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“If patients with deficits in motivation, attention, and socioemotional functioning show higher emotional involvement in activities connected to a dog, then such activities could increase the chance of learning and of achieving therapeutic aims,” she said.

Makes sense. Modern life in cities cuts us off from our connection to nature. Rekindling some of that connection, even through one animal, is sure to boost our mental state.

i know getting my cat helped me with my health problems.

It’s always a good day to have allergies 🙃

I just adopted a kitten, I love her and I’m hoping taking her and watching her grow will help with my mental health.

curing the covid pandemic i had thyroid problems that went untreated for a year and getting my cat certainly helped me with that. since untreated thyroid problems mimic various mental disorders.

I think this'll be the nail in the coffin for dead-animal therapy.

Live ...

Like they tried it with dead people and animals but it just didn't seem to be as effective ...

Same. I'm still here because of my cat. She is still here because of me, we make an odd yin and yang but we get the job done!

I loved my cat. She was a stray cat. She found me while I was training at the local park. She followed me home for some reason. I would walk a few steps away from the park and she'd follow behind. She kept following me until I reached home. From then I thought "Why not?" and so I adopted the little cat.

That was my first time having a cat. My immediate thought was how I was supposed to communicate with her. What I did was that whenever she was far away, I'd sit down on the ground and clap my hands. She would then come to me and sit on my lap. That strangely worked easily, so that's how I always called her. I named her Nikki. Whenever I called her "Nikki", she would just ignore me though. She only responded whenever I clapped my hands.

Nikki was free to go in and out of my place. Whenever I'd go to the park, she would follow me around as well. Thankfully there weren't a lot of people so we were mostly alone majority of the time. Sometimes when I would have to go to a far place like grandma's house, Nikki would jump into a basket. The first few times Nikki got in the car, she got carsick and vomitted. That was weird. It took a few car rides before she got used to it.

Whenever I'd get home from school, Nikki would run to me and then climb to my shoulder. Thankfully her claws didn't hurt too much, but she did a number on my clothes for sure lol! I still wonder why she enjoyed perching on my shoulder like she's some kind of parrot in those pirate movies.

After a few years, Nikki grew bigger! She wasn't a tiny cat anymore! She also seemed stronger because she could suddenly jump so high, around 5 to 6 feet vertically. One day, I noticed she brought home a male cat with her. It was an aggressive fat orange cat. I called it Garfield. That cat was unfriendly at first. He would often try to ambush me whenever I went out of the door. He would jump on the rails and then jump on me to try and scratch me. I'd always dodge him and then he'd stop because I brought him food.

Apparently, Garfield was Nikki's boyfriend. Nikki got pregnant and Garfield left her for some reason. I never saw Garfield again after Nikki got pregnant. What an irresponsible father. Time passed and I noticed that Nikki's belly was quite big already. I learned that when an animal's giving birth, you should leave them alone so that the children can "bond" with the parent. I left Nikki for a while and when I came back, there were three kittens. I didn't know cats can pop out three kittens at a time!

Time came when I had to leave for a far away place, so I left Nikki and her kittens to my relatives. I miss Nikki.

That's a dark thought LMFAO

Thanks for your story. I enjoyed it!

There had to be a study to learn this? It's been rather obvious to those with pets or to those who work closely with animals.

I can pretty much guarantee you that the benefits aren’t just for hairy animals! My leopard gecko saved my life.

Oh I have 2 dogs and a cat, I just suffer through it 😂

Thank you

Known as "fuzz therapy" by a lot of people.

Yeah. My first thought from reading the title was "No shit, Sherlock!"

Flopsy just never seemed to want to play, y'know? It was a bummer.

This article headline seems to have been written by dogs.

The control group was a stuffed animal so...

Nobody knows you are a dog on the internet.

Yes. Literally how science works. It debunks stuff that people have "known to be true" all the time. Some times it confirms them. Until science examines them they are just untested observations.

Dogs spreading propaganda for good boy scratches

What about on the animals side?

We should see if we have the same results on the animals. Or are we just using them for our own selfish gain...

On my darkest days, my cat acting dumb could literally pull me out of a slump even more than a supportive friend. Animals truly make us human.

some things really are worth suffering over