Tag: pets

Dogs and Owners Match Their Heart Rate Variability

Photo by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

A study at the University of Jyväskylä showed that the heart rate variability of a dog and its owner adapt to each other during interaction. High heart rate variability is associated with relaxation, while low heart rate variability indicates stimulation. The study, published in Scientific Reports, deepens our understanding of the emotional connection between a dog and its owner, including its underlying physiological mechanisms.

Emotional connection enhances interaction in human relationships. Emotional synchronisation in the interaction between a child and a parent is essential for affective attachment. The relationship between a dog and its owner is also based on attachment, but little is known about its physiological mechanisms.

The heart rate variability of a dog and its owner adapt to each other

In a study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä, at the Department of Psychology and Jyväskylä Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, it was found that the heart rate variability of a dog and its owner are interconnected during interaction. Heart rate variability, in other words, the variation in the heartbeat intervals, indicates the state of the autonomic nervous system. High heart rate variability is associated with a state of relaxation and recovery, while low heart rate variability indicates stimulation or strain, such as stress during an exam or sport performance. In this study, the owner’s high heart rate variability was connected to the dog’s high heart rate variability, and vice versa. In addition, the physical activity levels of a dog and its owner mutually adapted to each other during the study. 

Different connections for activity and heart rate variability

The connections of heart rate variability and activity levels between a dog and its owner were monitored during specific interaction tasks. Both heart rate and activity level were interconnected between dogs and their owners, but at different times. During free-form resting periods, the owner’s high heart rate variability was connected to the dog’s high heart rate variability. In other words, when the owner was relaxed the dog was also relaxed. Moreover, the owner’s and dog’s activity levels were similar during the given tasks, such as playing. Although it is known that physical activity has an impact on heart rate, the strongest connections of these variables between dog and owner were found in different situations and do not fully explain each other. This suggests that the connection in heart rate variability reflects the synchrony of emotional state rather than of activity levels.

“The interconnection in heart rate variability between the dog and its owner during resting periods may be explained by the fact that in those instances there were no external tasks, but the counterparts could react more to each other’s state in a natural way,” says Doctoral Researcher Aija Koskela. 

Owner’s temperament is connected to the dog’s heart rate variability

The study also investigated various background factors for the interconnection of the heart rate variability of the dog and its owner. Bigger dogs had higher heart rate variability. In addition, the dog’s high heart rate variability was also explained by the owner’s negative affectivity, a temperament trait that reflects the person’s tendency to become easily concerned about negative things. This type of owner tends to develop a strong emotional bond with the dog, and therefore the shepherd dogs of this study possibly had a higher sense of safety with these owners. 

The dog also influences the owner

A surprising finding in the study was that the owner’s heart rate variability was best explained by the dog’s heart rate variability, even though also the owner’s activity level and body mass index, which are known to impact heart rate, were taken into account in the analysis.

“We exceptionally investigated both a dog’s and its owner’s heart rate and activity level simultaneously, whereas previous studies have commonly focused either on the human’s or the dog’s perspective,” says the leader of the study, Academy Research Fellow Miiamaaria Kujala. “The challenging research setting gives a better opportunity to investigate interactive aspects.”

This study indicates that the emotional states of dogs and their owners as well as the reactions of their nervous system become partially adapted to each other during interaction. The same mechanisms that strengthen human affective attachment also seem to support the relationship between a dog and its owner. This study deepens our understanding about interaction between species and about the meaning of emotional connection between dogs and humans. 

Interaction research involved dogs bred for cooperation

The study was funded mainly by the Research Council of Finland and the Agria & Svenska Kennelklubben Research Fund. It involved altogether 30 voluntary dog owners with their dogs. The dogs represented breeds refined for cooperating with humans, such as sheep dogs and retrievers. The research findings are in line with previous studies, which have suggested that breeds selected for cooperation are particularly sensitive to react to their owners’ behaviour and personality traits. Next, the project will seek to shed light more specifically on the influential mechanisms involved in this phenomenon.

Source: University of Jyväskylä

Having Pets did not Result in Better Well-being During COVID

Photo by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

Although pets are generally perceived as having a positive impact on well-being, a new study has found that there was no association between well-being and owning a pet during the COVID pandemic. This finding, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, was in spite of pets owners reporting that pet ownership improved their lives.

There is a general understanding that pets have a positive impact on one’s well-being. A new study by Michigan State University found that although pet owners reported pets improving their lives, there was not a reliable association between pet ownership and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study assessed 767 people over three periods in May 2020. The researchers took a mixed-method approach that allowed them to look at several indicators of well-being while also asking people in an open-ended question to reflect on the role of pets from their point of view. Pet owners reported that pets made them happy. They claimed pets helped them feel more positive emotions and provided affection and companionship. They also reported negative aspects of pet ownership like being worried about their pet’s well-being and having their pets interfere with working remotely.

However, when their happiness was compared to nonpet owners, the data showed no difference in the well-being of pet owners and nonpet owners over time. The researchers found that it did not matter what type of pet was owned, how many pets were owned or how close they were with their pet. The personalities of the owners were not a factor.

“People say that pets make them happy, but when we actually measure happiness, that doesn’t appear to be the case,” said William Chopik, an associate professor in MSU’s Department of Psychology and co-author of the study. “People see friends as lonely or wanting companionship, and they recommend getting a pet. But it’s unlikely that it’ll be as transformative as people think.”

The researchers explored several reasons why there is not a difference between the well-being of pet owners and nonpet owners. One of them being that nonpet owners may have filled their lives with a variety of other things that make them happy.

Source: Michigan State University

Cat-borne Toxoplasma Gondii Linked to Frailty in the Elderly

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Toxoplasma gondii, a common, cat-borne parasite already associated with risk-taking behaviour and mental illness in humans may also contribute to exhaustion, loss of muscle mass, and other signs of frailty in older adults, suggests a study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Science.

The research, by an international team of scientists including University of Colorado Boulder, University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of A Coruña in Spain, is the latest to explore how the tiny, single-celled organism T. gondii could have big impacts on human health.

“We often think of T. gondii infection as relatively asymptomatic, but this study highlights that for some people it may have significant health consequences later on,” said co-author Christopher Lowry, a professor at CU Boulder.

Some 11%–15% of people in the US have been infected with T. gondii at some point and rates tend to be far higher in older individuals. In some countries, more than 65% have been infected. Once infected, people can unknowingly harbour the parasite for life.

For the study, the team examined the blood of 601 Spanish and Portuguese adults over 65, along with measures of a common geriatric syndrome known as frailty – which includes unintentional weight loss, tiredeness, loss of cognitive sharpness and other indications of declining health.

A whopping 67% of study subjects were “seropositive” showing markers in their blood of a latent infection.

The researchers did not, as they originally hypothesized, find an association between any infection to T. gondii and frailty. But they did find that, among those infected, those with higher “serointensity” or a higher concentration of antibodies to the parasite, were significantly more likely to be frail.

Higher serointensity could reflect a more virulent or widespread infection, multiple infections or recent reactivation of a latent infection, the authors said.

“This paper is important because it provides, for the first time, evidence of the existence of a link between frailty in older adults and intensity of the response to T. gondii infection,” said co-author Blanca Laffon, a professor of psychobiology at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Chemistry and Biology at University of A Coruña.

How cats spread T. gondii

Wild and domestic felines are considered the definitive host of the parasite, while warm-blooded animals like birds and rodents serve as secondary hosts: When cats eat infected animals, T. gondii takes up residence and multiplies in their intestines, shedding eggs in their faeces.

People are typically infected via exposure to those eggs (via litter boxes, contaminated water or dirty vegetables) or by eating undercooked pork, lamb or other meat that’s infested.

Most people never know they’ve been infected, with only about 10% initially having brief flu-like symptoms. But T. gondii tends to linger dormant for decades, cloaked in cysts in muscle and brain tissue (specifically the emotion-processing region known as the amygdala) with some insidious impacts, mounting research suggests.

In a creepy evolutionary trick seemingly designed to benefit the parasite’s favourite host, rodents infected with T. gondii tend to lose their fear of felines, making it easier for cats to catch rats and mice. In the wild, infected chimpanzees have been shown to actually grow attracted to the smell of the urine of their feline predator, the leopard.

People who have been infected also tend to engage in risky behaviour, with research showing they tend to be more impulsive, more entrepreneurial and more likely to get in a car accident. They also have higher rates of schizophrenia, certain mood disorders, cognitive problems and are more likely to attempt suicide, according to research by Lowry and Dr Teodor Postolache, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at University of Maryland School of Medicine and senior author on the new study.

A declining immune response?

The authors caution that the new study does not prove causation, but suggests the association should be researched.

They found that frail people with high T. gondii seropositivity also had higher levels of certain inflammatory markers, suggesting that infection with the parasite could exacerbate inflammation that already occurs with aging – aka. “inflammaging.”

Because latent T. gondii tends to hide out in muscle tissue, Postolache suspects it could also play a role in hastening sarcopenia.

Lowry’s research focuses on the impact microorganisms have on the immune system and, thus, mental health. He notes that many microbes that humans have evolved with impact health in a positive way – a theory known as the ‘Old Friends’ hypothesis. Even T. gondii may have health benefits we aren’t yet aware of, he said. But in some cases, a switch flips, and friends become enemies.

In the case of T. gondii, certain medications or immune compromising diseases like HIV or cancer can enable a latent infection to escape suppression and reactivate, with adverse effects. Even in people with healthy immune systems, Lowry notes, immune function can decline with age, potentially wakening dormant dormant T. gondii.

The researchers hope their study will inspire more research into the relationship between T. gondii and frailty, and ultimately lead to new ways of keeping the parasite from doing harm.

For now, they encourage people – especially pregnant and immunocompromised people – to take steps to avoid infection.

Tips for preventing infection:

Change litter box daily, and wash hands afterward.

Avoid eating undercooked meat.

Rinse fruits and vegetables.

If pregnant or immunocompromised:

Avoid changing the litter box if possible (T. gondii infection during pregnancy can cause serious problems to a developing foetus).

Keep cats indoors.

Avoid stray cats.

Source: University of Colorado at Boulder

The Same Medications for Humans are Pricier than for Pets

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In a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers compared the prices of 120 medications commonly used in humans and pets. The authors found human medication prices were typically higher than the price of pet medications – with the same ingredients at common human-equivalent doses.

While some medications are common to both pets and humans, but price differences can be extreme. In 1991, levamisole (introduced in the 1960s as a veterinary antiparasitic) demonstrated efficacy in treating human colon cancer. The introductory human price of Janssen’s Ergamisol (brand-name levamisole; $5 per 50mg tablet) was 100 times the then veterinary price (approximately $0.05 for an equivalent amount). With the COVID pandemic, a misinformation-driven demand for ivermectin as a COVID treatment led to people seeking veterinary formulations of the drug, increasing the price 15-fold over a month ($6 to $92 for 3 tubes). In this cross-sectional study, the researchers sought to compare prices of commonly prescribed medications used to treat both humans and pets.

The researchers from the University of Minnesota found that retail price for human medications was on average 5.5 times higher than pet medications. For more than 60% of medications, even discounted prices for humans were higher than pet prices. On average, discounted prices were 1.5 times higher for human medications than for pet medications.

‘’A 10-day supply of the same medication costs $2 for a pet dog, $10 for a person with a discount coupon, and $100 for a person without a coupon,” said Arjun Gupta, MBBS, assistant professor at the U of M Medical School and oncologist with M Health Fairview. He is also a member of the Masonic Cancer Center. “With many humans and pets uninsured or underinsured, it is important that cash prices for medications are affordable and that pricing is not exploitative.”

Human prices were also higher than pet prices for drugs such as antibiotics. Researchers warn this may promote humans sourcing antibiotics for their own use from pet sources, especially since human antibiotic use is more regulated.

Exactly why there is such a significant price difference is unclear. One possibility may be drug manufacturers engaging in price discrimination by charging consumers different prices in different markets for the same product, the researchers suggest. Additionally, price differences could reflect variations in medication effectiveness, willingness to pay, and manufacturing, storage, and regulatory standards.

Further research is suggested to explore the causes of price differences.

Source: University of Minnesota Medical School

Cats and Dogs Develop Myocarditis from COVID

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A new study reveals that pets can be infected with the Alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2. Due to its increased transmissibility and infectivity, this variant rapidly outcompeted pre-existing variants in England, before being replaced by the Delta variant.

The study, which was published in Veterinary Record, describes the first identification of the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant in domestic pets; two cats and one dog were positive on PCR test, while two additional cats and one dog displayed antibodies two to six weeks after they developed signs of cardiac disease. Many owners of these pets had themselves developed respiratory symptoms several weeks before their pets became ill and had also tested positive for COVID.  

These pets all had experienced an acute onset of cardiac disease, including severe myocarditis. Humans also have a slight risk for myocarditis from COVID, particularly in children, for whom the risk is 37 times higher than without having contracted COVID, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.

“Our study reports the first cases of cats and dogs affected by the COVID alpha variant and highlights, more than ever, the risk that companion animals can become infected with SARS-CoV-2,” said lead author Luca Ferasin, DVM, PhD, of The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre, in the UK. “We also reported the atypical clinical manifestations characterised by severe heart abnormalities, which is a well-recognised complication in people affected by COVID but has never described in pets before. However, COVID infection in pets remains a relatively rare condition and, based on our observations, it seems that the transmission occurs from humans to pets, rather than vice versa.”

Source: Wiley