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Dogs and cats can protect infants from colds
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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Dogs are the best at protecting children from colds
A study of nearly 400 children found that children who lived with a dog during their first year of life were one-third more likely to stay healthy during their first year. And that's compared to babies who didn't have pets. So. Scientists have identified dogs as leaders in protecting against infections and disease-causing bacteria. Children in their first year of life who had dogs in their home were 44 percent less likely to get an ear infection, and 29 percent of these children needed fewer antibiotics than their peers who didn't have pets in their home.
"Children who had contact with dogs at home were healthier and suffered less frequent ear infections and required significantly fewer courses of antibiotics than children who had no contact with dogs," explained lead author Dr. Eija Bergros, a pediatrician at Kuopio University Hospital in Finland.
Dr. Bergroz also noted that "children's exposure to cats does not have as much of an effect on reducing the risk of infection as exposure to dogs."
Read also: Introducing a dog to a newborn baby
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Animals help reduce allergic reactions
Previous studies on pets in the home have shown that pets, particularly dogs, can provide protection against the development of asthma and allergies. This is completely contrary to the common view that keeping pets in a home with a small child is not a good idea because the child may develop an allergy to the fur. However, other studies have shown that pets can increase the number of respiratory infections in children with weak immune systems.
To get a better picture of the impact of pets on a child's health, Dr. Bergroz and her colleagues analyzed data from 208 children whose mothers participated in the study during the last trimester of pregnancy. The mothers came from rural areas of Austria, Finland, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
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What about cats?
The study also included data on 216 mothers living in rural and suburban areas of Finland who gave birth at Kuopio University Hospital in Finland. After excluding children for whom they had incomplete information, the researchers analyzed data on 397 children in total. Here's what they found.
During the first year of life, 72 percent of the children had a fever, 40 percent had ear infections, 97 percent had a runny nose, 84 percent had a cough and 32 percent had wheezing. Nearly half of the children received antibiotics at least once during the first year of life, the study found.
Sixty-two percent of children lived in a home with a dog, and 34 percent of families had a cat. So, children who had dogs or cats in their home were healthier than those who did not have animals.
Cat exposure also showed a protective effect on infant health, but it was not as strong as the effect of dog exposure.
How to explain the impact of animals on a child's health?
Dr. Bergroz said it was unclear to her how exactly dogs might provide protection against respiratory illnesses in children. "One possible explanation is that dogs are always bringing something into the house - dirt, soil - and this affects the immune system of a growing child. This leads to a more relaxed immunological response to infectious agents later on when the child comes into contact with viruses and bacteria," she said.
American expert Jennifer Appleyard said the explanation may not be so simple.
"Pets may provide some protection against developing susceptibility to infections or protection against atopic diseases, but I think children's immune systems are very complex in their development," says Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, chief of the Allergy and Immunology Center at St. John's Medical Center in Detroit. "Parents with young children who want to bring a pet into the home shouldn't feel guilty. If you want a pet, buy or adopt one," she advised.
Dr. Bergroz said she could not give firm advice to parents about whether they should get a pet when their baby is new. But her findings suggest that "there is no reason to avoid contact with animals because of fear of infection, at least respiratory infections." She added that if anyone in the family has allergies, it is extremely difficult to make recommendations about pets, and the decision about whether to have one in the home should be made on a case-by-case basis.
So, it is quite possible that dogs and cats can protect a child's health. This means that it is worth considering whether you need a pet in your home.