PETA won't like this study: How Fur Helps You Live Longer

Now PETA won't care that owning pets help people live longer, but I think that is actually a positive.

. . . Three concurrent studies recently revealed that pet owners tend to have lots of physical and emotional advantages, including better self-esteem, better physical conditioning, and better health and happiness compared with people in pet-free households.

Friends with Benefits
While it has long been known that pets can help people overcome major life-stressors (think therapy dogs), scientists wanted to determine whether pets were beneficial to people in everyday life. And it turns out a pet is quite a good friend indeed. In one study, surveys of pet owners and non-owners revealed that pet people exercised more, felt less lonely and more extroverted, had greater self-esteem, and were just healthier and happier overall compared with people who didn't own pets. A second study revealed that the more social interaction people had with their dogs, the happier and better adjusted the people were. And finally, the third study showed that focusing on their pets helped people deal better with negative emotions. . . .