A hug a day may keep the doctor away

It has been documented that "Pet Therapy" is beneficial to humans in stressful situations, and that having an animal companion has a positive effect on human health and wellbeing. Now researchers at the University of Guelph are investigating whether the reverse is true for pets.  Professor Patricia Turner and her colleagues in the Department of Pathobiology are studying the effects of positive attention and interaction in reducing anxiety and managing pain. Assisting in the multi-departmental research are Professor Francesco Leri of the Department of Psychology and Professor Suzanne Millman of the Department of Population Medicine.

Both physical and emotional stress are known to slow down healing time. Animals that are ill are often under physical stress, either from the actual illness and/or the interventions required for treatment. In addition, they are often subjected to mental stress, both from the effects of the illness and the effects of being in a strange environment and surrounded by strange people. It is now well established that treating pain will lead to more rapid and less stressful recovery from surgery. However, pain management is not always enough. Since stress alters the way the animal responds to pain medications, it may be necessary to increase the effective dose, which can lead to an increase in the number of side effects observed.

In the first phase of the Guelph study, rats were put into 2 groups.  The 2 groups were given different attention levels by their caregivers—members in one group was given basic care and attention while members in the other group were given names and provided with more individual attention.  In addition, rats in the 2 groups were either housed singly or in pairs, to investigate whether companionship played a role in their reactions.  The rats were observed for their tolerance to mild heat stress. The results of the first part of the study were twofold – first, rats that were paired, or were handled more frequently, were more likely to show discomfort earlier than the 'control' group; second, these animals were also more responsive to pain relievers. The conclusions drawn were that socialized animals were less stressed overall.