“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.” John Grogan, American Author
If you are looking for ways to improve your overall mental health, one thing you might want to consider is to get a pet.
Having a pet by your side can really drastically and dramatically improve your mental health in so many ways, and it is something that you are going to want to think about if you are keen on that kind of change coming in your own life.
In this post, we are going to look at just how it is that a pet can help you with your mental health, and what you might want to do in order to make the most of the situation.
Providing Motivation
For many people, pets can be a great motivator for them. If you have a pet, it means that you have someone you need to look after. For this reason, dogs and cats can often help people who are in depression, as you need to make sure that you are at the very least being active enough to keep your pet alive and well.
If you think you might need some help with motivation, having a pet by your side could really make all the difference, and could help you to get out of a rut much sooner.
Allowing For More Socialising
Having a dog in particular is something that tends to get you out of the house, as you are going to have to walk your pooch daily or as regularly as possible. Because of that, you are more likely to meet people, and you might be surprised at how many dog walkers meet other dog walkers on their regular trips around town.
It’s because these interactions are low-pressure, and there is no particular expectation for you to do anything at all, you might find them a useful opportunity to practice spending time with people. That can be helpful for many people who are going through dark times psychologically.
Beating Loneliness
If you find yourself to be feeling lonely a lot of the time, then you might well have thought about getting a pet.
A pet like a dog or a cat can be a great way to overcome your feeling of loneliness. Before you have a pet, you might wonder how it is that such an animal could really be able to make you feel that much less lonely.
But it’s really amazing just how much of a difference it can make, and the simple act of having a dog by your side can give you all the companionship you need to feel a hundred times better about yourself, your life and anything else.
Be sure to consider getting a dog if you are feeling lonely and you want to do something about it.
A Calming Influence
Perhaps you are prone to anxiety or worry, and you want a pet that is going to help keep you calm.
Well, a lot of pets can indeed help in that way too, so this is another thing that you can think about if you are trying to improve your mental health.
With a dog or cat by your side, you might find that they can prove to be a very calming influence, although of course this is more true of some pets than others.
Many people find cats to be especially calm, or you might want to think about seeking for the calmest kind of dog you can find – take a look at https://chocolatelabradorretriever.ca/labrador-retriever-breed/f/what-color-labrador-is-the-calmest for more on that topic.
For Children
Of course, it’s not just adults who have problems with mental health, it’s children too. There are certain issues that many children have with their mental health which can be improved through the introduction of a new pet, although you should of course be careful to use a pet as a fix-all for your child’s issues, for it is never that.
Nonetheless, pets can be helpful for kids with ADHD, autism or a range of other mental health conditions, so it is worth bearing in mind if that is relevant in your family.
Rabbits are the perfect pets for kids with ADHD for several reasons:
- First, they are relatively low-maintenance, so kids won’t get overwhelmed by having to take care of them.
- Second, rabbits are very quiet and won’t distract kids when trying to focus on something else.
- Third, rabbits are very gentle and can be handled easily, which is important for kids who might have difficulty controlling their impulses.
- Fourth, rabbits can be trained to do tricks, which can help kids with ADHD learn to follow instructions and focus on a task.
Finally, rabbits provide unconditional love and companionship, which can be invaluable for kids who feel isolated and alone, especially if you know that they are vaccinated and carry no danger of infections or diseases; visit https://www.unusualpetvets.com.au/rabbit-vaccines-and-viruses/ for for further info.
Often, the right pet can make all the difference in the world to how your child engages with you and everyone else. For more on choosing the right pet for your child, see here: https://www.petspyjamas.com/blog/getty-top-13-low-maintenance-pets-kids/.
Unconditional Love
There are many people with mental health issues out there where the underlying issue is often that they don’t feel loved. This feeling can stem from children, or an early experience with relationships, but wherever it comes from, it can be hard to overcome.
For many people, therefore, it is hardly surprising that a pet can help. After all, a dog is going to provide its owner with unconditional love no matter what, and that is something that can prove very encouraging and helpful for a lot of people with a range of mental health issues.
The Need For Touch
Humans have an innate need for touch, and this is something that pets can help with in a big way too. A dog or a cat in particular can help with this, as they are going to be perfectly happy sitting there receiving your pats and strokes.
If this is something that is particularly important to you, then finding an amiable pet could really make a huge difference to your life, to your happiness levels and to how you feel about yourself and others. It’s amazing how powerful some of these changes can really be.
Encouraging Structure
Finally, when you have a pet, it has a way of encouraging you to have a certain degree of structure. That is very important for a lot of people with mental health troubles, as very often conditions like depression and anxiety can cause you to lose all sense of a structure in your daily life, and that ultimately means that you can end up going in a negative cycle.
With a pet there, you need to look after them, take them for exercise and so on, so you are going to have to have a certain amount of structure in your life.
