Everyone wants to live in a stress-free home, a place of warm smiles, comfort and happiness. But a typical household contains plenty of arguments and a bundle of stress. Life and society comes with enough stress, but going home to even more can really tear a person down. Houses that have a lot of stress should have a pet or two, to keep the home’s environment more uplifting.

It has been proven that animals have a positive effect on people. Having a pet can calm a person down when they’re upset, and cheer them up. They can even distract them temporarily from the negative aspects in life. Therapists and psychologists are often known to bring in their own pets to their clinics to allow their patients to have an animal to keep them company. They find that animals can really help their patients open up be happy.

Dani Pasco, a Junior, has a cat named Aphrodite and a leopard gecko named Kyoto. “They can be some of the most annoying pets, but normally they cheer me up when I’m having a bad day.”

Pets are great to have in a home, especially if someone lives alone or if there are children in the home. Getting a child a pet can be a really good idea. It makes the child happy, gives them a new friend to play with, and gives them a sense of responsibility. Growing up, it’s a good thing to teach a child responsibility, and we can do this by giving them something they have to take care of on their own. But it’s no fun to give them more chores at a young age to teach this to them. They won’t enjoy it and they most likely wouldn’t keep up with the chore anyway.

But having a pet to take care of, even if it’s just a goldfish or a hamster to start off with, is more fun for the child to take care of. They’ll have a new friend, and their pet will excite them. So they won’t constantly forget to take care of this responsibility. It’s a good thing to teach at a young age, and pets are a great thing to help with this learning experience.

Pasco says by feeding them daily and constantly taking care of them, it has taught her responsibility and she’s learned how to keep another being alive. “If I don’t feed my cat, she tries to bite my mom’s toes off!”

Some people live alone because they are afraid to open up and live with another person, so pets are a good thing for them to have. They will have someone to keep them company and they know it’s someone who isn’t judgmental or someone that could up and leave them. Many people who live alone have pets such as cats and dogs. They have someone to come home to, and it makes the person feel more important and needed. It allows them to come home to someone, without being afraid.

Animals are great to have in all homes. There are stories about animals doing amazing things. The tricks they can do to make people laugh, or the sweet things people never realized animals knew how to do. Stories of animals saving people’s lives even exist. Pets can range from having a dog or cat, to a monkey or an alligator. Pets aren’t just animals, they become family, which brings their home into being a more positive place to be.