You Scratch My Belly, I’ll Help Yours

The old say­ing goes, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” Pet own­ers know that while this say­ing may not be lit­er­al­ly true, we do get a lot in return from our fur­ry friends. We spend hours scratch­ing backs, bel­lies and between ears, and what we get goes far beyond a few affec­tion­ate licks in return.

The full list of health ben­e­fits that pets bring us is long and can vary from pet to pet and per­son to per­son. For starters, there is the increased activ­i­ty that comes with exer­cis­ing and play­ing with your pet. Dogs espe­cial­ly need time and atten­tion, and it’s pret­ty hard to say no to those big brown eyes beg­ging us for just one more walk around the park! Whether you’re gone for hours or 37 sec­onds, pets make you feel like the most impor­tant per­son in the world every time you walk in the door. Pets can help us feel bet­ter, with decreas­es in depres­sion, stress and anx­i­ety and increas­es in laugh­ter and hap­pi­ness, just to name a few of the many ben­e­fits. New research is even show­ing that pets can help their own­ers mon­i­tor their blood sug­ar lev­els and improve their immu­ni­ty and cho­les­terol lev­els. Chil­dren that grow up with pets may even have stronger immune systems!

Now, pets aren’t exact­ly a mag­ic elixir that cures all ills, and they do require a lot of work. There is lit­ter to change, food to buy, and vet bills to pay (and keep pay­ing…), not to men­tion the “presents” they leave on the side­walk, but our fur­ry friends can help us live hap­pi­er and health­i­er lives, and that after all, is what life is all about.

One year ago, the Hatch Health and Hap­pi­ness mas­cot, Alfie, came home to us and so this episode of Tasty Tid­bits and Fun Facts is ded­i­cat­ed to our favorite fur-ball! The past year has been filled with lots of laughs, walks, ear scratch­es (and a few muti­lat­ed stuffed toys)! Alfie is a ther­a­py dog in train­ing, and just passed his first (of many) tests to start spread­ing his fur­ry smiles and pup­py cud­dles with the world. Stay tuned!