Do you feel that pets help with anxiety?
~ Glen Community Support
SAS Admin
Do you feel that pets help with anxiety?
~ Glen Community Support
They sure do. I have parrots...you can see pictures on my profile here. Caring for them gives me a purpose, they are the only thing I look forward to after work. I love my feathered kids
I'm so scared of animals. They increase my anxiety, they are nice to look at but I couldn't have a pet touching me.
Of course! Pets are just good for mental health in general.
I see these stickers on cars every so often and love them.
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I see these stickers on cars every so often and love them.
pets
I have always sought out animals. I did not have pets growing up and have found as an adult that I crave the contact. I have one dog. It feels great to give unconditional love and his needs add shape to my day. I have three cats. They have taught me to slow down and relax. I am lucky to have them!
I have always sought out animals. I did not have pets growing up and have found as an adult that I crave the contact. I have one dog. It feels great to give unconditional love and his needs add shape to my day. I have three cats. They have taught me to slow down and relax. I am lucky to have them!
DITTO !
Animals / pets do not hate your guts, criticize you behind your back, call you names, steal your money, or pay you un-living wages and lie to you and cheat you. They do not start wars and starve you to death. They do not torture for fun or rape or murder for the enjoyment of it. They do not riot and loot.
They are really cool !!!
I absolutely love animals of all kinds, I am drawn to them and for some weird reason they are drawn to me. Maybe it's trust or knowing I have love and respect for them. Since I was young people have told me that their pets never go to anyone, but when I would go in and sit down, their pet would come right to me, and they would make a big deal out of it because their cat or dog had never done that.
My dad use to sit on our front stairs and the birds would fly down and get really close to him, the squirrels use to take the peanut or walnut right out of his hand. I love the feeling I get when I am around animals. They fill a huge whole inside me that I have never been able to fill. I think it's a love, I love my son more than life itself, but I have more love to give away and no one to give it to. I have social anxiety disorder, I think I had it lightly for man many years but after my husband had an affair, my SAD, became a monster I could not control.
Being with my son and my dog do bring my anxiety down. If I could find a job working with animals, I think I could get through some of this social anxiety! Maybe not a lot but at least enough to work with something I love!
My dad use to sit on our front stairs and the birds would fly down and get really close to him, the squirrels use to take the peanut or walnut right out of his hand. I love the feeling I get when I am around animals. They fill a huge whole inside me that I have never been able to fill. I think it's a love, I love my son more than life itself, but I have more love to give away and no one to give it to. I have social anxiety disorder, I think I had it lightly for man many years but after my husband had an affair, my SAD, became a monster I could not control.
Being with my son and my dog do bring my anxiety down. If I could find a job working with animals, I think I could get through some of this social anxiety! Maybe not a lot but at least enough to work with something I love!
Pets Can Save Your Life and Help Your Sanity
Oh geez yes !
I have had a cat for years, one for 17 years and this last one for 7 years and if I did not have them for love and company I would have walked out in front of a moving truck years ago !
Oh geez yes !
I have had a cat for years, one for 17 years and this last one for 7 years and if I did not have them for love and company I would have walked out in front of a moving truck years ago !
I've never had a pet unfortunately, but i love animals. I'm certain that i would feel better and less lonely if i had a pet that loved me. Especially a dog, but even a frickin hamster would probably work. I really hope i can get a pet one day.
YES YES YES, Especially dogs although they do increase my anxiety when people come to visit and all my dog does is bark & makes it even worse but I couldn't imagine not having a dog around me. If i could choose, I would have my own mini farm-
I'd have 2 horses, a few goats, 2 dogs, 1 cats, 2 rabbits, 2 guinea pigs, maybe a bird, donkeys..
I would love my job to be caring for all these animals daily
Some people can get dogs for anxiety which allows them to travel into stores/flights etc which I think is amazing, i would love that
I'd have 2 horses, a few goats, 2 dogs, 1 cats, 2 rabbits, 2 guinea pigs, maybe a bird, donkeys..
I would love my job to be caring for all these animals daily
Some people can get dogs for anxiety which allows them to travel into stores/flights etc which I think is amazing, i would love that
There are certain stresses that come with owning animals, of course, but I don't have any anxieties with animals apart from cats and the tinier rodents...
I was attacked by a cat when I was 3, and it's my earliest memory of being around any animal so it's still vivid in my mind today. Even though it was my fault for invading the cat's space, I distrust cats quite a bit because of it, unfortunately; I find it very difficult to read them, despite growing up around friend's, family's and neighbour's cats, and also learning through research and documentaries.
Then there's tiny hamsters, mice and gerbils I'm nervy of because holding them is a delicate matter; a, I don't want to accidentally drop them, and 2, I don't want to be bitten if my hands smell of something they're keen on trying or they're uncomfortable with me holding them. My old hammies were lovely, and for some reason I took on the smallest known breed, the Roborovski... don't ask. But they were sweet and I only got bitten a couple of times over the 4 years I had them. Then I had a Russian, but she was much more grumpy and didn't like handling all that much, in-fact the day I got her I was told she was friendly and never bit... then I got bitten! But I was a stranger to her, and a couple of weeks later I discovered she was hiding cancer, with tumours popping up all over her body, so she was likely in pain whenever I handled her.
Other animals are no problem. I've kept guinea-pigs since '97, rabbits since '98, I kept rats for about 10 years along with the hamsters (unfortunately I'm allergic to rats now), we had a family dog for 11 years, and I've kept goldfish on and off and hundreds of stick insects since '94, so I've never not had a 'pet' since I was 6.
I get so much pleasure from having animals in my life, but unfortunately in 2012 I was having difficulties coping with a break-up, I'd sunk into depression, and my dad was constantly bullying me about my guinea-pigs being in the house, so I had all but one of them re-homed to stop hearing my dad's words and making me feel like I shouldn't have animals. He made me begin to hate them and hate having them. I'd snap at them when they'd whistle too much because I knew my dad would get annoyed at the noise, so I was reacting before he could react and upset me. I was also beginning to neglect them and becoming less and less interested in spending time with them, which wasn't like me. I felt like a failure enough in my life (that hasn't changed), but with animals I knew I wasn't, so being bullied and made to hate the only thing I truly loved in this world, the only thing I had left in this world I could depend on that wasn't going to hurt me, it was too much to handle. The day the rescue guy came to collect them, and I had to sign them over, I felt physically sick. I felt I'd failed and my dad had won. I had to go for a long cycle ride out into the middle of nowhere to let the pain out.
Sadly I'm feeling that again from my dad, the bullying; the comments are coming back, the questions and little mumbles under his breath. I'm sick of being made to feel I shouldn't have my animals. I've suffered enough in this past year, nothing has gone my way, I've been stressed out of my mind, and I've been neglected, ignored, abused and attacked all round. So I can imagine in the next few months I'm going to be broken down again to the point of re-homing the animals I have now, because it's leading that way and I've already thought about it for months, but putting it off because I know my dad's a wanker and I shouldn't listen to him.
Where people have hurt me this past year especially, but all my life, too, animals have not. I have scars on my body from scratches and bites, but that's nothing. Animals can only ever truly hurt you once in their lives, and that's when they die.
Give me a whole room full of dogs or ferrets and I'd be happy as anything, playing with them with no fear at all. A room full of people, even if I didn't have SA, no thank you. To be perfectly honest I find humans incredibly boring overall, and would much rather play with an animal for the day than spend even 5 minutes with the majority of our species.
That dragged on longer than I'd planned.
I was attacked by a cat when I was 3, and it's my earliest memory of being around any animal so it's still vivid in my mind today. Even though it was my fault for invading the cat's space, I distrust cats quite a bit because of it, unfortunately; I find it very difficult to read them, despite growing up around friend's, family's and neighbour's cats, and also learning through research and documentaries.
Then there's tiny hamsters, mice and gerbils I'm nervy of because holding them is a delicate matter; a, I don't want to accidentally drop them, and 2, I don't want to be bitten if my hands smell of something they're keen on trying or they're uncomfortable with me holding them. My old hammies were lovely, and for some reason I took on the smallest known breed, the Roborovski... don't ask. But they were sweet and I only got bitten a couple of times over the 4 years I had them. Then I had a Russian, but she was much more grumpy and didn't like handling all that much, in-fact the day I got her I was told she was friendly and never bit... then I got bitten! But I was a stranger to her, and a couple of weeks later I discovered she was hiding cancer, with tumours popping up all over her body, so she was likely in pain whenever I handled her.
Other animals are no problem. I've kept guinea-pigs since '97, rabbits since '98, I kept rats for about 10 years along with the hamsters (unfortunately I'm allergic to rats now), we had a family dog for 11 years, and I've kept goldfish on and off and hundreds of stick insects since '94, so I've never not had a 'pet' since I was 6.
I get so much pleasure from having animals in my life, but unfortunately in 2012 I was having difficulties coping with a break-up, I'd sunk into depression, and my dad was constantly bullying me about my guinea-pigs being in the house, so I had all but one of them re-homed to stop hearing my dad's words and making me feel like I shouldn't have animals. He made me begin to hate them and hate having them. I'd snap at them when they'd whistle too much because I knew my dad would get annoyed at the noise, so I was reacting before he could react and upset me. I was also beginning to neglect them and becoming less and less interested in spending time with them, which wasn't like me. I felt like a failure enough in my life (that hasn't changed), but with animals I knew I wasn't, so being bullied and made to hate the only thing I truly loved in this world, the only thing I had left in this world I could depend on that wasn't going to hurt me, it was too much to handle. The day the rescue guy came to collect them, and I had to sign them over, I felt physically sick. I felt I'd failed and my dad had won. I had to go for a long cycle ride out into the middle of nowhere to let the pain out.
Sadly I'm feeling that again from my dad, the bullying; the comments are coming back, the questions and little mumbles under his breath. I'm sick of being made to feel I shouldn't have my animals. I've suffered enough in this past year, nothing has gone my way, I've been stressed out of my mind, and I've been neglected, ignored, abused and attacked all round. So I can imagine in the next few months I'm going to be broken down again to the point of re-homing the animals I have now, because it's leading that way and I've already thought about it for months, but putting it off because I know my dad's a wanker and I shouldn't listen to him.
Where people have hurt me this past year especially, but all my life, too, animals have not. I have scars on my body from scratches and bites, but that's nothing. Animals can only ever truly hurt you once in their lives, and that's when they die.
Give me a whole room full of dogs or ferrets and I'd be happy as anything, playing with them with no fear at all. A room full of people, even if I didn't have SA, no thank you. To be perfectly honest I find humans incredibly boring overall, and would much rather play with an animal for the day than spend even 5 minutes with the majority of our species.
That dragged on longer than I'd planned.
Pets are great stress relievers. There's been many studies on this. People with pets tend to be happier, more relaxed and tend to live longer.
I'm currently petless. I've had several cats and one dog before (not all at the same time). I'd love to get a dog but you have to have a fenced-in yard in my area. I wouldn't mind getting a kitty kat in the near future.
I'm currently petless. I've had several cats and one dog before (not all at the same time). I'd love to get a dog but you have to have a fenced-in yard in my area. I wouldn't mind getting a kitty kat in the near future.
I wouldn't be able to handle a pet. I don't wanna clean up some animal's **** and piss every day. Plus I wouldn't be able to afford it anyway...And animals in general scare me. :afr
I would assume pets help with anxiety. It would surely help with loneliness.
I would assume pets help with anxiety. It would surely help with loneliness.
Yep. My dog helped me greatly in getting out of a bad depressive phase two years ago. Helped greatly with loneliness and reasons to get out of the house almost everyday.
Definitely they help. Despite the fact that my dog can sometimes cause stress (pulling on the lead, rushing the door whenever someone rings the doorbell) I couldn't imagine life without him. Whenever it feels like life is overwhelming me, there is something so therapeutic about having a cuddle with him or rubbing his tummy. And on down days I must admit I draw comfort from him sleeping on my bed. There is not a day that goes by without him showing how pleased he is to see me, and he also helps me connect with my community by being so cute that acquaintances, strangers and shopkeepers engage me in conversation.
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