A new analysis suggests that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. dog and cat owners became closer to their pets, and a complex relationship unfolded between pet ownership, stress, and loneliness. Niwako Ogata and Hsin-Yi Weng of Purdue University, U.S., and their colleague present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on April 26, 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique setting to explore pet-owner relationships and potential links between pet ownership and mental health. Several prior studies have investigated these topics in the context of the pandemic, but with limited scope.
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