Vets Say People Need to Understand Their Pets

ByABC News
August 25, 2004, 10:31 AM

Aug. 26, 2004 -- We've been told for years now that getting a pet may rank right up there with clean living when it comes to improving our health and disposition. A good dog, or even a cat, can take away some of our loneliness, ease depression, and lower our cholesterol, according to the Mayo Clinic.

One study even found that stockbrokers with pets were better able to control their high blood pressure than stock brokers without pets.

Lots of science backs that stuff up, and that prompted a team of veterinarians at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to ask a simple question. If pets do so much for us, why are we so often abysmally ignorant when it comes to their needs?

One thing led to another, and the vets have just released a new textbook, Companion Animals: Their Biology, Care, Health and Management. The book is designed for general education courses on the college level, and the authors think they're addressing a subject that has been long neglected.

We know we love our pets, but too often we don't take the time to understand the very different world that pets inhabit, and how similar, and different, they are from us. Do you know your dog can suffer from depression? And your iguana needs ultraviolet light, not just a steady diet of crickets? And your ever loving cat, if left to its own devices, can turn into a neighborhood predator?

Understanding Your Iguana

It's a jungle out there, and by all reports, it's growing. There are more than 77 million cats, and 65 million dogs, in the U.S. alone, most of which live in cities. And that's just the "traditional pets." Add to that the population explosion of guinea pigs, hamsters, hedgehogs, lizards, birds, snakes, and just about anything that breathes.

What troubled the Illinois vets is the simple fact that all these species are different, and all have different needs, yet not many of us understand just what it takes to be a healthy iguana.