Classroom pet survey highlights benefits and care challenges
Bottom line
Classroom pet survey underscores benefits, but also the care burden
Teachers who received Pets in the Classroom funding say classroom animals are helping students engage, regulate, and connect at school. In its 2025 teacher survey, the Pet Care Trust-backed program reported responses from more than 1,300 teachers in the U.S. and Canada, with 99% saying a classroom pet had been a positive experience. Teachers also reported gains in empathy and compassion, responsibility, student engagement, anxiety reduction, and attendance. The program said it has issued more than 263,000 grants since 2010, reaching more than 10.5 million students. (petsintheclassroom.org)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the survey adds to the ongoing conversation around the human-animal bond in educational settings, but it also highlights where veterinary guidance is most needed. Earlier Pets in the Classroom research conducted with American Humane found teachers valued classroom pets for leadership, stress relief, and academic enrichment, while also naming out-of-pocket costs, care during school breaks, safe student interaction, and coping with pet loss as key challenges. Public health and animal welfare groups broadly agree that if schools keep animals, species-appropriate housing, supervised handling, regular veterinary care, and a clear plan for weekends and holidays are essential. (petsintheclassroom.org)
What to watch: Expect continued interest in classroom-pet grants, alongside closer scrutiny of welfare, zoonotic risk, and school policies around which species belong in classrooms. (petsintheclassroom.org)
A new teacher survey from the Pets in the Classroom grant program is putting classroom animals back in the spotlight. The 2025 survey, published in June 2026 by the Pet Care Trust-backed initiative, gathered responses from more than 1,300 teachers across the U.S. and Canada and found near-universal positive sentiment: 99% said having a classroom pet had been a positive experience. Reported benefits included stronger student engagement, greater empathy and responsibility, less anxiety, and better attendance. (petsintheclassroom.org)
The findings build on a longer-running effort by Pets in the Classroom to position companion animals as educational supports, not just enrichment. The grant program was established by the Pet Care Trust and, according to the organization, has distributed more than 263,000 grants since 2010, affecting more than 10.5 million students. The program currently supports Pre-K through 12th grade teachers in the U.S. and Canada who want funding for a new or existing classroom pet. (petsintheclassroom.org)
This isn’t the first time the program has tried to quantify impact. In a 2015 Phase I study conducted with American Humane, nearly 1,200 teachers said classroom pets helped teach compassion, empathy, respect, and responsibility, while also supporting academic lessons and helping some students feel calmer and more connected at school. That same study is useful because it also surfaced the operational side of the issue: teachers cited out-of-pocket costs, responsibility when school was closed, safe interactions between children and animals, and managing pet loss as recurring challenges. (petsintheclassroom.org)
The new survey’s topline numbers are striking. Teachers reported improvements in attendance at 76%, anxiety reduction at 94%, empathy and compassion at 97%, academic performance at 75%, responsibility at 97%, self-esteem at 90%, social skills at 94%, student engagement at 97%, and behavior and disciplinary measures at 84%. The organization also featured teacher testimonials describing pets as motivators for attendance, supports for social anxiety, and tangible anchors for science instruction. (petsintheclassroom.org)
Still, the broader field remains more cautious than the press-release framing. The ASPCA says it is not opposed to pets in classrooms, but only if the environment is non-stressful, the animals are domesticated, handling is minimized and supervised, and care is arranged for weekends and school closures. CDC guidance for schools and daycares similarly says class pets and hands-on learning animals should receive regular veterinary care, and notes that outbreaks have occurred from activities such as hatching eggs and chicks in classrooms. The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians’ 2023 compendium adds that animal-contact settings require attention to hand hygiene, preventive care, and higher-risk groups, including young children and immunocompromised individuals. (aspca.org)
Why it matters: For veterinarians, this story sits at the intersection of education, preventive medicine, welfare, and client guidance. Surveys like this suggest schools and teachers see real behavioral and educational value in classroom animals, which may create more demand for species-selection advice, wellness care, husbandry counseling, and discussions about bite risk, allergies, and zoonoses. At the same time, the strongest benefits in this report are self-reported by grant recipients, so practices should read the findings as directional rather than definitive evidence of clinical or educational outcomes. (petsintheclassroom.org)
There’s also a practical point for clinics: the Pets in the Classroom program explicitly states that the grant follows the teacher, not the school, and that the teacher accepts ultimate responsibility for the animal’s health and welfare for its entire life. That framing may help veterinarians counsel teachers as individual caregivers, while also encouraging written care plans for holidays, emergency coverage, and species-appropriate housing before an animal ever enters a classroom. (petsintheclassroom.org)
What to watch: The next phase of this conversation is likely to center less on whether classroom pets can help students, and more on which animals can be kept humanely and safely in school settings, under what protocols, and with what veterinary oversight. As classroom-pet grant programs continue to expand, expect more scrutiny from welfare advocates, public health experts, and schools balancing enrichment with risk management. (aspca.org)