Health
Do you want to protect your child from colds and other health problems? Get a dog. A recent study found that babies who shared a household with dogs were healthier and had fewer respiratory infections than those who did not own a dog.
The study is based on observations of 397 children living in rural and suburban areas of Finland. As it turned out, children who were in contact with dogs had fewer colds, ear infections and less likely to need antibiotics. However, if the dog spent most of the day outside, the child also remained healthy most days, had fewer cases of fever and less need for medication.
Scientists suggest that dogs that spend a lot of time outside bring more dirt and bacteria into the house than pets that stay at home more. Children who were exposed to dirt and bacteria had stronger immune systems.
It should be noted that in general, colds in young children are very common. For example, 97 percent of the children in the study had a runny nose at some time, most had a cough, and 40 percent had ear infections. Almost half of the children required antibiotics.
As is known, scientists have previously linked the presence of pets to infections and allergies. However, as the current study showed, children who had two or more pets in their home were at just a lower risk of all kinds of allergies than those who did not have dogs or cats.