By Natalie Rahhal Deputy Health Editor For Dailymail.com
Published: 19:04 BST, 24 May 2019 | Updated: 19:04 BST, 24 May 2019
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Having pets may put you at greater risk of irritable bowel syndrome, a new study suggests.
The odds that people with cats, dogs or even fish at home will have IBS are 1.26 times higher than those that prefer animals stay outside and away from them.
It's a slight increase in risk, but enough for East Tennessee State University researchers to say there's a link.
They suspect that being around your pet's poop and dandruff could throw off your microbiome and contribute to the development of IBS, but cannot yet say for sure.
Being around animal feces may be the reason that pet owners are more likely to have to run to the toilet due to IBS than other people are, new research suggests
Some 85 million families and individuals own pets, for a total of 77 million dogs, 58 million cats and another several million fish, birds, horses, rabbits and more - in the US alone.
That means there are definitely more animals in the US than there are people
