Pandemic pets cannot enhance owners’ well-being for a long time

Despite the widespread belief that pets improve human happiness and reduce loneliness, a comprehensive study of nearly 3,000 people during the 19-day lockdown found that pet ownership has no lasting benefits.

Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University tracked the participants within six months and found that the effect disappeared within 1-4 months when they initially acquired the cheerfulness of their new pets. Even more surprisingly, over time, dog owners actually experience a decline in calmness, activity and life satisfaction.

These findings, published in scientific reports, challenge the prevalent assumptions about the “pet effect” and suggest that the emotional benefits of animal companionship may be more limited than generally believed, especially during stressful times.

Short-term joy, long-term challenges

“Through a collaboration with a psychologist team led by Zsolt Demetrovics and Róbert Urbán, we had access to a unique data set,” explained Enikő Kubinyi, head of the MTA-ELTE ‘Momentum’ Companion Animals Research Group. During the 2020 lockdown in Hungary, the researchers tracked 2,783 people during three data collection periods and pointed out that 65 participants obtained pets while 75 participants lost their pets.

Research design provides a rare opportunity to study impartial participants, which are not necessarily pet lovers or primary caregivers, with most previous studies focusing on enthusiastic adopters visiting animal shelters.

The main findings of longitudinal studies reveal:

• The initial happiness improvement after pet acquisition lasted only 1-4 months
• Over time, dog owners show a decline in calmness, activity and life satisfaction
• Pet loss has no measurable impact on the well-being of former owners
• Neither mental health nor physical health predicts future pet acquisition decisions

As it turns out, the results are particularly surprising. When you get a brief increase in happiness for any pet, dog owners are particularly reduced in a variety of happiness measures as the month passes.

Although pets still have loneliness

“What surprised me most was that a new pet in the family had no effect on the loneliness of the respondents,” noted Judit Mokos, a data scientist and first author of the study. “Adoption of dogs is often a solution for older people and/or lonely people. Shelters and pet food companies promote adoption as a means to alleviate loneliness.”

However, the study reveals a more complex reality. Instead of reducing loneliness, the dog increases anxiety for the new owner. This finding contradicts the extensive marketing information and social assumptions about pets, which are emotionally supported during difficult times.

The study provides an ideal natural experiment during the timeline of Covid-19 lockdown. Researchers believe that if pets are to show obvious psychological benefits, it will be during a period of extreme social isolation and stress when people are confined to their own homes.

A fair sample reveals different realities

Previous pet studies have often suffered from selection bias, focusing on people who have already committed to animal ownership or actively seeking adoption. The strength of this study is that the study participants are not necessarily representative samples of the primary pet caregivers and maintain different attitudes toward the animals.

Research co-author Ádám Miklósi highlighted this crucial difference: “We rarely have access to data that records spontaneously obtaining pets from people with unbiased attitudes toward pet ownership. Usually, pet lovers are identified and studied when deciding on the decision to adopt animals.”

Among the participants who acquired pets, only 12-15% lived alone, meaning that most shared families may not be the primary caregivers. Furthermore, some pets were reported to be “not important” to participants, suggesting that the level of emotional investment is different and can more accurately reflect the real-world pet ownership dynamics.

The study also found that losing a pet did not produce significant changes in welfare measures, a finding that surprised the researchers and gave a wide range of pet bereavement literature. However, this may reflect a more casual relationship between the sample and the animal, compared to the faithful pet owners who are usually studied in grief studies.

Context is important for human-animal bonds

The pandemic environment may fundamentally change how pets affect human well-being. Economic uncertainty, health issues and restricted liquidity may expand the burden of pet care while reducing potential benefits.

“It seems that at least during stressful times, ordinary people, who may not be the primary caregiver rather than the primary caregiver, but simply share a family with pets, are not significantly affected by pet losses, and their well-being is not a decisive and powerful predictor of obtaining a decision,” Miklósi observed.

Kubinyi concluded that the study revealed important limitations of our understanding of human animal relationships: “Based on the data, most people live with companion animals and do not seem to experience any long-term “pet effect” and have no strong connection with animals.”

The findings suggest that claims about the benefits of pet mental health may apply primarily to highly dedicated owners rather than the general population, highlighting the need for a more nuanced approach to pet ownership recommendations, especially during challenging times.

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