What You Didn’t Know About Having a Pandemic Pet

Surveys show that most pet owners are convinced that living with companion animals improves their mental health and psychological well-being. However, many research reports have found that the mental health of pet owners is not measurably better than that of people without a pet. The isolation and stress associated with COVID lockdowns afforded investigators an opportunity to test this pet effect paradox. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a large majority of studies found pets have little or no impact on human mental health during pandemics