Forbid Fur Bias! There is lots of marvelous research that keeping a floofy pet, the most-frequently-studied and popular being cats and dogs, has significant value: decreased stress, lower blood pressure, sociability. Equine (horse-riding and care) therapy is a treatment for physical and mental health challenges. Heck, I’ve found an NIH newsletter that praises guinea pigs in classrooms.

But there are people who can’t keep pets who make them itch and sneeze, or who simply prefer reptiles or spiders. Birds can be allergens, but they are also a fascinating, entertaining, often very loving, option – my parents had three, there was a symphony of squawks and chirps every time I visited. I’m amused that these wonderful alternatives are “non-conventional” in the December 21, 2022 study Human Health Benefits of Non-Conventional Companion Animals: A Narrative Review by Luke Macauley and Anna Chur-Hansen.

Maintaining a fish tank has demonstrable benefit, as a July 29, 2019 PLoS article, The effects of interacting with fish in aquariums on human health and well-being: A systematic review by Heather Clements and contributors concluded. Fishkeeping has been one of my things for years, a hobby passed to me from my father and now from both my father and I to my son. That’s an aspect of pet responsibility that I don’t think gets enough attention – a love of animals can be powerfully intergenerational.

I met a new client yesterday who has a bearded dragon. And that awesome girl glared unblinking at me for the entire interview, following my every move in her living room – she knew her person, she didn’t know me. Keep some kind of pet if you can. Or just plants if a pet is too expensive, or your work hours don’t give you the structure to keep a pet, or your apartment is smaller than a shoe box. There’s science behind that too!