To date, there has been a lack of studies on the therapeutic benefits of pets especially in relation to children. That is about to change as public and private organizations come together to explore the positive benefits of these interactions.  

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (part of the National Institutes of Health) has been joined by the Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition in England, and the National Institute of Nursing in seeking proposals for research centering on the relationship between children and pets. They hope to fund studies that explore why some children bond with pets more than others, and how these relationships impact kids’ health and development.

Specifically, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is looking “… to build an empirical research base on how children perceive, relate to and think about animals; how pets in the home impact children’s social and emotional development and health (e.g. allergies, the immune system, asthma, mitigation of obesity); and whether and under what conditions therapeutic uses of animals is safe and effective.” (See http://www.nichd.nih.gov/funding/foa/  RFA-HD-09-031for details).

Pet therapy has been used in treating depression in the elderly, especially in those elders who have been institutionalized, as well as in treating depression and anxiety in children with cancer. For further information, read the article recently published in the NY Times.