Study reveals owning a pet won’t automatically make you happier

Owning a pet won’t automatically make you happier — sorry. That’s the takeaway from a “Psychology Today” write-up highlighting a University of Melbourne study that pokes at one of the internet’s favorite claims: that pets are basically furry, four-legged antidepressants.

Researchers looked at pet ownership and well-being in a study titled “The Causal Effect of Pet Ownership on Health and Well-Being.” They observed 495 pet owners and found no significant effect on key measures such as life satisfaction, loneliness, mental health or general well-being.

In other words, getting a pet didn’t reliably move the needle.

The findings suggest the “pets make you happier” idea is more complicated than people want it to be. Some owners may benefit a lot from the companionship and routine a pet can bring. Others may see their mental health get worse, especially if they’re dealing with stressful animal-related issues — think behavior problems, cost, time demands or the general chaos of sharing your home with a creature that might eat your couch.

The study doesn’t argue that pets are bad. It argues that pets aren’t magic. For some people, they’re a huge positive. For others, they’re another responsibility — and not always the fun kind.

So, if a pet improves your life, great. If you’re expecting instant happiness because you saw a golden retriever on TikTok, maybe slow down and consider whether you want a companion — or a commitment.