Can pets be good for the new baby?

New parents often wonder whether the arrival of a baby should prompt the exit of pets from the house, partly because of fears that living in close proximity with cats and dogs will increase the risk their child will become allergic.

There’s no need to kick out Fido or Fluffy. A study published in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy revealed that keeping a dog or cat in the house, especially in a baby’s first year, may actually reduce the risk of developing allergies.

As part of the study, researchers from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit followed a group of children from birth until adulthood. Periodic contact was made with the families to collect information about exposure to cats and dogs. At age 18, 565 study participants supplied blood samples to the researchers, who measured antibodies to dog and cat allergens.

The results? Being exposed to a specific animal in the first year of life appeared protective, rather than risky.

According to the study, young men whose families kept an indoor dog during the subject’s first year of life had about half the risk of becoming sensitized to dogs, compared to those whose families did not keep a dog. And both men and women were about half as likely to be sensitized to cats if they had lived with a cat in the first year of life.

KiKi Bochi, an award-winning journalist, reads hundreds of reports monthly to bring readers the latest insights on family health and child development.