Babies who live with dogs and cats are healthier

[mlp]

"It's more support in a growing body of evidence that exposure to pets early in life can stimulate the immune system to do a better job of fighting off infection," Fisher said.


http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-dogs-cats-babies-health-20120709,0,6527217.story

 

[Alice-Bee]

They are just realising this now?
I am almost 30 and my parents had dogs since before I was born. I used to nap with the dogs surrouning me and we had various animals all our lifes. Neither my sister or I have low immune systems.

My friend Drew didnt have any animals around him as a child. He has asthma and gets colds all the time.

Living proof.

 

[Poppy]

Still, one of the main reasons people say they have to rehome their dogs is because "the baby is allergic". Which I hardly ever believe....

 

[IamJen]

Oi, Poppy I hate that. Babies are hardly ever allergic, even if they turn out to be so later in life.

I look forward to the time when we can add an animal member to our family. We're really unsure about our living/moving plans for the next year or so though. Our little one so loves animals. She shakes with excitement when the cats come to visit. The other day, we were waiting for a store to open very early in the morning and fed the pigeons some bread crumbs and she squealed with glee. (Oi, sorry..I'll save the rest of my tales for the "cute kid stuff" thread)

 

[RabbitLuvr]

It doesn't always work out. I always had dogs when I was growing up, and I was fine then, but I'm allergic to them now. I was five when I discovered I was allergic to cats, and it only got worse from there.

I'm probably the exception to the rule, though.