Listening to some people talking about household pets could lead you to believe that they are the biggest health hazard since the Black Death.
Fleas, worms, rabies, tics and 1001 other unpleasant viral illnesses can all be passed on by animals, so why are we still a nation of pet lovers?
The truth is, as most sensible animal owners realise, that pets bring more pleasure than pain.
Indeed, let's go further - pets even save lives.
I don't just mean on occasions like the recent exploits of collie dog Jake, who helped keep alive four hill walkers trapped overnight 2000ft up a mountain.
No, the humble mutt, moggie or even canary keeps folk alive by doing no more than being around when needed. One of the sad things about life is the huge number of people living completely on their own without much contact with anyone else.
Once, the rest of the street would have looked after them, popped in to see if they needed anything from the shops and for a chat.
Today, most people are too busy or tied up in their own lives to bother about the old gentleman upstairs, or the wifie in a pensioner's house at the end of the road.
For those living on their own, their pet is often the only friend they have, perhaps even the only reason for staying alive.
Doctors - like postmen, insurance salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses - become experts in people's pets.
They can be frightening, like when you ring the bell and the door bulges as 10cwt of Rottweiler thinks his carry-out is being delivered.
And it's a brave postman who can ignore the 'Beware Of The Dog' sign and stick his hand through the letterbox.
I've got used to stroking the pet python in one house, but don't think I'll ever be entirely happy with the tarantula spider that I know lives in the curtains of another.
Nor will I be the best of pals with the Labrador that ate a hole in my best jacket pocket while I was listening to the health problem of his mistress.
Or, for that matter, the canary that used my shoulder as a toilet.
But, for every one of these cases there are many more where the pet is obviously the centrepiece of the entire house. Dogs make you exercise healthily and think you are wonderful. Cats know better, but come up for a little stroke now and then, just when you need some affection and as if they can read your mind.
Budgies sing, whistle and talk, providing that essential noise in an otherwise silent day.
It's hard to admit, but a pet is often better medicine than anything the doctor can prescribe.
Over five million homes in Britain have a pet and cats are the most popular. Dogs come a close second, with goldfish next and budgies fourth.
Yorkshire terriers are Britain's top dog. German Shepherds are next, followed by Labrador Retrievers, Cocker Spaniels and white coated Westies.
Annual vaccinations for cats and dogs cost between pounds 30 and pounds 40. It costs pounds 700 a year to keep a small dog.
Britain's champion drug sniffer was a stray dog called Brandy, with pounds 4 million worth of drugs found.
Great Danes have the poorest sense of smell of all dogs and, sometimes, can't recognise their owners in the dark
A pointer named Bob won the animal VC in the Second World War by his ability to sniff out enemy.
Sea-going cat Maizie kept up the spirits of six shipwrecked sailors. She sat on their laps during their 45 hours on a raft.
The night when Jake made the difference
When four hill walkers - three of them children - got stranded for a chilly night on Ben Nuis on Arran last week, it was Jake the collie who came to the rescue, by keeping them warm in turns.
He had no training as a rescue dog. He was just a pet who was in the right place at the right time, doing what a pet is supposed to do - be a man's best friend. Today, we look at how animals can be the healthiest prescription you may ever have.
THE DOC REPLIES
Our five-week-old baby suffers from colic. What can we do to help? We've tried things from the chemist, but they have not worked.
Colic is caused by spasms in the intestines. It can sometimes be relieved by cuddling, rocking, warmth to the tummy from something like a face cloth and rubbing the back. Try not to be too anxious, because baby senses this and becomes more tense. Luckily, the symptoms usually disappear after 14 weeks or so.
What is a corn? I have seen lots of advertisements offering to treat them, but nothing to say what they are.
An area of thickened skin, usually caused by an extra tight shoe. The hard skin presses against nerves and causes pain.
