The Pet Prescription
See Spot run. Then see Spot lower your blood pressure and boost your immunity. Really
FALLS CHURCH, VA. --"Can I pet your dog?" asks Suzi Zarkin, leaning over a rangy yellow Labrador, who picks up his square head at the sound of her voice. "Sure. His name is Miles," says Leslie Horton. A typical street-corner conversation, but this is no street. It's the oncology floor at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.
Zarkin, 26, of the nearby city of Alexandria, confers quietly with Horton and then the trio sets off on a journey down the hall toward a window, Zarkin gripping the stiff handle of Miles's harness. "OK, Miles, we're almost there, almost there," Zarkin says. It's her third day in the hospital; she's battling cancer in her spine. "My right leg is pretty much paralyzed from the knee down. Miles was helping me keep steady. If I have a dog to walk, and my cane, too, I can go forever. I love the dogs that come up here. It just makes me feel better."
That means more than just an emotional boost. The unconditional support shown by a pet inspires physical benefits, too, says Horton, who directs the hospital's animal-assisted therapy program, one of the largest in the country. "We have patients who have trouble walking down one hallway, but when we put them next to a dog, they do two hallways or four." More exercise leads to more strength, shorter hospital stays, and faster recoveries. And not just at Inova Fairfax. A few weeks ago, researchers at University of California-Los Angeles Medical Center reported that heart-failure patients had better heart function after a bedside visit from a dog. Pet owners are also more likely to survive a heart attack than non-pet owners, regardless of the severity of disease. And caring for animals reduces antisocial behavior in troubled teens and children. Discoveries such as these have inspired a boom in animal-assisted therapy, in which animals, under the supervision of a physical therapist, nurse, or other professional, work to help patients achieve specific rehabilitation goals.
Pet chemistry. But before people start to gush about pets as cure-alls--and there are plenty of willing gushers--experts caution that animal therapy has limits. "Look, a visit from a dog is not a panacea," says Erika Friedmann, a biologist at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore who studies human-animal interactions. Research hasn't shown miracles, and some studies haven't shown any advantage at all.
And to clear up one point quickly for the owners of America's 90-odd million cats: Most animal-assisted therapy uses dogs. It's not that cats can't help, but more people are allergic to them. And every time they work in hospitals, therapy animals have to get a bath and have their teeth brushed. It's hard to find a cat that will put up with that.
Pet benefits may begin with changes in body chemistry. One study showed that a short pet visit increased levels of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, while levels of cortisol, a stress and arousal hormone, dropped. "A chronic state of arousal isn't healthy," says Friedmann. "It causes hypertension, and it has been implicated in diabetes, asthma, and various gastrointestinal disorders. Part of the arousal response is to turn off the immune system, so you are breaking down instead of healing yourself." But a pet, she says, seems to blunt this reaction.
That's just what Kathie Cole found. Cole is the critical-care nurse who ran the UCLA heart-failure study, presented at last month's American Heart Association meeting. Hospitalized heart patients had a therapy dog climb on their beds and hang out for 12 minutes. Their reactions were compared with patients who were visited by a human alone or had no visitor and simply rested. Patients who spent time with dogs showed a drop in blood pressure on the left side of their hearts--a critical location--of about 10 percent. But pressure actually increased in patients who got a human visitor or who just rested. Levels of a stress hormone called epinephrine also dropped among the patients with dogs.
That kind of calming effect may translate into major health improvements. Friedmann found that dog owners who had heart attacks were slightly more likely to be alive one year later than were non-dog owners. This was true no matter how bad their original heart attack. In another study, pet owners with high blood pressure who were confronted with stress had smaller spikes in their blood pressure than did non-dog owners, even though both groups were on the same blood pressure medication. And in England, a study of 256 schoolchildren showed that kids with pets were less likely to miss school because of illness. They also had more stable levels of immunoglobulin A, a measure of immune-system strength, which could explain the low number of sick days. Even Alzheimer's patients, when their nursing homes were given fish tanks, were less agitated and ate more of their meals, gaining much-needed nutrition.
Animal hospitals. Healthcare facilities are now trying to take advantage of these mind-and-body responses. At Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Zip, a golden retriever, goes into burn and trauma units. "Just a sweet nuzzle from Zip, and it really helps them," says Lisa Little, the hospital's director of volunteer services. "We had a kid here who'd been unconscious for a month. But the therapist put his hand on Zip's face, and he just started petting the dog. Then he opened his eyes to see what he was petting."
Miles, at Inova Fairfax, has been trying to get a response from Austin Berrier, 19, of Chantilly, Va., a car-accident victim with head trauma who has been drifting in and out of consciousness for weeks. At Horton's command, the dog jumps softly onto the foot of the bed, then works his way slowly through the maze of wires and intravenous tubes to settle his head on Berrier's chest. "Austin, touch him with this hand," says Horton, grabbing Berrier's left arm. Berrier strokes the dog slowly. "OK. Nice job, super. Austin, show me the dog's nose." Berrier moves his hand to Miles's face. Horton is pleased. "He showed cognitive recognition because he was able to show me the dog's nose. That's significant."
Therapy with animals is also helping seriously troubled kids at Green Chimneys, a residential treatment center and day school based on a farm in Brewster, N.Y. "These are children and teens with rage issues that created a safety problem, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," says Suz Brooks, a clinical psychologist at the center. "They need to learn to control their behavior and how to be in relationships." The children see that being aggressive with an animal makes it run away, but being calm and attentive lets them approach and interact. Brooks then takes the child and, through role-playing, also shies away from aggression. "The child sees that even Doctor Brooks can be pushed away, but she likes a calm approach. So that behavior with animals gets transferred to behavior with people." Kids stay at Green Chimneys for two years, on average. "About 80 percent of our kids don't get sent back here and instead return to their families and schools," says Brooks.
Not everything with animals is a success story. Groups of people interacting with dogs don't seem to get therapeutic effects. Giving multiple sclerosis patients a fish tank didn't help with their depression. And Horton isn't able to get a response from every injured patient.
In a way, animals are like pills: Whether they work depends on the individual and on the situation. But properly used, their support and stimulation can be a boon. As one Inova Fairfax patient put it: "Human therapists nag at you. Dogs are more fun. They don't ask me any questions, and I don't have to give any answers."
This story appears in the December 12, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.