Wells, Deborah L · Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2009 · DOI
Researchers asked 193 people with ME/CFS whether they owned pets and how their health was doing. About 58% owned pets, mostly dogs and cats. While pet owners reported feeling that their animals helped their mental well-being, the study found no clear statistical link between owning a pet and having better health scores overall.
This study directly addresses a complementary approach that ME/CFS patients might consider to improve their well-being. Understanding whether pet ownership has measurable health effects helps patients make informed decisions and guides healthcare providers in counseling about non-pharmacological supports alongside standard care.
This study does not prove that pets cannot help ME/CFS patients—it only shows no measurable difference in standardized health scores between pet owners and non-owners in this sample. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation, and subjective benefits (mental well-being) were not formally measured with quantitative instruments. Individual variations in pet ownership circumstances (animal type, intensity of interaction) were not analyzed.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Wells, Deborah L (2009). Associations between pet ownership and self-reported health status in people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome.. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.). https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2008.0496
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-wells-2009-associations-between,
author = {Wells, Deborah L},
title = {Associations between pet ownership and self-reported health status in people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.1089/acm.2008.0496},
note = {PubMed: 19388863},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wells-2009-associations-between},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wells-2009-associations-between
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