A new study challenges the belief in a universal “pet phenomenon” in human prosperity. Using data collected during the COVID-19 lock, the researchers did not find a significant change in the well-being of the respondents when they acquired or lost a pet in their household. The findings indicate that, even in a period of extreme isolation, human zone bonds may not be as emotionally transformed as we want to believe.
People and their pets, a race that took place in the sky? Adopting a new dog makes you happier and less lonely? It is now common to associate pet ownership with health and happiness for humans and animal. Still, science has found it difficult to throw away the “pet effect” – a hypothetical impetus to the quality of life for those surrounding themselves with cats, dogs or other pets. Only a few years ago, our circumstances presented a serious test of the importance of the human-pandemic-pandemic bonds, COVID-19, which limit people to their homes, cutting them from contact face to person at work and personal life.
Researchers at Elte Eötvös Loránd University examined how the acquisition and loss of pets are experiencing during the pandemic and short and long -term impact of a pet’s acquisition to participants. The study was published in Scientific reports. “Through a collaboration with a psychologist team led by Zsolt Demetrovics and Róbert Urbán, we had access to a unique set of data,” explains Eniko Kubinyi, head of the MTA-Elte ‘Momentum’ Companion Animals research team. “During the 2020 Covid-19 lock, almost three thousand people in Hungary participated three times in the collection of data, several months, we noticed that 65 people had a pet and 75 lost one during the study and decided to investigate how their well-being changed.”
Researchers have found little support for the romantic view of keeping pet owners and their emotional well -being. A short -lived boost in joy appeared after a dog was acquired, however, in a long -term, the tranquility of dog owners, life satisfaction, joy and activity had fallen down. Most amazing, the researchers found that the loss of a pet did not leave a mark on the well -being of their former owners.
Ádám Miklósi, who started collecting pets in pets, emphasizes: “We rarely have access to data that record spontaneous pet acquisition from people who are not intended to be the shares, but simply the shares are just the shares, but just the shares Just the shares, but just the shares, but just the shares are just the shares, but just the shares, but just the shares with houses, just the shares, but just the shares, the PET, is not significantly affected by the loss of the pet, nor is their prosperity.
What surprised me was that a new pet in the household had no effect on the loneliness of the respondents. The adoption of the dog is often promoted as a solution for the elderly and/or lonely people. Refuge and pet food companies promote adoption as a means of relieving loneliness. However, our research suggests that dogs do not provide a real solution to loneliness. On the contrary, they make the new owners more anxious. ”
Judit Mokos, Data Scientist and one of the first authors of the document
Kubinyi concludes that “on the basis of data, most people, who live with a companion animal, do not seem to experience a long -term” pet phenomenon “, nor are they strongly linked to their animal.
It seems that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the emotional bonds formed with animals often do not meet expectations.
Source:
Magazine report:
Mokos, J., et al. (2025). Short-term impact of the acquisition and loss of pets on prosperity in an impartial sample during the Covid-19 pandemic. Scientific reports. Doi.org/10.1038/S41598-025-06987-7.
