The team also found that people who owned dogs in the past had around a 10 per cent lower risk of disability compared with those who had never owned a dog.

New Scientist Live is going hybrid, with a live in-person event in Manchester, UK, that you can also enjoy from the comfort of your own home, from 12 to 14 March 2022. Join us for a mind-blowing festival of ideas and experiences. They found that current dog owners who exercised more than once a week were around half as likely to develop a disability compared with people who had never owned a dog, even when controlling for age, sex, income and health factors such as smoking, diet and cardiovascular disease. The researchers then tracked the onset of cognitive and physical disability in the participants for 3.5 years between 2016 to 2020. Yu Taniguchi at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan, and his colleagues asked around 11,000 people aged 65 to 84 years old if they currently or previously owned a cat or dog. Unsurprisingly, the benefit is lost if you don’t walk your dog – or take part in another form of exercise – more than once a week.

People who own a dog have a much lower risk of disability in older age – but cat owners don’t seem to be protected in the same way. Older adults who own a dog have a much lower risk of cognitive and physical disabilities, but those who own a cat don’t have the same benefit

Onone photo 10 vs onone effects 2019