Pet Ownership is Associated with Durable Viral Suppression but Presents Healthcare Access Challenges for People with HIV

Human-animal interaction (HAI; e.g., pet ownership) may contribute to enhanced health and well-being among individuals managing chronic conditions like HIV; however, responsibilities associated with pet ownership may also prevent owners from accessing timely healthcare. This study investigates the relationship between pet ownership, pet-related barriers to healthcare (PRBH), and comfort derived from pets with durable HIV viral suppression among people with HIV (PWH) in Florida. We tested three hypotheses using survey data from the Florida Cohort Study linked with Florida Department of Health HIV surveillance data, which included 623 participants recruited through HIV care providers and community health clinics. First, we hypothesized that pet owners would exhibit a higher likelihood of durable viral suppression compared to non-owners. While initial findings suggested that pet owners were more likely to be durably virally suppressed (OR = 1.82, p < 0.01), this association weakened, though remained marginally significant, after adjusting for covariates (OR = 1.55, p = 0.06). Second, we hypothesized that, among the pet-owning subset (n = 221), both experienced and anticipated PRBH would be negatively associated with viral suppression among pet owners. Our results confirmed that previously experienced PRBH were significantly associated with lower rates of viral suppression (OR = 0.22, p = 0.02), while anticipated barriers were not (OR = 0.44, p = 0.12). Lastly, we hypothesized that comfort from pets would be associated with better viral suppression; however, this was not supported (OR = 1.00, p = 0.98). These findings suggest that integrating pet-related support into HIV management strategies (e.g., providing pet sitting for patients receiving HIV care) could be supportive of HIV patient health by enabling owners to access timely care while maintaining the human-animal bond. Future research should assess the efficacy of collaborative efforts between healthcare providers and veterinary services in addressing the PRBH faced by pet-owning PWH to promote HIV management while supporting pet ownership in this population.