The Healing Power of Pets : Harnessing the Amazing Ability of Pets to Make and Keep People Happy and Healthy

From Dr. Marty Becker, co-author of the bestsellers Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Cat and Dog Lover's Soul comes a ground-breaking new book that reveals the stirring stories and medical miracles behind the healing power of pets.

Pets and people have been living together for thousands of years, but as pets have moved indoors, there have been extraordinary changes in the relationship. In the last twenty years, medical research has increasingly proven the healing effect pets can have for the ill, the elderly, the stressed-out, and the emotionally disengaged. Research shows that people with pet companions have fewer doctor visits and recover more quickly from severe illnesses. In The Healing Power of Pets, Dr. Marty Becker, resident vet on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, shows readers how pets can prevent, detect, treat, and in some cases cure a variety of maladies, from arthritis to asthma, and from Alzheimer's to depression. Pets decrease cardiovascular risk factors, motivate their sedentary owners to exercise, and help people deal with chronic pain.

In addition, the book offers heart-warming true stories of pets who have enriched--even saved--their owner's lives to reveal the lasting physical, emotional, and social benefits of the human-animal bond.

Dr. Marty Becker, "America's Veterinarian," has been the popular contributor to ABC-TV's Good Morning America for ten years, and is the resident veterinarian on The Dr. Oz Show. He writes a Universal Uclick Syndicated column with Gina Spadafori, "Pet Connection"; is a contributor to Parade Magazine, and was voted "companion animal Veterinarian of the year." He is also co-author of the fastest-selling pet book in history, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul. Dr. Becker still enjoys his work as a practicing veterinarian, at the North Idaho Animal Hospital.