[HN Gopher] Pet ownership and cognitive functioning in later adu...
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Pet ownership and cognitive functioning in later adulthood across
pet types
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 40 points
Date : 2025-07-05 19:21 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nature.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nature.com)
| bestouff wrote:
| > Dog and cat ownership was associated with slower cognitive
| decline compared to no pet ownership; bird and fish ownership
| showed no such association.
| ludicrousdispla wrote:
| This is a textbook example of how _not_ to label and caption
| figures within a scientific publication.
|
| The caption for each figure should completely describe the
| information being shown. In this case, they have a Time axis with
| numbers but no indication of what units of time are being
| represented, or what is meant by time '0'.
| luqtas wrote:
| are you those smart geeks who check for images and read a
| paragraph of the conclusion?
|
| because i think the graph makes complete sense by checking the
| methodology... which i'll save your time: 18 years and ~ 16,000
| participants
| exmadscientist wrote:
| The graphs are, in fact, utter BS. They don't really match the
| method described in the "analytical approach" section
| particularly well.
|
| The real conclusions are in Table 2. "Pet ownership" is barely
| "statistically significant" (yeah, I know...) there. Tables 3,
| 4, and 5 should be similar but as a whole things are kind of
| all over the place.
|
| It's not a strong paper.
| torbid wrote:
| I don't see why bird ownership wasn't similar to cat.. Would
| mammal be important or would there be a hidden variable in being
| able to house a dog or cat as one sometimes needs less
| permissions for smaller animals in rental agreements, etc..
| cosmic_cheese wrote:
| The difference may lie in how as mammals, living with a dog or
| especially a cat is more similar to living with another person.
| Intelligent birds require a lot of interaction which is good
| for reducing mental decline, but the relationship is different
| -- most birds spend a substantial amount of time in a cage and
| generally need to be controlled more, whereas cats and dogs
| usually freely roam about the house with a few areas that are
| off-limits.
| ozim wrote:
| I would wonder about dog vs other animals.
|
| With dog you have to walk outside even if you have a garden,
| a dog needs a daily walk a bit further around.
|
| Cat doesn't need a walk, well it requires play time but I
| would say walking around the block should do more for person
| health than playing around with cat in-house.
| nandomrumber wrote:
| I wonder if owning both a dog and a cat scales linearly, or
| if the combo is synergistic.
| cosmic_cheese wrote:
| Well, there's a physical aspect and socio-mental aspect. A
| dog probably would be better for the former, but cats
| aren't as straightforward as dogs to please or understand
| and require increased ability to put onself in another's
| shoes and view things from their standpoint. Cats are a lot
| like little furry people in terms of socialization.
| MandieD wrote:
| That they didn't break down the bird owners between parrots and
| canaries/finches was a major oversight - while some
| canary/finch owners do let their birds out and handle them,
| parrots (even budgies) tend to interact far more with human
| keepers than finches and canaries do.
| m463 wrote:
| Some parrots are out of their cage all the time and interact
| quite well with the family, like potty-trained 3-d dogs.
|
| It is harder to take them outside for a walk though (although
| there are bird leashes). This sort of limits the outdoor
| social interaction that dogs confer.
|
| and yes, some smaller birds are treated more like fish that a
| member of the family.
| fisherjeff wrote:
| Survivorship bias: Cat owners with stronger cognitive skills
| are more likely to notice and evade their cats' murder
| attempts.
| luqtas wrote:
| wanna see one which controls for variables like hobbies and
| social activity/participation. i don't think "living alone" or
| "with others" means anything significant regarding the cognitive
| benefit of socializing often. bunch of married people without
| friends free-falling at the (passive) television world or Zurg's
| Meta short-span videos
| thenaturalist wrote:
| As a guy who isn't particularly good looking and never smoked,
| many things have blown me away since adopting a dog in my early
| thirties a couple of years back.
|
| Besides the obvious things such as exercising (I do forest runs)/
| walking more regularly and often, a dog has had a calming and
| stress reducing effect on me I'd never have imagined possible.
|
| I have ADHD and besides the impulsivity that comes with it, it
| was untreated until after I adopted my dog. Even prior to
| diagnosis, having a mammal besides you that you cannot talk to,
| but that is very reactive to your emotions has calmed me down
| significantly.
|
| I experienced I can only interact calmly and trusting with my dog
| if I am, in fact, doing so being calm and trusting myself.
|
| Also, dogs are amazing at executive functioning. They don't fret
| past mistakes, they try again. Seeing it physically in front of
| you every other day puts me in a different mental spot. Can't be
| depressed if I see it's possible.
|
| And last but not least, I've never had so many positive random
| interactions with strangers ever in my entire adult life.
|
| Both me approaching others when my dog is with me or being
| approached.
|
| People just don't read you as a creep or threat if you present
| yourself as being able to interact well with a dog.
|
| I have had fish and ants before, the mental and social effects
| don't ever compare.
|
| Highly recommend adopting a dog if you're so inclined.
|
| It's awesome.
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