Today, more than half of all Americans have a pet. In fact, in 2024, 45.5 percent of American households have dogs and 32.1 million have cats. When you add in other pets like gerbils, hamsters, rats, and fish, 62% of Americans own a pet, with most owning more than one.
Pets are an important part of our lives, and to many of us, those pets are an important part of the family.
When you’re struggling with life, it’s important that those elements of your life be there for you. In fact, having a pet can actually help you meet your sobriety and recovery goals. For example, pets offer companionships, structure, and routine, and all of that is great for your sobriety. Let’s take a look.
How Can My Pet Help Me Get Sober?
Pets are a normal and important part of everyday life. For many of us, they offer companionship, exercise, routine, and structure. All of that can be valuable in helping you to recover.
1. Companionship
Pets provide an immense amount of companionship. For many of us, that means having companionship and not feeling alone. For example, one study showed that pets have a powerful impact on improving mental health and that people feel more connected, better able to emote, and better able to express themselves when they have a pet. Dogs had more impact here but the act of caring for something and getting attention back as with most mammals showed these benefits. Non-mammal pets like snakes and fish can help with companionship as well but less so.
2. Structure
Caring for a pet means building a structure around pet care. That time and energy burden is often cited as being one of the downsides of pet ownership. However, when you’re in recovery, building that structure and routine can help to tether you to staying sober. You can link doing something like a healthy breakfast or going for a walk to pet care. You can make it a habit to get out of bed, clean the cat litter box, and then clean up a bit of the rest of the house. You have a baseline for structure because you have to in order to care for the pet that you decided to have in your life.
3. Having Something to Take Care of (Extrinsic Motivation)
For many of us, family are extrinsic motivation to get better. For others, that doesn’t work. Bad family relationships, no close family, or family who use and do drugs and alcohol are all going to be toxic in a recovery environment. Having a pet can provide that extrinsic motivation because you have something to take care of. When you’re tempted to drink or use you can go “I can’t because I have to be there for my pet”. That can sound silly, but it will also be a powerful motivator as you work to stay clean and sober.
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4. Stress Reduction
Interacting with your pet is shown to reduce stress and provide happiness. That’s also true for people who don’t own pets and instead have access to animal companions over the period of recovery. Here, you get active stress reduction and feeling good out of activities like watching fish, playing with rats, throwing a ball for your dog, or having a cat sit on your lap. That’s true in rehab, where you’ll be able to reduce stress from therapy, confronting your behavior, and sharing your trauma by taking a break to pet an animal and spend time with something you care about. That benefit will continue to improve your life when you’re out of rehab, because you’ll get that same stress reduction when you come home from work or need help coping with cravings.
5. Increasing Exercise
Not all pets will help with this. However, most people own dogs. And, dogs are very good at increasing how much you exercise. Exercise including regularly walking and being outside is considered an important part of recovery. Dogs offer motivation to walk, offer companionship while walking, and can inspire you to spend more time outdoors. In fact, even if you’re already walking your dog a few times a day, chances are, your dog would appreciate more and your dog would also appreciate long weekend hikes and getting out to do things. That means you’ll have more motivation to get out of the house and move. Of course, that won’t be a benefit at all if you have a fish or a snake but even cats can be taught to go for walks with you.
6. Reducing Boredom
Stress, anxiety, and boredom are factors in early recovery. Often, these feelings occur as your brain adjusts to a different chemical balance but hasn’t gotten back to producing normal levels of serotonin and dopamine on its own yet. In addition, if you have a period where you’re figuring out hobbies and what you like to do, don’t have many sober friends, and have to avoid places you used to hang out, you will be bored. Pets can help. In fact, pets are shown to actively reduce anxiety and boredom, even in stressful group and classroom situations. That means having your pet with you during therapy can reduce tension and help you focus, can make you feel more at ease with what you’re sharing, and can help you focus on what’s being talked about better, because you’re less bored.
7. Activities away from Alcohol
Having a pet means you can do things with your pet, which generally means, while sober. Whether that’s going for walks with your dog, playing with your cat, or building a jungle gym for your gerbils is up to you. Any pet gives you fun activities like crafts, exercise, and play time, and that will mean you have things to do that don’t require alcohol. In addition, you can meet up with other people with those pets and immediately have social activities that don’t have anything to do with alcohol.
Can I Take My Pet to Rehab?
Pets can help you with recovery in a great many ways. However, if you’re going into recovery and you don’t have a pet yet, it’s probably a good idea to wait to get a pet until you’re stable and have the means to provide for your pet. On the other hand, if you already have a pet in your life, it’s always a good idea to bring that pet with you, to involve your pet in recovery, and to make your pet a part of your life moving forward. Still, most rehab centers don’t accept pets. That makes sense, because pets require care, some people can be allergic, and they might not fit the needs of an emergency care center that specializes in taking people who need emergency help. However, pets can be immensely beneficial in other situations, providing pet care is in place and someone can watch your pet while you’re in treatment.
That means choosing a pet friendly rehab, where you can bring dogs, cats, and other pets. Here, you’ll typically get pet daycare for when you’re in therapy and treatment and then facilities to enable pet care and time with your pet during the day. Eventually, that means having companionship during treatment, building habits around your pet, and bringing your pet with you as you start to learn new habits that benefit your mental health.
Recovery is better with your best friend by your side. Our pet-friendly drug rehab center offers a supportive environment for both you and your Pet. Contact us today to start your journey to healing!
