5 Ways Pets Make Your Home a Better Place to Be

Pets make your home a better place to be. There is a reason that people love their pets. It’s not just that these big personalities make us laugh, pets are companions that can make our lives better in a number of ways.

Here are 5 big ways that pets make your home a better place to be:

1. Emotional Health

Dogs and cats can sense sadness, tension, fear, excitement, and pain. Many times our pets are happy to offer us comfort and reflect sympathy when we are sad. In other times their excitement can bring us joy and laughter.

Having a loyal pet in your home can bring some much needed loving reinforcement during emotional times. Pets make your home a better place to be for children who are learning to care for others and develop emotional awareness. Having a pet in your home can lower feelings of anxiety and loneliness for people of any age.

2. Alerting and Protection

Pets can make your home a better place to be by making it safer. Many dogs and cats have an instinctual awareness of their environment. While we may be distracted by a task and not take notice of a strange noise outside, a loyal pet in your home will be on alert for usual activity.

On the occasion that you or a member of your family member could be in danger, you pet could protect you. Pets have been known to guide or nudge young children away from potential danger. Big dogs, small dogs, and even some cats have protected their family from other animals or humans who are threatening to their safety.

3. More Active Lifestyle

Having a pet that wants to play or go for a walk can help you to have a more active lifestyle. Taking your dog for a daily walk or playing with a cat and their toys requires activity that you may not engage in without them.

Your pet can even help you make new friends at the dog park, or encourage you to connect to other people online who also love their pets.

Learn more about the “Benefits of Walking for your Health” in one of our previous blog articles.

4. Learning by Providing Routine Care

Besides playing with a pet, caring for a dog, cat, or other critter can be a great way to teach kids about responsibility. Learning about caring for animals helps children understand empathy, consistency, and problem solving.

Kids aren’t the only people who benefit from caring for a pet. Pets make homes a better place to be for elderly people in different stages of memory loss, recovering addicts, adults with social anxiety or depression, and people who have experienced trauma. Having a pet gives you the opportunity to focus on providing consistent care and love to a loyal animal friend.

5. Lowering Stress and Blood Pressure

Your pets are capable of impacting your health. Studies have shown that interaction with your loyal companion can reduce the level of cortisol produced in your body. Cortisol is known as “the stress hormone” which causes tension, high blood pressure, and weight gain.

Other examples of how pets make you home a better place to be by impacting your health include these.
The way your cat purrs can help to calm you in the same way white noise machines help people sleep. Practicing mindfulness by concentrating on the way it feels to pet fur or play with a pet can help reduce anxiety.

Read about more “Ways to Practice Self Care at Home” in another blog article.

We love to share information in our blog that encourages families to be happy and healthy. If you have a family pet that make you home a better place to be, show them a little extra appreciation. If you have considering adding a furry friend to your home, we hope this article provides some insight to the benefits they could bring.