Pet's diseases and owner's anxiety: is the leash an umbilical cord?

Nowadays domestic animals take part to the family system and represent a fundamental element of its equilibrium. Therefore, pet’s symptoms or diseases may become stressors for owners. The aims of the present study were to evaluate if the management of a pet affected by a disease may influence the anxiety of the owner and if some pathologies or symptoms may affect owner’s anxiety more deeply. Eighty five owners of dogs and cats presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital “Mario Modenato” of the University of Pisa for dermatologic, gastro enteric and nephrological disorders were enrolled in the study through the administration of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Test (STAI). The questionnaire was anonymous and in accordance with privacy laws. Data were statistically analysed through the t-test and ANOVA test. Both men and women showed significantly higher values of trait anxiety (47.68±12.97 vs 43.07±8.05; p=0.04), compared to state anxiety (45.68±12.71 vs 38.9±9.89; p=0.03) but men presented significantly higher scores than women. No significant differences were found among owners concerning age and educational level. Cat’s owners showed significantly lower levels of anxiety than dogs ones and owners of nephropatic patients were less anxious than owners of gastroenteric and dermatologic subjects. The present data seemed to show that owner’s anxiety may be affected more or less deeply by pet’s disease, according to kind of disease, seriousness of symptoms and owner’s gender.