Owning a dog makes you as happy as receiving an extra £70,000 a year, study claims
Pocketing an extra £70,000 ($89,000) a year probably sounds like a dream to many people.
But according to a new study, there's another way to feel that same happiness - simply get a dog or a cat.
Scientists from the University of Kent set out to estimate the impact owning a pet has on life satisfaction and wellbeing.
Amazingly, their calculations indicate that having a pet boosts your mood as much as an additional £70,000 a year would.
The study will also come as good news to pet-owning singletons.
The team found that the benefits of pet ownership are equivalent to those gained from marriage.
Dr Adelina Gschwandtner, lead author of the study, said: 'This research answers the question whether overall pet companions are good for us with a resounding "Yes".
'Pets care for us and there is a significant monetary value associated with their companionship.'
Pocketing an extra £70,000 ($89,000) a year probably sounds like a dream to many people. But according to a new study, there's another way to feel that same happiness - simply get a dog or a cat
Scientists from the University of Kent set out to estimate the impact getting a pet has on life satisfaction and wellbeing
It's long been known that having a pet is linked with both physical and mental health benefits.
However, until now, the direct contribution to life satisfaction has remained a mystery.
In their new study, the team set out to answer this question.
Around 2,500 households were surveyed about their life satisfaction, personality traits, and pet companionship.
Their results were then fed into a model dubbed the 'life satisfaction approach'.
This methodology was developed by economists, and is used to determine the implicit price of different factors or occurences in life.
The results revealed that the value of pet companionship is around £70,000/year.
According to the experts, this is comparable with the values obtained for meeting with relatives or friends once or twice a week.
'The monetary values we obtained are up to £70,000 for both cats and dogs,' the researchers wrote in their study, published in the journal Social Indicators Research.
'We believe that these values are realistic and can be used for health care practice and policy aiming to increase well-being and life satisfaction of humans involving pets.'
The study comes shortly after a survey commissioned by MyPet.com of 2,000 Brits found that as many as 81 per cent think of their pet as the greatest love of their life.
Meanwhile, 41 per cent go so far as to say that they see their furry friend as their child.
Everyone's making the same joke about weather map showing odd-shaped storm set to 'penetrate' the South 
