Whether it’s a cat or a dog, roughly 67% of American households have at least one pet. Besides just the dopamine rush of your pet excitedly greeting you when you return home from work, studies show that the bond formed between humans and our pets results in several positive mental and physical effects on our lives. Keep reading below to learn the myriad of ways owning a pet benefits our overall quality of life.

Improved Anxiety and Stress

Playing with your dog can raise dopamine levels in a similar way that petting your cat can raise serotonin levels. Interacting and bonding with your pet usually is a joyous experience that lowers production of the cortisol and norepinephrine hormone in your body, which otherwise can be known to lead to numerous negative health impacts if these harmful hormonal levels remain high. 

There’s a reason why emotional support animals are so popular as our pets help boost and maintain our mental health during tough times. In general, pets lower our anxiety and stress because they provide humans an immense sense of purpose, routine, and responsibility to care for a loving living creature. Furthermore, for those who are depressed, having a dog or a cat can be the driving force for someone to get out of bed in the morning.

Lowered Blood Pressure

Over the years, countless studies have demonstrated significant improvements to our heart health after just 5-months of owning a pet. In tandem with lowered cortisol and norepinephrine levels, pet owners historically survive longer than those without pets, as well as have less heart attacks, heart disease, and lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels than those who don’t own a pet.

The Benefit of Exercise

While especially true for dog owners, the regular exercise one gains from caring for a dog greatly benefits physical and mental health. Walking your dog, playing with your cat or dog, and overall caring for a pet helps owners meet their daily cardiovascular goal. The physical requirements of caring for a pet lowers various health risks such as stroke, cancers, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and much more. While most people need at least 150-minutes of exercise each week, owning a dog can be a great motivator to help you achieve that goal.

Many Other Health Benefits

• Social Connections: When out and about, the presence of a dog or cat always opens up the potential for conversation. Owning a pet can be the perfect invitation to converse with a stranger, make friends, and fight loneliness.
• Boosts Immunity and Alleviates Allergies: Being around a dog or cat, especially early in life, decreases the risk of asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Exposing one’s immune system to dander in the fur of our pets can actually help regulate and lessen our system’s response to these common airborne bacteria.
• Helps With Routine: Establishing formative routines can be tough, although pets love routine and caring for a furry friend can help us stick to beneficial daily routines.
• Nutrition: Similar to helping with our daily routines, dogs and cats prefer to eat on a regular schedule. Staying consistent with our pet’s eating schedule can help us, as owners, to not snack throughout the day and stick to healthy daily diet.

Ensure Optimum Nutrition for Your Pet

Making sure our pets are getting the proper nutritional ingredients will improve their bodies natural methods to regulate health. Dr. Bill’s Ultimate Fitness & Health products are specifically formulated to help our dogs and cats during life’s most stressful periods such as weaning, growth, training, performance, reproduction, lactation, and boarding. Dr. Bill’s Ultimate Fitness & Health provides proactive nutritional support for:

• Active Weight Control
• Eye, Heart, & Brain Health
• Performance Enhancement
• Endurance & Stamina
• Muscle Tone & Strength

Achieve complete daily wellness with Dr. Bill’s Ultimate Fitness & Health, which provides improved health and longevity, is biologically appropriate, and is made from natural ingredients to help your canine and feline friends live longer, healthier lives.