The Healing Power of Pets

How they help us live longer, happier, and healthier

No one is sure when humans first started having “pets.” A search on the internet turned up somewhere between 12,000 to 40,000 years ago. Fast forward to 2021, according to the 2021-2022 APPA National Pet Owners Survey,” 70% of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 90.5 million homes.” Dogs take first place, cats second, fish third and birds fourth. Pets are big business—the same survey estimates in 2021, “$109.6 billion will be spent on our pets in the U.S.”