I’ve always hoped and thought this to be true. Now we have a scientific study providing us with evidence!
From MedicineNet, April 11, 2025:
A new study found that having a furry friend may boost your overall life satisfaction as much as being married or regularly spending time with loved ones.
And it’s something researchers can actually put a price tag on. A team in the U.K. says the emotional value of owning a pet is worth as much £70,000, or about $90,000 a year in life satisfaction.
That’s a statistical measure they use to gauge the “implicit price” of otherwise intangible things — for example, the theoretical boost in income a person would get from having a spouse or regular meet-ups with friends.
The findings were published March 31 in the journal Social Indicators Research.
The study’s co-author Adelina Gschwandtner, an economics professor at the University of Kent, told CNN, “If pets are indeed like friends and family, why shouldn’t that measure be comparable to talking to friends and family once a week? You have your pet every day.”
The team used data from a survey of 2,500 British households. The findings suggest that pets may offer many of the same emotional benefits as human relationships. That’s why Gschwandtner believes policymakers should make it easier for people to have pets — for example by changing housing rules that limit them.
But not all experts agree that pets can fully replace human connections. “While animals are connected to us in powerful ways, they are not the same as humans,” said Megan Mueller, a professor at Tufts University who studies human-animal relationships.
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