We’ve discussed the health benefits of dogs and cats on more than one occasion in this newsletter.

        Health benefits of pets for adults include such things as:

•  Promoting more physical

       activity;

•  With dogs being “ice breakers” they help their owner to be more social and thereby possibly avoid isolation and depression;

• Possible lowering of blood pressure and

•  Improving survival rates after heart attacks

With all those benefits for adults it seems logical there would be benefits to kids with pet ownership too, but there hadn’t been much research on it.

So researchers at Bassett Medical Center of Cooperstown, NY, decided to conduct a study on pets and children’s health.

The study included 643 children with a mean age of 6.7 years. No relationship was found between pet ownership and body mass index (BMI — a measure of “healthy weight”) but the study did find an association with childhood anxiety and pet ownership.

Compared to children without dogs, a lower percentage of children with dogs met the clinical definition of childhood anxiety.

Specifically, only 12% of children with dogs suffered from probable anxiety compared to 21% of those without dogs.

The study found “pet dog ownership was associated with a 9% reduction in the probability” of meeting the threshold of childhood anxiety at which further assessment is recommended to diagnose childhood anxiety.

Researchers didn’t find it surprising that having a dog might help lower children’s anxiety, since it is already known that children who participate in animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with dogs show improvements in mental health and developmental disorders through a reduction in anxiety and enhanced attachment.

Also, dogs are very responsive to humans’ communication cues to them, so it makes dogs especially and uniquely able to boost a child’s developing self-esteem and confidence.

In fact, children aged 7 to 8 rated pets higher than humans in providing them with a sense of comfort and self-esteem or in acting as a confidant.

Dogs were found to have a positive impact reducing anxiety in children due to a variety of causes, including:

•  Children needing self-esteem boosts while undergoing cancer treatment

•  Cancer patients had improved emotional well-being when they spent time with a therapy dog during chemotherapy and radiation treatme

• Patients said dogs provided a distraction to the treatments and helped diminish feelings of pain.

• Patients reported lower anxiety and stress when interacting with therapy dogs.

•  Therapy dogs even reduce teens facing test anxiety.

•  Yale, MIT, and the University of Connecticut have also used therapy

•  dogs for students cramming for tests.

Speaking of dogs and other pets, we have had amazing reports through the years from people very pleased and often surprised by the positive impact Willard’s Water has had on their dogs, cats, horses, birds, as well as farm animals.

We are excited to report that the Willard's Water Products for Pets are available from us again.

The Vibrant Pet Water Drops are a simple, safe, and effective way to enhance your pet's nutrition and general health. Adding just a few drops to your pet's water can improve hydration, enhance digestion and assimilation of nutrients, and naturally boost the vitality and well-being of your furry friend.   Reports include:

• Eases Joint Pain and Discomfort
• Improves Hydration
• Enhances Digestion
• Soothes Minor Irritations
• Restores Moisture
• Calms Stress Reaction

The Rejuvenating Skin & Coat Spray is made with natural ingredients and is a safe way to address a variety of your pet's skin and coat problems. You can rest easy knowing you're using a product that has been endorsed by a number of natural product publications and has been tried, tested, and deemed totally safe for more than 40 years.

Dr. Willard’s Soothing Topical Spray is Willard’s Water’s signature pet and livestock care product and is the simple solution to alleviate a variety of skin conditions. Use this gentle spray to soothe skin irritations like hot spots and rashes and to restore moisture to affected areas.

We bet your pets are going to love the Drops and the Spray!