A kid’s best pal

Pet dogs boost health of children, say pros

OH BABY, DOGS are the best — and that’s science, not sentiment.

Kids born into homes with pets — 70% of which were mutts — were more likely to have high levels of a couple gut bugs linked to lower risks of getting allergies or obesity later in life, a study from the University of Alberta in Canada found.

“The abundance of these two bacteria were increased twofold when there was a pet in the house,” according to lead author Anita Kozyrskyj, a pediatric epidemiologist.

Findings, published in Microbiome journal, are based on analyzing fecal samples collected from 746 babies registered in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development study.

An infant’s exposure to helpful gut microbes — Ruminococcus and Oscillospira — came through two means of transmission.

One way was indirect — from dog to a baby while still in its mom’s womb. The other was direct — from pup to baby during the first three months of life.

The study also showed that the immunity-boosting exchange occurred whether delivery was by C-section or vaginal, antibiotics were used during birth and the mom breastfed or not.

The new research adds to previous investigations into the pluses of pets. Older studies have found that kids raised in a home with dogs are less likely to develop asthma.

It is thought that exposure to dirt and bacteria — like the kind that can get carried in on pooches — when kids are young can produce early immunity. Further research is needed to fully understand the benefits of the pet-person bond.

But, said Kozyrskyj, “It’s not far-fetched that the pharmaceutical industry will try to create a supplement of these microbiomes, much like was done with probiotics.”