New Research Results Indicate Adopted Shelter Cats May Acclimate Well into Families of Children with Autism without Experiencing Significant Stress

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) announced today the publication of a study exploring the impacts of therapy dog sessions on the welfare of the dogs involved. Conducted by researchers at American Humane, findings of the study demonstrate that dogs did not show increased stress resulting from the therapy visits. Funded by HABRI and Zoetis, American Humane’s newly-released “Canines and Childhood Cancer Study,” is one of the largest human-animal bond studies focusing on the impact of animal-assisted interaction (AAI) on children with cancer and their parents, as well as the participating therapy dogs. “Results of this study demonstrate that dogs did not show increased behavioral or physiological stress, indicating that placing therapy dogs in this type of therapeutic setting does not cause undue stress to the animals,” said Amy McCullough, PhD and Principal Investigator, American Humane. “This research will help American Humane, HABRI and practitioners in the field to maintain the highest standards of animal welfare.” “This research project is important because now we have strong evidence that, with proper training and handling, the welfare of therapy animals in hospital settings is not adversely impacted,” said HABRI Executive Director Steven Feldman. “As more animals are deployed to help hospital patients, we can be confident that the dogs are OK!” Dr. McCullough, along with Ashleigh Ruehrdanz, MPH and Molly Jenkins, MSW of American Humane, supervised data collection on participating handler-dog teams at five children’s hospitals across the United States. The objective of the study in regard to participating canines was to determine the stress levels of therapy dogs during regular AAI sessions with pediatric oncology patients and their families. The research team videotaped each animal-assisted therapy session and coded the dogs’ behavior using an ethogram developed to capture affiliative and stress-related behaviors. The frequency...

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) today announced a new grant to research the impact of adopting small animals on pet owner wellbeing. This grant was awarded to a team of researchers led by Principal Investigator Professor Carri Westgarth, Chair in Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Liverpool. This project will use surveys with owners of small pets to examine changes to the owner’s mental and physical wellbeing after the adoption of rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, and mice from a shelter. Researchers will also conduct in-depth interviews with owners of these types of pets, gaining further insight into the human-animal bond and the pet adoption process. “Current research is often focused on dog and cat ownership, and the evidence base regarding health impacts from owning small furry pets is less well developed,” said Carri Westgarth, the Principal Investigator of this study. “Our research will help uncover the impact of owning small furry pets and the experiences people have adopting them from shelters, which we hope will help shelters guide and support successful small pet adoptions.” This study has two parts. In part one, researchers will conduct in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 30 pet owners to examine perceptions and experiences of owning a small pet on owner wellbeing. In part two, researchers will conduct a longitudinal cohort study of 450 new pet owners, following up with participants at 1-month, 3-months, and 6-months after adoption from Woodgreen Pets Charity and other shelters. This will track how the human-animal bond develops over time and measure changes in owners’ psychological, social, and physical health. Researchers expect to find adoption of small shelter pets will lead to positive changes in health outcomes, which will be further enhanced in new pet owners. “Human-animal bond research should include all pet species,” said Steven Feldman, President, HABRI. “HABRI is proud to support research to...

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and Pet Partners announced today a new research grant to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to investigate the potential for reduced loneliness among people hospitalized for mental health conditions resulting from a program of therapy dog interventions. This project, titled “A Pilot Study to Examine the Impact of a Therapy Dog Intervention on Loneliness and Related Health Outcomes in Patients with Mental Illness,” aims to address key questions to support an animal-assisted intervention (AAI) as an inpatient intervention for these vulnerable individuals.   “This pilot study is important to Pet Partners as it will help advance standards of practice in the delivery of animal-assisted therapy for a population that stands to benefit from interaction with friendly, well-trained therapy animals,” said C. Annie Peters, President & CEO of Pet Partners. “In supporting this research, we hope to make an impactful contribution to the field of human-animal interaction and to support the work of volunteer therapy animal teams across the country dedicated to sharing the healing benefits of the human-animal bond with people in need of comfort and support.”  “We know that therapy animals can be beneficial to people in the hospital, but there is a need for more scientific studies to investigate their impact on loneliness, and to fully understand what aspects of those interactions are most effective and for whom,” said Nancy Gee, PhD, Professor and Director of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction (CHAI) at Virginia Commonwealth University, the study’s principal investigator. “This study seeks to address this gap and provide further support for animal-assisted interventions as a way of addressing loneliness for this at-risk population.”  The goal of this new VCU research project is to collect pilot data in a population that is at-risk for loneliness...