The war between cat lovers and dog lovers has been raging since the first time someone named a canine and put a collar on it.

I reckon cats just made an executive decision at some point that that outside life wasn’t cutting it and moved into someones home, probably without their permission.

You can read the actual history of how animals became domesticated here.

In the great cats versus dogs war, dog owners can add another point to the scoreboard following a recent study by professors at Uppsala Universit

The study examined Swedish residents aged 40 to 85 who experienced a heart attack or stroke between 2001 and 2012.

The Independent reports that the findings suggest that people who lived alone were 33% less likely to die after being released from the hospital if they had a dog at home.

Stroke victims were 27% less likely to die.

Authors concluded that the lower risk of death associated with dog ownership could be due to the increase in physical activity due to regular dog walks and the decrease in loneliness and depression that has been linked to dog ownership by previous studies.

According to ScienceDaily, there’s good news for all dog owners, regardless of their health.

“The findings in these two well-done studies [on strokes and cardiovascular health] and analyses build upon prior studies and the conclusions of the 2013 AHA Scientific Statement ‘Pet Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk’ that dog ownership is associated with reductions in factors that contribute to cardiac risk and to cardiovascular events,” said Glenn N. Levine, M.D., chair of the writing group of the American Heart Association’s scientific statement on pet ownership.

“Further, these two studies provide good, quality data indicating dog ownership is associated with reduced cardiac and all-cause mortality. While these non-randomized studies cannot ‘prove’ that adopting or owning a dog directly leads to reduced mortality, these robust findings are certainly at least suggestive of this.”

To summarise, the study found that overall, owning a puppy is good for your mental and physical health, because they provide you with unconditional love and a reason to be more active in your everyday life.

All factors considered, dog owners are likely to live longer than people who don’t own dogs.

Dogs (and cats) are also adorable, and I’m sure your pet is the most adorable one out there, which is why Pet Culture and 2oceansvibe are giving you the chance to prove it.

Enter the Pet Culture Pet of the Year 2019 competition, and you could score you a R1 500 voucher to spend at Pet Culture, as well as a pet photoshoot to showcase their beauty, both inside and out.

Live long and prosper.

[sources:independent&sciencedaily]