I remember that people used to try to convince us that having pets was not safe. I had a person like that in my extended family. Now we know that pet ownership signify lowers mortality rates - particularly among people with cardiovascular issues, but for other people, too. It is safer to have a pet than not to have one.

I am a mom to 3 angel babies. And with every pregnancy my cats have always tried to lay on my belly. Even my grouchy old lady who doesn't like to cuddle with me at all. This is the only time they will lay on my stomach otherwise they prefer to keep up on the pillow or beside me. If purrs and love could keep my angels here... they never would have left.

My dog is just a dumb doof who drives me crazy. She helps me with my depression and anxiety cause i care more about taking care of her than myself. She also has massive anxiety an ocd. Im a wreck, but shes even more of a wreck than me, so she needs me.

Maybe not as impressive as other stories, but last summer my mom and I were walking our dog. At the end of the walk we stopped to talk with our neighbour across the street, and did so for a long time. It wasn't extremely hot, only around 75°, but I was getting overheated, and I didn't feel very good. I think my dog was next to me for a lot of that time, and at one point she started pulling towards the house, signalling to go home. When we finally left my vision blurred, and I fell and scraped my knee really badly. The scar is mostly faded away now, but it took a year and a half. I like to think that my dog sensed that I wasn't feeling okay and wanted to help me ❤️

I think I was around 6 yrs old when one day my cat Wild Thing(yes I named her after the song, it was my favorite at the time lol) led a charge and saved me. I was playing alone in the front yard looking for toads or rolly pollies like a diligent lil' tomboy, when I saw a giant angry Great Dane racing through yards straight at me with foaming spit flying and growling barks like no tomorrow. He was maybe 15 feet away and closing fast when all of a sudden Wild Thing leaps over the backyard side fence between us leading around 15 other cats(strays that I secretly fed/watered/played and occasionally snuck them into the house 😂🤭😏😇) on a mad rescue charge directly on to the angry dog's back, head, and rear end! I remember it vividly! Fur flying, it's yelping screams, and my cat's had no mercy so there was also a lil' blood splatter following the retreating trail... Wild Thing was always the leader and she protected everyone that was "her's" lol

My sister used to walk the dogs before school. One morning they came back without her and were barking really loudly. Turned out she had collapsed as the result of an asthma attack and had to have an ambulance. They literally saved her life. There have been many similar, but less dramatic, incidents over the years. I don't know why we are even surprised by how amazing our pets are!

Not life-saving, but we had an Airedale for a while when I was little and she bit my dad once because he tried to spank my little brother. She was pretty protective of us kids.

I've got a rather heroic turkey. She hasn't saved any human lives but she saved the lives of all her flockmates (6 chickens and two ducks) early last November when she fought off a big hawk larger than she is that made a go at the flock. She got all scratched up and the tip of her beak cracked enough some of the bone could be seen but she got spoiled until she'd healed up and could eat normally again and she's still keeping her flock safe. Frosch is just about the perfect turkey, she's friendly and takes keeping everyone safe very seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd do something to try and protect me or my dad if she had to.

An outside cat would come in to eat and then go back out. Another cat, getting on in years stayed inside. Old cat got sick. He just laid around and stopped eating. Outside cat started nagging him, I mean really unrelenting nagging, until he finally got up and followed her outside. She had caught him a mouse and was telling him to eat. He ate and returned to his bed. What we didn't know is that he had a cyst that prevented him from eating and it finally broke. He fully recovered.

I wish my dog was this observant

When I was 19, I got really sick from working third shift and not getting enough sleep. We at the point where all I was able to do was sleep and couldn't keep anything down; no liquids and no food. At that time, my sister had a cat; she was friendly but not at all cuddly or lovable. That cat slept with me the whole time that I was sick and left after I got better.