If you ask any cat or dog owner, they will tell the animals are one of the family. Talk to them for a while and they will strike you as happy and well-adjusted. This might not seem significant but continuing medical research has detected a significant trend. This is not just your neighbor. It’s the majority of people who keep a pet. The most recent piece of research was presented to the International Society of Anthrozoology conference held in Kansas City this October by a team from Loyola University of Chicago.

They were testing the hypothesis that the use of dogs in a hospital environment would represent a beneficial therapy, promoting faster healing and a better rehabilitation following joint replacement surgery. Some of you will be convinced that dogs are the equivalent of plague carriers and believe they should never be allowed into a hopefully relatively sterile hospital. After all, dogs are barred from most eating places. Allowing animals into public spaces is a balancing of risks and benefits. Hospitals are not as clean as we might believe and dogs do not make what is often a bad situation any worse. In fact, their presence is proving to be great therapy and the benefits of admission now significantly outweigh keeping them out.

The team was using a number of dogs specially trained to respond positively to patients. Each animal has been taught some 40 different commands and will respond with behavior likely to soothe a patient or to motive his or her to resume movement. The exploits a fairly common reaction in humans to stroke dogs. Many find the feeling of fingers running on and through fur to be relaxing. When the dogs also appear to show appreciation, bonding takes place quickly and patients feel happier. Pets are stress busters. Even more significantly, this research confirms that patients going through rehabilitation with dogs healed more quickly and used 50% less painkillers than a control group who relied on human therapists for counseling and support. Regular monitoring found the pets lowered the heart rate and blood pressure of their human companions. In every sense, the trial has proved a real success and more hospitals in Chicago are now being introduced to the use of these dogs. The expectation is that more dogs will be required and a training program is being organized.

It’s easy to sneer at research like this, feeling people who get sappy over dogs are strange in all kinds of ways. Yet this research is not unique. There have been many studies with similar findings. The real point of interest in the latest trial is the finding that patients who are not pet owners benefit after only one period of interaction with a dog. The more regular the contact, the better the human’s physical and emotional response. This research does not, of course, suggest people should recover from serious surgery without the use of some painkillers. Tramadol will remain the standard drug for pain management. But the finding that people recover more quickly using less medication is encouraging. No matter how good tramadol, it’s better to use it only over the short term. Having a pet is clearly a good move.

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