helps!
You may have never had a pet so let me explain. I've lived little more than a month of my life without at least one dog. I'm not an athletic person so owning a dog helps encourage me to actually get off my lazy behind and walk them because I know the dog needs the exercise.
Taking care of something else can help you learn to take better care of yourself and give you a reason to. I have also heard of studies saying that married people live longer. Would you say "If you need be married to keep healthy. . . you have problems" I hope not. It's the same thing (granted marriage is more serious and longer term than owning a pet. . .or it should be) but it's just something that helps someone stay healthy. - inactive, on 10/18/2008, -0/+11One time my grandpa took me fishing. He was drinking a beer and I asked If I could have one. He said "sure, they're in the trunk." When I opened the trunk, I saw my Grandma's bloody corpse. Grandpa let me have two beers that day.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -0/+10I have a bearded dragon.
I just wish I had a pet that would show compassion back to me, lizards are on neutral terms with their owners. - Rudegar, on 10/18/2008, -2/+11not if the pet is a komodo dragon
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+10I have a bearded clam.
It is also quite indifferent to me. - priegog, on 10/18/2008, -0/+9/Dr. House
- Acglaphotis, on 10/18/2008, -2/+11Both are eventually dying anyway.
- Bith8654, on 10/18/2008, -0/+9How about a person in love has a reason to live, a person without love may not.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+10clam.
- mrsbrown333, on 10/18/2008, -1/+9I have a dog, 2 cats, fish and a parrot.They are my little family. As far as I am concerned, they remind me of what love really is, unconditional and innocent. Whatever 'god' is, is in the eyes of these little guys.
- Bith8654, on 10/18/2008, -0/+8My psychology professor last semester used to tell us a story (among long, countless others...) about a woman in a nursing home. She has no family or friends to visit her, but she ended up outliving a lot of the other patients. She would always say it was because if she was gone, no one would be around to feed the squirrels that live outside her room. Then my professor would proceed to go over the last 30 minutes of the previous class as if it was new material.
- Roget, on 10/18/2008, -0/+8Any size monkey can grasp a human finger. Most can rip or bite it off as well.
- bg2500, on 10/18/2008, -1/+8i iz in yurr home helpun you live
- Gnar04, on 10/18/2008, -4/+11aww ::tear::
not. - viserov, on 10/18/2008, -1/+8That's what she said.
- BedPost, on 10/18/2008, -2/+9I'm going to go hug my doggy.
- gospe1337, on 10/18/2008, -1/+8I can tell you from viewing it first hand, it's a pretty delicate situation to tell somebody you have to put down a pet. Sometimes--often, most of the time--a dog or cat is the last friend an old person has. Their wife or husband is long gone, family no longer visits, and they have so much emotionally invested it becomes painful to tell them you have to put down their pal. In a way, it's more difficult than telling somebody from a doctor's point of view, because in the case of human death there are others to comfort them. Usually, in these cases, you're also telling them they're alone.
- KentDiego, on 10/18/2008, -1/+7I see problems here. How many people living in hospitals or nursing homes are pet owners? Since many sickly people spend years in nursing homes before they die the data could be badly skewed to imply a correlation between pet owner ship and longer life.
- dudefaceguyman, on 10/18/2008, -0/+6Very true. I have a Beagle named, "Milly". No matter how crappy my day is whenever I come home and sit down at my desk exhausted, she always climbs on a chair next to me excited to see me. I end up forgetting whatever crap happened to me that day and just enjoy the company of a cheery little Beagle that loves meh (as long as I feed her..)
She's actually watching me type stuff right now lol - johnwastaken, on 10/18/2008, -1/+7i had a cantankerous grandfather who was a dick and never did anything but bitch and complain. he was a curmudgeon of an old man, who lived alone and cared and loved no one. he lived to the ripe old age of 102... anyone else have fun, relevant stories?
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+7That's it! A monkey will solve all my problems!
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -0/+6Have you ever seen one of those little mini monkeys that can grasp on to a human finger? Those are so adorable.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+6Note to self read entire comment before digging up.
- michaelrsa, on 10/18/2008, -0/+5dugg for the use of cantankerous.
But my grandfather was a gruff man, like my father, I admired them for that because they don't work around the issue, if you did something wrong you got punished. They never followed that whole "my child is gifted crap" which is odd seeing as every person's child is gifted. But wen I did well they always made sure I knew it. - freakydingo, on 10/18/2008, -0/+5Can owning a pet lengthen my life? I would assume no, it wouldn't; this is considering how many times a day my cat runs in front of me on his kamikaze to end my life.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+6I've never seen so mush rage in such a ridiculous topic. This leads one to believe there is a deeper underlying issue. I think your great dane point, may be right on.
- acroyear2, on 10/18/2008, -0/+5Some animals are safer indoors. Small dogs for example. Seriously, we inbred those poor little things so much that they can't survive in the wild.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+6undeadwarrior, let it go, the guy hates dogs. after his chihuahua ran off to Beverly Hills, he has been against owning pets. He doesn't understand that the brain is very powerful, and that your state of mind can affect your state of body. He thinks we are implying that if you own a dog, you won't ever get sick. He sees everything in black or white, with no gray in-between. Notice how he doesn't bother to gather any facts from studies or elsewhere, just spouting his opinion. Let it go.
- FaithclubDotNet, on 10/18/2008, -0/+5If you own a pet tiger, you may not live as long as people without a pet.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -2/+7Dimien7, you are ***** retarded. No one said that owning a pet will make you live longer. People who own pets TEND on average live longer. You can laugh at this study all you want, but it isn't the first of it's kind. This study has been done several times and always with a similar result. What I find interesting, is when you don't agree with the findings of the study, you call it *****, with no counter evidence, other than "pets are dirty." Where's your scientific study that shows there is no correlation between owning a pet and health benefits. Nitesmoke is right, there seems to be something deeper to your rage. You are arguing against scientific method with simple opinion. "I don't care if science says the moon is 238,857 miles, it looks closer to me." That, my misinformed friend is *****.
- pault107, on 10/18/2008, -0/+4The difficult part is when they pass away. I grew up with a dog, we got a puppy when I was about ten years old, so we grew up together. She died aged seventeen and it broke my heart. I know it makes me sound like a pussy, I don't care, but it brings a tear to my eye just typing this.
- jcaino, on 10/18/2008, -0/+4My girlfirend works at a nursing home and the patients absolutely love when we bring our dog in to visit. The brighten right up as soon as they see him.
- pbone, on 10/18/2008, -0/+4good thing I have a hedgehog.
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+5Digg me up, if you think damien7 was raped by a great dane and now has "doggy issues"
- inactive, on 10/18/2008, -1/+5I'm done arguing with idiots that talk big but don't have the science to back it up, so here are links proving there is a connection between a healthy mind and a healthy body:
Stress can raise your cholesterol: http://mentalhealth.about.com/b/2005/11/25/new-res ...
Loneliness Impairs the Immune System: http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/research/a/lonley ...
Broken Heart Syndrome Mimics Heart Attack: http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/research/a/broken ...
Exercise is an Effective Antidepressant: http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/mindandbody/a/exe ...
100 Years of Mind-Body Research: http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/mindandbody/a/100 ...
Breast Cancer Patients who get Group Therapy Live Longer: http://mentalhealth.about.com/library/weekly/aa100 ...
Happy People may have more Immunities to Common Cold
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/mindandbody/a/col ...
Hostility & Depression increase Heart Disease Protein
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/mindandbody/a/hos ...
Study looks at Effects of Laughter on Immune System: http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/mindandbody/a/imm ...
General Medical Costs Higher for Anxious, Depressed Patients: http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/budgetmentalhealt ...
Still don't see a connection between mental health and physical health? I got 1000 more links after these. Where are your links? Oh yea, you're talking out of your ass. - inactive, on 10/18/2008, -2/+6damian7, even if the dog licks you, the bacteria that typically inhabit a dog's mouth are harmless to humans, but they don't have cleaner mouths. However, study after study show that pet owners live longer, period. If the presence of a dog makes someone live longer, great, but it's not a necessity, as you implied. What problems are you talking about, anyways? You sound like you're just anti-pet, like people who are anti-family and refer to parents as "breeders" and think that if a person doesn't live life to your expectations they are of less value. But keep your ***** attitude, when you die at 40, I'll be alive and walking my dog.
- secrity, on 10/18/2008, -0/+3Statistically, indoor only cats lives considerably longer than a cat that is allowed to run outdoors.
- leonardutah, on 10/18/2008, -0/+3I put on my wizard hat...
- aobtd, on 10/18/2008, -2/+5i have a cat!
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