Companion animals and health

"The 'pet effect' - Health related aspects of companion animal ownership" is an open-access article which discusses practical ways to integrate companion animals into health care and health promotion. The author summarises the health-related benefits of companion animal ownership and makes recommendations to GPs about how they can integrate discussions about pet interaction into everyday practice. Bringing up this subject could be a catalyst for engaging patients in discussions about preventive health, and could enable GPs to deliver more tailored patient management and personalised lifestyle recommendations.  

Smith, B. (2012). Australian Family Physician, 41(6), 439-442