Cooperative Living February 2017 - 37

HIDDEN CONNECTIONS
Patients are usually aware of the
possible physical downsides of living with
pets, said Dr. Lee Blecher, who practices
family medicine with a concentration in
women's health in Fairfax, Virginia.
They know that pregnant women
shouldn't handle cat litter, for example,
because of the risk of birth defects from
toxoplasmosis, and they know that animal
bites and scratches should be treated
immediately to prevent infection. They
also know that sniffling, sneezing and
other allergic responses to pets can create
misery for sensitive household members.
The benefits of sharing a home with a
companion animal, however, are often
overlooked, or in many cases are just now
coming to light. For example, while some
pets may act as allergens, investigators are
learning that pediatric exposure to animals
might actually prevent allergies later in life.
" Kids exposed to pets early on in life
have fewer allergies and pulmonary
disorders like asthma. It ends up being a
beneficial thing, " said Blecher, who is also
an associate clinical professor of family
medicine with the Virginia Commonwealth
University School of Medicine.
" It primes the immune system. It's
similar to the concept of immunotherapy
or allergy shots, " he said, citing two
recently published Swedish studies.
A HEART-HEALTHY MATCH
The primary cause of death in the U.S.
is cardiovascular disease (CVD), so studies
indicating that pet ownership can improve
CVD symptoms and indicators like lipid
(fat) profiles, stress response, and, yes,
even blood pressure, have been greeted
with interest by the health-care
community. After critically reviewing the
literature, the American Heart Association
(AHA) published a Scientific Statement on
Pet Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk in
2013 that concluded that pet ownership,
particularly dog ownership, is probably
associated with decreased CVD risk and
may even have a causal role in reducing it.
One possible cause of this positive
impact is the increased physical activity
usually seen on the part of dog owners.
" We all have patients whose only exercise
is that they have to get up to walk the
dog three times a day, " Blecher said.
The same AHA statement cautioned,
however, that, while getting a pet might be
a " reasonable " recommendation in some
cases, " pet adoption, rescue or purchase
should not be done for the primary
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This is particularly significant since
the longer the brain of a trauma patient
feels unsafe, the less positive the patient's
outcome may be. " So the quicker we can
be in moving somebody to a sense of
feeling safe, and a sense of well-being, the
fewer symptoms we have over the long
term, " Tedeschi said.
SPECIFIC NEEDS
Leading the way in terms of research
about bioaffiliation and other humanpurpose
of reducing CVD risk. " That's in
part because not all situations are the same.
" Individual variation in people, animals
and different contexts likely all matter, "
said Meagan Mueller, Ph.D., a research
assistant professor at Tufts University
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
and associate director of the Tufts Institute
for Human-Animal Interaction.
" And so far, it seems as though the
quality of the relationship matters ... a
positive, mutually beneficial relationship
with a pet is probably going to be
associated with more positive outcomes, "
she said.
BIOAFFILIATION
Another area researchers are exploring
is the concept of bioaffiliation, or the
recognition that we learn about our own
well-being by looking at other living
things around us.
" If you were standing next to a bunch
of people, and all of a sudden they were all
startled and ran away, you would probably
think about doing the same thing, right? "
Tedeschi said.
Contact with other healthy, living
systems can also help us assess our
situations and relax, and allow our
physiology to respond in kind.
" For example, we can put a resting
therapy dog right alongside the body of a
traumatized child, and have that child use
that animal's heart rate and respiration to
match their own, " said Tedeschi, adding
that this process allows the child to
recalibrate his or her own physiology
and slow down acute stress reactions.
animal connection questions is work with
the therapeutic use of animals for patients
with conditions like autism and posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD).
Patients with autism spectrum disorders
can sometimes have trouble functioning in
traditional settings, said Tedeschi, who has
collaborated with celebrated autism and
animal behavior expert Temple Grandin.
Animals communicate using everything
except spoken or written words. Many
individuals on the autism spectrum are
able to use these nonverbal forms of
communication to have really successful
connections with animals. " Animals
provide fantastic opportunities for
working with these individuals, "
Tedeschi said.
Another example of where pet-based
interventions are becoming useful is
with the military veteran population
returning home from extensive
deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is estimated that there are now about
a half-million U.S. service members who
potentially are experiencing PTSD and
similar traumatic brain injuries.
One of the outcomes of PTSD is that
many individuals retreat and avoid social
connections. " So when somebody doesn't
trust a human being, in many cases
animals are an alternative safe and
supportive relationship, " Tedeschi said.
" This allows them to begin to utilize
their brain in a capacity consistent with
healthy relationships, and to begin to
recover, to retrain the traumatized
brain to be able to function in
everyday life. "
One clinical intervention for PTSD,
for example, is to teach people
experiencing hypervigilance to observe
their own animals. Cats are fantastic for
this, Tedeschi said, because cats are very
sensitive to their environments. This
allows somebody to form a second
opinion about whether there's an actual
risk or not and begin to regain control
of their own startle reflexes.
February 2017 | Cooperative Living | 35
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Cooperative Living February 2017

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