The Benefit of Pets and Animal-Assisted Therapy to the Health of Older Individuals

Table 5

Potential benefits and risks of animals in the elderly.

Potential benefits	Potential harms
Increased physical activity	Cost
Improved survival in cardiovascular disease	Injury to self
Improved circulatory hemodynamic responses	Injury to others
Less behavioral disturbance in demented patients	Damage to property
Improved socialization in demented patients	Damage to environment
Weight maintenance in demented patients	Zoonotic infections
Less anxiety, fear in depressed patients	Adverse psychological event (e.g., grief reaction over loss of pet)
Improved social behavior in schizophrenics	Adverse social event (e.g., friends, neighbors fear pet)
Less loneliness	Greater rehospitalization rate in acute coronary syndrome patients